LSU PHIL 2020 Ethics Final Exam - Blakely (Exam 1 & Exam 2 & New Material)

What is meta-ethics?

The subfield of moral philosophy that focuses on issues regarding the fundamental status and nature of morality.

What is normative ethical theory?

The subfield of moral philosophy that focuses on identifying and defending standards of right conduct and/or good living.

What is the definition of an argument?

A group of propositions such that at least one of them, the premise(s), is said to support the truth of the other, the conclusion.

What is the difference between a deductive and an inductive/non-deductive argument?

In deductive arguments, the truth of the premises is said to guarantee the truth of the conclusion and in inductive arguments, the truth of the premises is said to make the truth of the conclusion more likely than not.

What is the definition of a fallacy?

A fallacy is an error in reasoning such that even if the premises are true they do not logically imply the truth of the conclusion.

What is the law of non-contradiction?

The dictum that a proposition and its negation cannot both be true at the same time and in the same respect.

What is a self-defeating (i.e. self-contradictory) theory or claim?

Any theory or claim that ultimately proves itself false because it requires the truth of a contradiction.

What is the form of a "modus ponens" argument?

1. If P, then Q. 2. P. 3. Thus, Q.

What, if any, fallacy is committed in the following passage? "John Smith is an idiot."

None of the above.

What, if any, fallacy is committed in the following passage? "Moral anti-realism is the view that there are no objective moral facts. Evelyn espouses moral anti-realism. But, Evelyn is a real jerk. Thus, moral anti-realism is not true."

Ad hominem / Attack against the person.

What, if any, fallacy is committed in the following passage? "There are only two reasonable options. Either objective morality is based on religion or moral nihilism is true. You reject religious morality. Thus, you must be a moral nihilist."

False dilemma / dichotomy.

What, if any, fallacy is committed in the following passage? "We must prohibit birth control. If we don't outlaw birth control, then people will have affairs outside of their marriage. The more people that have affairs, the more divorce rates will increase. Ultimately, that will erode the moral fabric of society and cause the collapse of western civilization."

Slippery slope.

What is ethical non-naturalism?

The meta-ethical view that states objective moral truths are based on truths of reason.

What is moral/cultural relativism?

The view that there are no universal, cross-culturally binding moral judgements and that morality is a matter of different customs and cultural traditions. Sometimes including the view that we ought not judge other cultural traditions.

What is divine command theory?

The meta-ethical view that objective morality is dependent on divine will.

What is an ethically significant truth of reason?

A moral truth that is non-empirical, universal, results in self-evident absurdity if denied, and guides conduct in some way.

According to Layman's "The Shape of the Good" essay, which of the following, if any, is a criticism of secular morality?

Layman claims secular morality suffers from the problem of secret violations.

According to Layman's "The Shape of the Good" essay, which of the following, if any, is a reason in support of religious morality?

D.) Both A and C.

A.) Layman argues that religious morality includes goods in the afterlife instead of merely earthly goods.

C.) Layman argues that religious morality is not open to the secret violations objection.

According to John Arthur's "Religion, Morality, and Conscience," which of the following is a problem for religious morality?

Arthur argues that religious morality suffers from the problem deciding between conflicting interpretations of revelation and moral commands.

According to Arthur, in what way, if any, is religion related to morality?

Arthur argues that there is a social/cultural connection between morality and religion, but not any necessary or conceptual relationship between religion and morality.

What is Gilbert Harman's basic argument for moral anti-realism in his "Ethics and Observation" essay?

Harman's basic argument is that moral facts don't exist because they do not play a role in explaining what we observe in the same way that scientific facts do.

According to Russ Shafer-Landau's "Ethics as Philosophy" what is the main problem with Harman's argument for moral anti-realism?

Shafer-Landau argues that Harman's argument is self-defeating because it relies on the truth of the claim "There are no existential truths other than those ratified by perfected natural sciences" but that claim is not ratified by the natural sciences. So it generates a contradiction and is self-defeating.

What is the basic idea of Russ Shafer-Landau's argument for moral realism in his "Ethics as Philosophy" essay?

Shafer-Landau argues that moral realism is true because ethics is a species of philosophy and one of the essential traits of philosophy is the realistic status of truths.

What is the basic argument of Ruth Benedict's "A Defense of Moral Relativism" for cultural relativism?

Benedict draws on anthropological data to show that cultures disagree about what counts as morally normal/abnormal conduct.

According to Ruth Benedict's "A Defense of Moral Relativism" what do moral judgments express?

According to Benedict, moral judgments are expressions of cultural norms, habits, or customs that vary across cultures.

