ETHICS MIDTERM

matter

Its general claim that consequences of an action are the ones that ultimately _______ in judging whether the action is morally good or bad.

intrinsic good

Not all consequences are deemed morally relevant by consequentialism – only those that involve _______ ________.

Intrinsic good

The good consequence that consequentialism regards as the basis for the moral goodness of an act is not just any kind of good or desirable consequence; but one that is good in itself or desirable for its own sake. philosophers call this kind of good a ______ _______

Consequentialism

J.C.C. Smart: is a theory according to which rightness or wrongness of an act is determined solely by the intrinsic goodness or badness of its various consequences.

• Consequences are good if they are intrinsically good

Instrumental good

• It is desired for the sake of something else.

• It is desired because it serves as a means to achieve a further good, either a further instrumental good or an intrinsic good.

happiness

A standard example of intrinsic good is ______ (which most consequentialist equate with pleasure)

• inherent

• unconditional

Intrinsic good is an _______ good because it does not derive its goodness from another good.

It is an ________ good because it is good in itself; it is always good whatever is the condition of its occurrence. It remains desirable even if nobody actually desires it.

• Derived

• Conditional

It is ______ good because it derives its goodness from another good.

It is a ______ good. Considered good only under certain conditions, generally when it serves as a means to achieve a further good.

maximize

If something is good, our moral duty is to _______ it. It is not enough, therefore, that we should strive to be happy through our actions, rather, we should strive to attain the greatest possible happiness through our actions.

former

for a consequentialist: Between an action that results in good consequences (i.e. an intrinsic good) and another that results in bad consequences (i.e. not an intrinsic good), the morally good action is the ______.

whose good consequences are greater

Between two actions that both results in good consequences in varying degrees, the action _____ ______ ____________ ___ ________ is the morally good act.

whose bad consequences are lesser

Between two actions that both result in bad consequences but in varying degrees, the one ___________ is the morally good act.

greater net total of good consequences/aggregate good consequences

Between two actions both leading to a combination of good and bad consequences, the one with the _________ or with the _______, is the morally good act.

Hedonistic Consequentialism

simply hedonism (hedone = pleasure), believes that pleasure is the

only intrinsic good, and its opposite, pain, the only intrinsic bad or evil.

Jeremy Bentham

According to him, nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure.

Para kay _______ ______, dahil pain at pleasure ang namamahala sa atin, ganoon din natin dapat sukatin ang moralidad:

• Tama (Good): Ang isang aksyon kung ito ay nagdudulot ng mas maraming pleasure o nagbabawas ng pain sa maraming tao.

• Mali (Bad): Ang isang aksyon kung ito ay nagdudulot ng mas maraming pain o nag-aalis ng kasiyahan.

Counter argument to Jeremy Bentham’ Hedonism - G.E Moore

Open question argument – attributed to _______ (1873-1958), the mere fact that it is meaningful to ask whether pleasure is good means that pleasure cannot be equated with the good.

• Ang Pangunahing Ideya: Sinasabi ni _______ na hindi mo pwedeng sabihing "ang kasiyahan (pleasure) ay pareho lang sa kabutihan (good)".

• Bakit? Dahil nagagawa pa rin nating itanong nang may kahulugan: "Ang bagay ba na ito na nakakasiya ay mabuti din ba?"

Halimbawa:

• Ang pag-scroll sa TikTok hanggang madaling araw ay nagbibigay sa'yo ng pleasure (kasiyahan).

• Pero maaari mo pa ring itanong: "Mabuti (good) ba ang mag-scroll hanggang madaling araw?"

John Stuart Mill

according to him, by happiness, is intended pleasure, and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and privation of pleasure. Meaning, kapag sinabing "masaya" ang isang tao, ibig sabihin ay nakakaranas siya ng sarap/ginhawa (pleasure) habang malaya sa pisikal o emosyonal na sakit (absence of pain). Kaya dinidesire ng tao ang pleasure para maging masaya.

Counter argument to John Stuart Mill’s Hedonism

• What is actually desired is not desirable

• It is indeed true that people desire pleasure, but this does not necessarily make pleasure desirable.

