Ethics and Moral Philosophy Study Questions

These flashcards cover essential concepts and arguments related to ethical positions on life, rights, and moral status.

Pro-choice position

The belief that it is acceptable to terminate a pregnancy before birth, but not after birth.

Pro-life position

The belief that it is not acceptable to terminate a pregnancy after conception.

Sumner's criticism of moral status

Moral status should develop gradually rather than appear suddenly at a specific time.

Life criteria

Using life as a base would be too broad because everything alive(bacteria, plants) would matter equally but that seems wrong.

Rationality criteria

He says rationality is too narrow because it excludes babies, NRHA but we still think they matter.

Sentience

The capacity to feel pain or pleasure, which Sumner argues should determine moral status.

Marquis's view on killing

It is inherently bad to kill something capable of having a valuable future like ours.

Loss of future explanation

Marquis's argument that killing is wrong because it deprives someone of a valuable future.

Infertility concern

It leads to absurd conclusions, for example infertility; a fertile person(many futures), an infertile person(no future) which would make a fertile person more valuable which is clearly wrong.

Non-rational humans

Individuals who lack rationality but are often afforded moral consideration.

Tooley's account of rights

A right to something means one shouldn’t be deprived of it if they desire it under normal circumstances.

Non-trivial right to life

Only beings capable of desiring their continued existence can have a non-trivial right to life.

Potentiality views

Tooley’s argument is that having potential to become a person doesn't give something a current right to life, because potential properties do no equal actual properties

Argument from Humane Intuitions

The Argument from human intuitions is that if cruel practices cocoamore farming are wrong then similar practices are also wrong.

P1: If cocoamore farming is wrong, then factory farming is wrong

P2: Cocoa farming is wrong.

C: Factory farming is wrong.

Argument from Marginal Cases

The argument is that if it's wrong to harm non-rational humans, then it must also be wrong to harm animals, since both lack rationality.

P1: If NRHA farming is wrong, then factory farming is wrong

P2: NRHA farming is wrong.

C: Factory farming is wrong.

Comparative suffering

This is problematic because we can still make reasonable comparisons of suffering even if they are not exact. Cutting a dog obviously causes more suffering than lightly poking a human.

Tradition's role in morality

Tradition doesn’t determine morality. Ancestors did many things we now reject.

Rawlsian Contractualism

A theory suggesting that non-rational beings do not have rights as they are not part of the rational moral contract.

Social Stability Argument

The assertion that rights for non-rational humans are necessary for societal stability.

Cohen’s account of killing

It is inherently bad to kill something that belongs to a kind whose typical members are rational.