Phil 100 Midterm Flash Cards

Good God please help me through this Bad World

The Argument of Evil (The Problem of Evil)

1. If there were an all good, all knowing, and all powerful being, we would not observe the evil and suffering that we see in the world,

2. but we do observe such evil and suffering.

3. So there is not an all good, all knowing, and all powerful divine being.

Theological

beliefs within a religious context

Anthropological and Sociological

Religion and associated beliefs studied as a cultural phenonmenon

Philosophical

Religious beliefs and practices are examined in their own right and held up to intellectual scrutiny by means of distinctively philosophical methods

Classical Theism claims that God is…

omnipotent, omniscient, and wholly good
God who is the creator and sustainer of the world, and who providentially governs the world

The problem of a sub-optimal world

If god was all that theists claim they are, then the world could be better and its not

The problem of divine hideness

if God was omnipotent, omniscient, and all-loving, why wouldn’t they want to reveal themselves to us? We can’t empirically prove their existence so it is hard to convince and persuade non-believers

Phenomenal Conservatism

If something seems true, I have reason to believe it is true (unless I am given some positive reason to doubt it)

Normative Claims

Make claims about what we ought to do

Act Utilitarianism

An agent always ought morally to do what maximizes overall happiness over unhappiness (well-being over ill-being)

• ALSO Claim about the good (Hedonism):
  the intrinsic good consists in happiness (pleasure) and the intrinsic bad in unhappiness
  (pain, suffering).

Act Consequentialism

an agent always ought morally to do what, on the whole,
Maximizes intrinsically good over intrinsically bad consequences.

All act utilitarians are act consequentialists but NOT act consequentialists are act utilitarians

Intrinsic Goods

Things that are good within themselves — example: happiness

Instrumental Goods

They are good because they are means to an end for intrinsic good

The Satisfied Pig vs. Socrates (Objection to Act Utilitarianism)

• Hedonism implies that among the intrinsically best lives is one that involves constantly experiencing our basest pleasures

• Is it more valuable to be the satisfied pig or the unsatisfied scholar like Socrates?

John Stuart Mill

• argues that being Socrates is more valuable than the Swine

• There are higher and lower pleasures

• Argues that intellectual pleasures are better than base pleasures

Many Intrinsic Goods Objection (objection to act utilitarianism)

• Knowledge

• Justice

• Beauty

• Love

• Friendship

• People

But utilitarians can reply that ‘all values have a utilitarian basis’: all of the things on this list tend to be very closely associated with pleasure, that is why you are tempted to regard them as inherently good

Robert Nozick created the problem of the…

Experience Machine: Scientists have invented a virtual reality machine, sort of like The Matrix, where you can plug in and have completely happy experiences. When you are in the experience machine, you do not know that you are in the machine. They erase your memory of having plugged in, and the computer-simulation is so real, you cannot tell it apart from reality. You cannot leave the machine once you are inside, but the scientists guarantee that life INSIDE of the machine will be filled with far more happiness than your real life OUTSIDE of the machine. But you do not interact with any real people while in the machine. They give you a choice: Do you (1) Plug into the machine for the rest of your life, or (2) Choose not to plug in, though you know you will be less happy?

If you choose (2), you value something else besides just pleasure.

This is an objection to the utilitarian argument of pleasure being the only intrinsic good

Sadistic Pleasure (objection to act utilitarianism)

Is a peeping Tom who gets lots of pleasure from their bad behavior in comparison to the suffering the victim suffers still a utilitarian outcome?

Perhaps some pleasure is bad

Unfair Utilitarianism (objection to act utilitarianism)

The utility monster: their pleasure is the greatest pleasure but in order to reach the greatest amount, they need all the resources in the world and no one else would get any

Ignoring Rights Problem (objection to act utilitarianism)

The organ harvest case - four patients vs one med student

people have rights to bodily autonomy even if their death would bring great happiness to more people

A utilitarian could try and reply by saying that our gut instincts are right in normal cases but not in extreme ones in cases like the organ harvest

Special Duties to Loved Ones (Objection to Act Utilitarianism)

• Burning Building Example

• Birthday Party Example

• Utilitarianism seems to imply we cannot have special duties to our loved ones and have to prioritize the most amount of happiness

Rule Consequentialism

An agent always ought morally to do what is directed by those general rules such that universal obedience to them would, overall, maximize intrinsically good over intrinsically bad consequence

Rule Utilitarianism

• Rule Consequentialism + Hedonism

• An agent always ought morally to do what is directed by those general rules such that universal obedience to them would maximize overall happiness over unhappiness

• example: a general rule against killing will maximize happiness

Generality Objection (Objection to Rule Utilitarianism)

• some rules can be too general and then defeat the purpose of rule utilitarianism

• example: never tell a lie

  • would you lie to prevent the murder of an innocent person?

The Harm Problem (Objection to Rule Utilitarianism)

• sometimes the rule utilitarianism could create pointlessly harmful situations

• example: driving on the left example; you can’t compel people to follow your rules so you would actually harm people

Pluralist Act Consequentialism

• an agent always ought morally to do what, on the whole,

  maximizes intrinsically good over intrinsically bad consequences

• BUT they reject hedonism and instead argue that more than one thing is intrinsically good (pluralism of the good)