• Hindi dahil gusto (desired) ng tao ang pleasure ay ibig sabihin dapat na itong gustuhin o mabuti na ito (desirable). (Halimbawa: Gusto ng tao ang junk food, pero hindi ibig sabihin na maganda o mabuti ito sa katawan).

Non-Hedonistic Consequentialism

• Rejects hedonism but maintains a general view of consequentialism

• tinatanggihan ang pleasure bilang dahilan ng intrinsic good pero minimaintain pa rin ang view of consequentialism which is the consequence of your action is the determiner whether your action is good or bad.

Exclusive non-hedonism

• excludes pleasure from the list of intrinsic goods.

• A reaction to the specific claim of hedonism that pleasure is an intrinsic good.

Inclusive non-hedonism

• Includes pleasure as one in the list of intrinsic goods. Others would include knowledge, power, beauty, freedom, desire-satisfaction, among others.

• A reaction to the specific hedonist claim that pleasure is the sole intrinsic good therein.

Agent-relative consequentialism

also, egoistic consequentialism, claims that only consequences that morally matter are the agent-related ones. (Personal/individually)

Considers happiness as intrinsic good and determined by the agent which is also its receiver.

Agent-Neutral Consequentialism

• ________ __________or impartial or altruistic consequentialism claims that both agent-related and non-agent related consequences morally matter.

• Considers the happiness of all people involved. Impartial to whoever is affected by the action. There is no morally privileged or a priority.

Ang ___________ _________ ay nangangahulugang sa pagpapasya ng tama at mali, pantay-pantay ang halaga ng kasiyahan at kapakanan ng lahat ng taong maaapektuhan ng iyong aksyon. Walang sinuman—kahit ang sarili mo, pamilya, o kaibigan—ang may espesyal na pabor o mas mataas na halaga kumpara sa ibang tao. Ang layunin nito ay piliin ang kilos na magdudulot ng pinakamalaking kabuuang kabutihan para sa lahat, nang walang kinikilingan

Agent-relative hedonism

an action is morally good if it gives maximum pleasure to its agent; while it is morally bad if otherwise.

Agent-neutral Hedonism

an action is good if it results in the maximum overall pleasure of all persons involved in the action; while it is morally bad if otherwise.

Agent-relative non-hedonism

an action is morally good if it gives maximum benefits to

its agent; while it is morally bad if otherwise.

Agent-neutral non-hedonism

an action is morally good if it results in the maximum overall benefits for all persons involved in the action; while it is morally bad if otherwise.

Agent-relative Hedonist consequentialism

The philosophies of Aristippus (435-356 BCE) and Epicurus (341-270 BCE). The first’s ethical philosophy is known as Cyrenaicism or Cyrenaic hedonism, while that of latter is simply referred to as Epicureanism.

• They both subscribe to the view that an actionis morally good if it brings maximum pleasure to the agent, and it is morally bad if otherwise.

Morality for these two Greek philosophers involves choosing the right kinds of pleasure to desire.

• duration

• intensity

During their time, pleasures were divided into two general kinds based on the contrasting relations of the _____ and _______of pleasures.

• momentary

• intense

Aristippus prefers the ______ but ________ pleasures

• long lasting

• less intense

Epicurus prefers the ____ _____, but _____ _____

pleasures.

• sensory pleasures

• freedom from pain in the mind and body

Aristippus promotes _______ ________ while Epicurus promotes ______ ____ ____ _____ __ __ ______ (through cultivating

mental tranquility) and the ____ (by developing a healthy body).

• Active pleasures

• Active hedonism

_______ _______ refer to pleasures one experiences when specific wants or desires are gratified, this is why Aristippus’s hedonism is also called _____ ______

• Passive pleasures

• Passive hedonism

______ ___ refers to pleasures one experiences when pain, either bodily or

mental, are absent. Epicurus’s hedonism is _______ ______.

Utilitarianism

It follows the standard: The greatest happiness of the greatest number of people or greatest happiness principle.