According to James Rachels' "The Challenge of Cultural Relativism" which of the following, if any, is a criticism of the cultural differences argument for relativism?

Rachels claims that there is less moral disagreement between cultures than there initially appears.

What principle, if any, does Rachels propose as a universal, cross-cultural moral standard?

Rachels proposes a standard that asks whether the social practice in question helps or hinders the welfare of the peoples whose lives are affected by that practice as a universal, cross-cultural moral norm.

According to Frans de Waal, what are the three levels of human morality?

Social instincts, social pressure, and judgment/reasoning.

According to Frans de Waal, what are the basic "building blocks" of morality?

Empathy, reciprocity, retribution, conflict resolution, and fairness.

According to Frans de Waal, at what level, if any, is the greatest difference between humans and primates in regard to morality?

The largest difference is at the level of judgment/reasoning.

What is an intrinsic value?

An intrinsic value is good or valuable in itself, not because it is useful for obtaining another end or purpose.

What is an instrumental value?

An instrumental value is good or valuable for achieving some other end or purpose, not because it is valuable in itself.

What is the difference between a teleological and a non-teleological moral theory?

Teleological theories emphasize the idea that actions are right if they produce or achieve a particular outcome and non-teleological theories emphasize the idea that actions are right regardless of whether or not they produce or achieve a particular outcome.

Which of the following theories, if any, is an example of a non-teleological ethical theory?

Deontology

Which of the following theories, if any, is an example of a teleological ethical theory?

Both A and C.

A.) Utilitarianism.

C.) Aristotle's virtue ethics.

What is the golden mean?

The normative standard that states we ought to cultivate those character traits that are a mean between two extremes, one of excess and one of deficiency.

What is the categorical imperative?

The normative standard that states we ought to act only on those maxims that can be rationally willed as a universal law and to always treat humanity as an end-in-itself rather than a mere means.

What is the greatest happiness principle?

The normative standard that states we ought to act so as to maximize overall happiness and minimize pain.

According to Kant's deontological ethics, what are the four types of duties/obligations?

According to Kant, there are duties to the self, duties to others, perfect duties, and imperfect duties.

According to Kant deontological ethics, what type of imperative is the basis of morality?

According to Kant, the categorical imperative is the basis of morality.

According to Kant deontological ethics, which of the following is an example of a perfect duty to oneself?

The obligation against suicide.

According to Kant deontological ethics, what is the basis for moral consideration or moral standing?

Rationality.

According to Daniel Malloy's essay "He Thinks He's People" what, if anything, does Peter do wrong to Brian on Family Guy?

Peter uses Brian as a mere means to achieve Peter's goal of earning money to buy a new air conditioner; thus failing to respect his moral personhood/autonomy.

According to O'Neil, what constitutes using a person as a mere means?

According to O'Neil, using a person as a mere mean is to involve them in some plan of action to which they cannot, in principle, give consent.

According to O'Neil, what does Kant's deontological theory require in regard to beneficence?

According to O'Neil, Kantian/deontological beneficence requires that we act on some maxims that foster the ends of other agents.

According to Kant's deontological ethics, what, if anything, is intrinsically valuable?

According to Kant's theory, rational agency is intrinsically valuable.

According to Mill, what is the difference between a higher pleasure and a lower pleasure?

According to Mill, higher pleasure are those associated with mental pleasures and lower pleasure are bodily pleasures.

What is the difference between act ("extreme") utilitarianism and rule (" restricted") utilitarianism?

"Extreme" utilitarianism determines right conduct by considering the consequences of a particular action whereas "restricted" utilitarianism determines right conduct by considering the consequences of following rules.

According to Mill's utilitarian ethics, what is happiness?

According to Mill's ethics, happiness is pleasure.

According to Mill's moral theory, what, if anything, is intrinsically valuable?

According to Mill's theory, pleasure is intrinsically valuable.

According to Mill's utilitarian ethics, what is the basis for moral consideration or moral standing?

Sentience.

According to Kevin Murtagh's essay, "Blasphemous Humor in South Park", is the blasphemous humor on South Park immoral?

According to Murtagh, no it is not immoral, according to Mill's utilitarian theory, so long as the offensive or blasphemous humor has some redeeming social value that contributes to overall happiness. But if the blasphemous humor is done for the sole purpose of upsetting people, then it would be immoral.

What are Aristotle's three types of friendship?

Friendships of utility, pleasure, and the good/human flourishing.

According to Aristotle's virtue ethics, what is happiness?

According to Aristotle's ethics, happiness is eudaimonia or human flourishing.

What is the indeterminacy or "no clear standard" objection to virtue ethics?

