PHI 210 - Midterm review

Aristotle (Book I-II), Bentham, Mills, Kant, Maria von Herbert

What is the main idea of the Nicomachean Ethics?

How do we form our character and become a good person?

What is the subordinate end vs. master end?

A subordinate end helps develop a higher end. The master end is the one all ends lead to. There is only one, shared by everyone.

What is the master end?

Happiness (eudaimonia: eu + daimon, "good soul"). Everyone agrees verbally, but people differ on what it is.

What are the three lives and what does each pursue?

Enjoyment: bodily pleasure
Political: honor
Contemplative: knowledge
They are parts of happiness, not all of it.

What two features make happiness the true master end?

It is self-sufficient and final: never desired for the sake of something else.

What is the function argument (plant vs animals vs humans)?

Plants: nutrition/growth
Animals: perception
Humans: rational thought
Human function = rational activity of the soul in accordance with excellence to become virtuous.

Where does happiness come from?

Having a virtuous soul, developed from training and habits.

Intellectual vs. moral virtue (Aristotle)?

Intellectual: from teaching, experience and time
Moral: from habit; we are blank slates and learn by doing. Cycle: action → habit → character.

What is the mean?

Virtue sits between a defect and an excess, and is flexible: what's virtuous for me may differ from you.

Criteria for a virtuous action and feeling?

Action: knowledge, chosen for its own sake, from a firm character
Feeling: right time, object, people, way and motive.

What does Bentham argue for?

The non-selfish pursuit of the greatest happiness for the greatest number

Who are the two "sovereign masters"?

Pain and pleasure

What is the felicific calculus, and its 7 factors?

His method for weighing pleasures and pains: intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, extent (Idiots-Don’t-Cuddle-Perfect-Friendly-People-Ever)

What is Intensity?

How Strong

What is duration?

How Long

What is Certainty?

How Likely

What is propinquity?

How Soon

What is Fecundity?

Likely to be followed by more sensations of the same kind.

What is purity?

Likely not to be followed by sensations of the opposite kind

What is Extent and the rule of thumb?

Extent is how many people are affected. If a pleasure affects many, move toward it; if a pain affects many, avoid it.

Main criticism of Bentham?

It counts only quantity of sensation and seems to reduce humans to "machines" of pleasure and pain.

What determines moral value for Mill?

Pleasure and pain
Happiness = pleasure and the absence of pain

State the Greatest Happiness Principle

Actions are right in proportion as they promote happiness, wrong as they produce the reverse.

What objection does Mill answer?

That utilitarianism makes us no better than animals chasing pleasure.

What is Mill’s defense?

Pleasures differ in quality, not just quantity, because humans have higher faculties.

Mental vs Bodily pleasures?

Mental pleasures last longer and are higher. Bodily pleasures have a limited effect.

What is Mill's test for a higher pleasure?

Once someone gets in contact with both pleasures, they will prefer on and that is the more desirable pleasure.

Can quality outweigh quantity?

Yes. A small amount of a higher pleasure can outweigh a large amount of a lower one.

Bentham vs. Mill?

Bentham: quantity only, calculates sensation
Mill: quantity + quality, doesn't calculate, keeps the "greatest happiness for the greatest number."

How does Mill see humans?

Beyond bodily pleasure and pain: with autonomy, dignity and moral agency.

Which type of theory is Kant's?

Deontology is that value lies in duty, rule or law; results don't matter.

What makes the good will good?

It acts from duty (reason).

Four types of action and their worth?

A: contrary to duty, negative
B: in accordance with duty from indirect (selfish) inclination, neutral
C: in accordance with duty from direct inclination, neutral
D: in accordance with and from duty, positive.

What is a maxim, and where is worth found?

The subjective rule of action (the motive). Worth lies in the maxim, not the result; only universalizable maxims conform to the moral law.

What is duty?

The necessity to act from respect (the rational feeling) for the moral law.

Perfect vs. imperfect will?

Perfect: reason alone determines it, no command needed. Human: also moved by inclinations, so needs an imperative ("ought")

Hypothetical vs. categorical imperative?

Hypothetical: conditional, a means to an end (rules of skill, counsels of prudence)
Categorical: unconditional, necessary in itself.

Duties from the CI?

Preserve human life (your own included), generosity, develop natural talents, no lying.

Autonomy, heteronomy, dignity?

Autonomous = self-ruling through reason
Heteronomous = ruled by something else
Reason gives choice, freedom and dignity.

The three formulations of the CI?

1) Universal law: will that your maxim become universal law
2) Law of nature: as if your maxim were a law of nature
3) Humanity as an end: never treat people merely as a means.

Who is Maria von Herbert, and who wrote the essay?

A woman (1769–1803) who wrote letters to Kant. The essay is by Rae Langton.

Which two Kantian duties are in tension?

The duty not to lie and the duty to preserve life.

What was Maria’s problem in letter 1?

She didn't disclose everything about her past; when she did, the relationship ended; because of this, she wants to end her life.

How does Kant see her in letter?

As having actively lied, which is different from an unintentional omission.

What does Kant think of her friend's cold response?

It is expected, and Maria's moral penalty is deserved.

What does Kant overlook?

Suicide

What does Maria claim in her second letter?

She has no desires or passions, so following the CI is easy for her.

Why is her claim wrong?

She has at least two inclinations: she wants to meet Kant, and she wants to end her life (which opposes the CI).

What is Langton's view?

The CI only makes clear sense when inclinations oppose it. Without them, or with ones that "agree" with it, its command is hard to see or feel.