_________ is an agent-neutral form of consequentialism. it is also not based on a is not based on a majority rule.

Richard Hare

According to ______ _____ what utilitarianism claims about morality is best understood by examining its three main elements:

1. Consequentialism

2. Welfarism

3. Aggregationism

Consequentialism in Utilitarianism

it determines the morality of an action based on the kind of consequences that the action has or results in.

Welfarism

this is included because the consequences that it considers to be morally relevant are those that affect the well-being of persons.

Ang TANGING batayan kung mabuti o masama ang isang aksyon ay ang epekto nito sa kagalingan o kapakanan (well-being) ng mga tao.

Aggregationism

this is included since the welfare that it considers to be morally relevant is the maximum aggregate or sum total welfare of all affected persons. This also naturally leads to impartiality.

quantitative utilitarianism

There is no significant difference between physical and mental pleasures in _________ _________

qualitative utilitarianism

in _______ _______ there is a difference between a simple child’s game and writing a poem.

Jeremy Bentham’s Calculus of Felicity of hedonistic Calculus:

1. Intensity

2. Duration

3. Certainty

4. Propinquity (remoteness)

5. Fecundity

6. Purity

7. Extent

Intensity

the more intense the pleasure, the greater the value.

Duration

the longer the experience of pleasure, the greater the value.

Certainty

the greater the probability, the greater the value.

Propinquity

the shorter the temporal distance between an act and pleasure, the greater the value.

Fecundity

the higher the probability of an experience of pleasure will be followed by further experiences of pleasure, the greater the value.

Purity

the higher the probability that the experience of pleasure will not be followed by an experience of pain, the greater the value.

Extent

the higher the number of persons to experience the pleasure, the greater the value.

Swinish doctrine

hedonistic utilitarianism allegedy indorses a “ ____ ____”, puts the value of human pleasures and pains on the same level of animals.

• Mill addresses this by, just like Epicurus, putting rationality over sensory pleasures. Mill: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be a Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”.

Exclusive non-hedonistic utilitarianism

The first claims that pleasure is not the intrinsic good, but something else (for everyone)

inclusive non-hedonistic utilitarianism

it states that while pleasure is an intrinsic good, there are others that are intrinsically good as well (for everyone)

Richard Hare and Peter Singer

two prominent proponents that claim that what should be maximized is

not the experience of pleasure but the satisfaction of preferences.

• The desire to experience pleasure and be free

from pain is itself a preference that one may

decide to satisfy.

• But there are other preferences that have

nothing to do with pleasure or pain, such as

those a person may decide to satisfy himself

or herself by foregoing a pleasurable

experience or by undergoing a painful

experience.

• This explains why some people would prefer

to suffer just to have their preferences

satisfied.

Preference Balancing

a process suggested by Hare that we put ourselves in the shoes of other persons whose preferences conflict with ours.

Pluralistic/Ideal Utilitarianism

It believes that there is a plurality of intrinsic goods.

• recognized exponents are: Hastings Rashdall and G.E. Moore

• Other intrinsic goods would include beauty, knowledge, power and healthy relationships like friendship. These goods are desirable whether pleasure is derived from them or not.

Two cases that illustrate the independence of desirabilty from pleasure according to moore

• The right attitude towards a person in

misery.

In this case, to feel sorrow, not gladness is thedesirable or ideal sentiment expressed for a person in misery. To show pleasure or enjoyment from the other person’s misery is obviously inappropriate.

• Beauty, as an intrinsic good i.e.

desirable and independent of pleasure

one derives from contemplating it.

Moore: “We naturally prefer a world of natural beauty over an ugly world even

though there were in each case no conscious beings to contemplate it”.

Act and rule utilitarianism

This division arises from the question as to

which the utilitarian principle of maximizing

aggregate good or welfare should be applied to

determine the morality of an act – the act

itself or the rule that governs the act.

• act

• Rule

According to ____ utilitarianism, the utilitarian

principle should be applied to the act itself;

while to ___ utilitarianism, it should be the

rule governing the act.

