Ethics Exam 2 | Philosophers

Edward H. Spence

“Deception: Reality TV Playing Us False”

• gods & heroes=viceful

  • Plato’s Republic doesn’t like this

  • most influential “poets” foster reality TV— false messages

  • deception

Christopher Meyers

“Flourishing: Reality TV and a Life of Ethical Excellence”

• reality TV=good

• enriching elements

  • spirituality

  • resources

• flourishing conditions

  • reality TV helps humans flourish

  • some are good, the ones that are bad doesn’t entirely corrupt one’s excellence”

Jeffrey W. Howard

“Moral Subversion and Structural Entrapment”

• entrapment: law enforcement agent INSTIGATES someone into committing a crime so that they can punish

  • think John Quinones on “What Would You Do?”

• Howard rejects subjective test solution to verify entrapment

  • a subjective test

    • entrapment=if person didn’t have a PREDISPOSITION to commit the crime & police encourages individual to commit the crime

    • if person already possessed an inclination to commit crime, then police persuasion is permissible

Thomas Hobbes

• social construct theory

• political philosophy

  • human nature

    -natural self-centered & equal humans

    -equal in being a credible threat to another

  • state of nature

    -no governing power to regulate men

    -pre-government, people are nasty & see each other as enemies

• humans fear living in state of nature

  • to avoid, they follow authority → peace

• should give monarch absolute authority

  • goverment invites disputes → overstep its bounds → could lead to war

• true liberties of subjects

  • a person isn’t obliged to absolute obedience to monarch

John Locke

• state of nature

  • believes that morality doesn’t exist without civil authority

  • beleives that OBJECTIVE moral principles can excist apart from civil authority

• account of property

  • we are property acquiring beings

  • we own what we put our labor into

• God created us → we are his property

• government protects our right to our lives, liberty, private property

Crito

• visited Socrates in prison with other friends

  • can get Socrates out with a “few bribes”

  • gaslights Socrates that if he refuses to escape, it would look bad on Socrates’ friends

• Socrates says that they shouldn’t care about public opinion

  • if he escapes, he would be seen as an outlaw

John Rawls

youtube lecture

• social contract theory

  • moral/political obligations come about through the consent of the community

• Principle of Legitimacy

  • test for acceptable use of political power in a democracy

Stephen Kershnar

“For Discrimination Against Women”

• morally permissible & should be legal for state professional schools to discriminate against women

  • EX: law schools, med schools, business schools

• justified for schools to not rank women as highly as men

  • women=less likely to effectively produce as men

Fritz Allhoff

“A Defense of Torture: Separation of Cases, Ticking Time Bomb, and Moral Justification”

• torture is justified in some cases

  • ticking time bomb movie | torture one person to save the lives of many more people

  • torture=prima facie wrong | permissible to do a prima facie moral wrong to bring about greater moral good

• Kantianism is WRONG

  • torture is contrary to the kingdom of ends

Patrick Lee

Abortion Debate

believes that gay marriage is unethical because they don’t have the ability to reproduce

• embryo=human organism | when conception happens

  • a distinct being

  • has rights & is rational

David Boonin

Abortion Debate

• even if fetus has a right to life, they don’t have a right to stay alive

• uses Bone Marrow Transplant Analogy

  • Dr.Boonin needed a bone marrow transplant, would he have the right to force someone to give him one?

    -most would say no

Germain Grisez

“Suicide and Euthanasia”

• one should never act in a way directly detrimental to an intrinsic good

• euthanasia=wrong

  • direct attack on the intrinsic good of life

  • suicide is an unintended side effect

    -martyr & hero don’t intentionally write own destruction

• instrumental goods=goods valued as a means toward a FURTHER good

  • money, hammer, thermometer

• intrinsic goods=goods we value for their own sake

  • friendship, love, happiness

Euthyphro

Plato

• Euthyphro Dilemma

  • something is morally good because the GODS commanded it to be good (Divine Command Theory)

William Lane Craig

“The Indispensibility of Theological Meta-Ethical Foundations for Morality”

• morality is objective, unchanging, universal

• God=necessary meta-ethical foundation for morality

  • his ecistence the moral values & duty objectives are secured