The indeterminacy objection claims that virtue ethics fails to provide a standard for guiding conduct.

What is the basic idea of Rosalind Hursthouse's response to the indeterminacy or "no clear standard" objection to virtue ethics?

Hursthouse argues that virtue ethics derives action-guiding standards or "v-rules" from the character traits of an ideally virtuous agent.

According to Barwick's essay, "George's Failed Quest for Happiness", what does Barwick argue how George can potentially achieve happiness?

Barwick argues B and C.

B.) Barwick argues George would have a better chance of achieving happiness if he avoids the more contrary or opposed extreme.

C.) Barwick argues George would have a better chance of achieving happiness if he is more careful in regard to pleasures.

According to Yu, would the moral saint laugh at South Park?

According to Yu, yes the moral saint may laugh at South Park. She argues that it is possible to find something funny without actually endorsing the attitudes of a joke. But laughter may be immoral if it involves endorsing mean-spirited or malicious attitudes.

Situationist objection to traditional virtue ethics

claims draws on evidence from social psychology that suggests people do not have stable character traits of the sort presupposed by traditional virtue ethics

Fundamental attribution error

mistake of assuming moral agents have stable character traits in terms of which we can explain their actions/behavior

Social Contract Theory

central element of modern political philosophy, but recently some philosophers have aimed to develop an account of moral theory based on contractual agreement

Moral Contractarianism

view that moral norms derive their normative force from a contract or mutual agreement between rational, self-interested agents

Lord of Flies

social contract theory, state of nature or condition of humankind before formation of civil society

Hobbes

state of nature, rational self-interest, contract

Gauthier

crisis of morality, morality of constraint; contractarianism resolves crisis

Hampton

criticizes Gauthier's response of the knave; inherent value of individual

Hume's fork

matters of fact, relations of ideas

Hume

reason a slave to the passions; moral judgments--->judgments of character; argument: moral judgment intrinsically motivating, factual judgments not intrinsically motivating, moral judgments not factual judgments, moral judgments based on sentiment

Hume virtue

to ourselves and to others, quality or character traits that have utility and ones that are agreeable

Benevolence

the sentiment of wishing "to promote the interests of our species, and bestow happiness on human society" and generally to be "useful" to others; Hume says this is only virtue necessary; have to supplement it with justice

Nietzsche

rejects notion of objective moral truths, rejects traditional moral theory, says utilitarianism is boring like the rest of moral philosophy

Noble morality

morality of ruling class

Overman

man is something that should be overcome and we will be laughing stock for the overman; meaning of the earth

Criticism of Nietzsche

logically self-defeating rejects all objective claims of moral value and truth, but he asserts truth and moral claims overman, slave-morality. If no objective true morality, his own views not true

Sartre's existentialism

existence precedes essence- rejection of traditional assumption of most western moral philosophy, freedom, responsibility, bad faith

Bad faith

one who practices is hiding displeasing truth or presenting truth as unpleasing untruth, structure of falsehood, implies unity of a single consciousness

Existentialism as Humanism

man condemned to be free; once over thrown into world responsible for everything he does

Radical freedom

condition of humanity each person finds themselves radically free, since we are free agents we must pick how we live

Foucault

biopower is administration of life; biopolitics popullations, discipline individuals.

Critique

critical ethos as virtue, ethics as self-transformation aimed at subverting normalized ideas, akin to virtue

Levinas face of other

destroys and overflows plastic image it leaves

The other

faces me and puts me in question and obliges me, if cant have power over the other its bc he overflows every idea I have of him

Ethical egoism

states individuals ought pursue their own self-interest; rational self-interest is guide to right conduct

Psychological egoism

people do only act out of self-interest

Randian argument

individual source of ultimate value, ethics of altruism requires individual to readily sacrifice themselves to others, ethics of altruism doesn't account for value of individual, ethical egoism only moral theory that takes account of value of individual, ethical egoism correct ethical theory

Rachels covers

3 arguments for ethical egoism

general welfare, Randian, revisionist argument

Against ethical egoism

Argument from conflict resolution, from logical inconsistency(self-defeating) and arbitrariness

Randian argument for ethical egoism

person has only one life to live. If we place any value on the individual- that is, if the individual has any moral worth-then we must agree that this life is of supreme importance; ethics of altruism regards the life of an individual as something which must be readily sacrificed for others; ethics of altruism does not take seriously the value of individual; ethical egoism does take the human being's individuality serious, and is the only philosophy that does so; ethical egoism is the philosophy that ought to be accepted

Feminist criticism

argue that priority of justice over care in traditional moral theory is indicative of a masculine bias in western moral philosophy theory