Optimific Rule

a rule, when generally followed, produces the maximum aggregate good.

good

from a deontological POV, a rule is _____ if it conforms to some higher law such as the will of god, a natural law, or the law of reason.

good

From a utilitarian viewpoint, a rule is _____ if following it produces the maximum aggregate good or welfare.

Rule utilitarianism

For ____ ________, even if the act maximizes aggregate good but follows a

non-optimific rule, then it is morally bad.

Act utilitarianism

does not care about the rules that an act

may follow or violate; as such, if the act

maximizes aggregate good, then it is

morally good, regardless of whether the

rule that it follows or violates is optimific

or not.

Act hedonistic utilitarianism

an action is good if it maximizes aggregate happiness,

bad if otherwise. It is sometimes referred as classical utilitarianism.

Rule hedonistic utilitarianism

action is good if it follows a rule which when generally conformed to will maximize aggregate happiness, while bad if otherwise.

Act non-hedonistic utilitarianism

an action is good if it maximizes aggregate welfare, while bad if otherwise.

Rule non-hedonistic utilitarianism

action is good if it follows a rule which generally conformed to will maximize aggregate welfare while bad if otherwise.

Impartial

Utilitarianism remains influential

despite its variations. Aside from being

________ it generally provided a practical way of resolving disagreements

that it serves as a framework for decision

making in the areas of economics,

business, politics and others. Specifically,

it serves as the foundation of most

strategic decision-making methods.

It has limitations that sometimes it leads

to injustices and violation of rights by

maximizing its aggregate good.

Generally, they maintain that moral

concepts only have instrumental or

derived good so far as they lead to

maximization of the aggregate welfare.

• Friedrich Nietzsche’s Power ethics

• Ubermensch

• not entirely consequentialist but

contains elements of virtue ethics as it

inspires us to develop our character to its

noblest level.

• A person at this level is referred to as __________ which translates to as overman or superman.

Power

______ is more fundamental than pleasure. generally understood a having control over things. It is the intrinsic good.

Will-to-power

By ______________ (Wille zur Macht), it means that we overcome the challenges of life which tend to weaken our determination to live. We call good, including pleasure or happiness only in so far as they enhance our will to power.

Agent-relative non-hedonist

consequentialism

• Since power is the only force that manifests in the world, it is a reflection of our values and our notions of truth and beauty which, pragmatically speaking, temporal and gradually labeled as rational and absolute way of discerning and describing the world of flux and instability.

• Nietzsche attacked the false belief of universal and absolute notions of goodness or beauty as they stifle the creativity of humanity to achieve further possibilities.

• Judeo-Christian religion is the “New Buddhism”, echoing his refutation to his teacher Arthur Schopenhauer who was inspired by the teachings of the Buddha, Nietzsche finds these teachings as self-defeating and a perversion of Pagan, Pre- Christian Greek and Roman master societies.

• Ideas like egalitarianism and democracy are slave moralities, these are mechanisms used by the Untermensch (underman or the inferior) against the Übermensch as they hold ressentiment to the overflowing nature of the nobility. This is discussed in his Story of the lambs and birds of prey.

• As an immoralist himself, Nietzsche dissected into the origins of “good natured”,domesticating values, by origin they are an expression of lack: chastity for sxual impotency, frugality for poverty, humility for lack of pride and obedience for lack of autonomy.

• Nietzsche looks into Envy positively. All of our envies are our desires, everybody naturally wants to become successful, recognized or validated. These are all expressions of our Will-to-power.

Master Morality over Slave morality

Unfortunately, his ideas were used by the Nazis to

justify their persecution of the Jews. His

pronouncement, by its nearest translation, “God

is dead, and we have killed him!” is not a

celebration of recourse to atheism but a renewal,

just like the world in Eternal recurrence, no

beginning no end. With this, he used Dionysius,

the Greek god of frenzy and chaos to

complement Apollo, the Greek god of reason and

order.

Nietzsche, the immorttalist

Unlike utilitarianism, Nietzsche focuses on the individual, as from him: “A moral person lives dangerously”. Although he was against herd-mentality, misinterpretation of Nietzsche’s ideas went inevitable.