The Elements of Moral Philosophy - What Is Morality?

Vocabulary flashcards covering fundamental ethical concepts, case studies, and core arguments regarding how to evaluate moral decisions to produce the best overall well-being.

Moral Philosophy

The attempt to achieve a systematic understanding of the nature of morality and what it requires of us, focusing on how we ought to live to maximize good outcomes and why.

Minimum Conception of Morality

The core moral principle that conduct must be guided by reason—doing what there are the best reasons for doing—while giving equal weight to the welfare and interests of every affected individual.

Baby Theresa

Theresa Ann Campo Pearson, an anencephalic infant born in Florida in $1992$ whose parents sought to donate her organs so that other children could derive vital life-saving benefits.

Anencephaly

A severe congenital disorder where major brain regions, including the cerebrum and cerebellum, are missing; infants born with it lack conscious life, with roughly $300$ born alive each year in the United States.

Benefits Argument

The principle that if an action benefits someone without causing harm to anyone else, it ought to be performed to achieve the greatest overall net good.

Autonomy

A person's ability to determine their own life path according to their own desires and values, which is compromised when forced, manipulated, or deceived.

Brain Death

A criterion for legal death based on the permanent loss of all brain function, established because continuous physical existence without potential for conscious experience holds no benefit for the individual.

Baby Jane Doe

An infant born in New York State in $1983$ with spina bifida, hydrocephaly, and microcephaly, whose ethical dispute centered on whether performing surgery would genuinely improve her quality of life and overall well-being.

Argument from the Sanctity of Human Life

The assertion that every human life has intrinsic value and must be preserved regardless of its quality, suffering, or capacity for meaningful conscious experience.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973

A federal law prohibiting any program receiving federal financial assistance from discriminating against a qualified handicapped individual solely on the basis of their handicap.

Tracy Latimer

A $12\text{-year-old}$ Canadian girl with cerebral palsy who functioned at the mental level of a $3\text{-month-old}$ baby and weighed under $40$ pounds, whose father ended her life in $1993$ to spare her from continuous physical torture and pain.

Slippery Slope Argument

A reasoning strategy that cautions against taking an initial moral step by predicting it will inevitably lead to catastrophic or widespread harmful consequences in the future.

Requirement of Impartiality

The rule that each individual's interests and well-being must be counted equally, ruling out arbitrary discrimination that treats one person's welfare as less valuable than another's.

Conscientious Moral Agent

An individual who impartially considers the interests of all affected parties, thoroughly evaluates facts and outcomes, listens to reason, and acts to promote the best overall consequences.