Morality and Justice EXAM #1

What is an argumet?

A set of premises (claims, reasons, evidence) offered in support of a conclusion (the main claim being defended)

What is a reason?

they are premises

What is a premise?

A statement used as a logical foundation to support a conclusion (aka reason)

What is a conclusion?

The main point of the argument

What does it mean to reason?

to form beliefs cliams used to defend further claims, use claims to support conclusion claims

What does it take to reason well? How about reasoning poorly?

Prioritizing accuracy in forming beliefs, discovering the truth. Forming beliefs based on what you desire to be the case, instead of what is actually the case, defending your view.

What is motivated reasoning?

forming beliefs based on basis of what is most desired at the cost of what is most accurate

What is confirmation bias?

tendency to notice or focus on potential evidence for our pre-existing views, while neglecting any evidence to the contrary (subset of motivated reasoning)

What is a valid argument? Can you construct a valid argument?

An argument where the conclusion logically follows from the premises, the premises (if true) would guarantee the truth of the conclusion.

What is a sound argument? Can you construct sound arguments?

An argument that must be true and have the proper structure ..

Can you identify valid arguments? Sound arguments?

What are some actions we condemn past generations for? Why?

• Slavery

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What is a moral blindspot?

A person unknowingly favoring one side, especially when it is embedded and normalized in society, making it hard to consider it as morally wrong

What does it mean to condemn?

To blame someone, forming the judgement that one did something morally wrong

What is it for an action to be blameworthy?

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What is ethics?

The study of right vs. wrong actions; practice of giving and defending reasons for why certain actions are wrong

Can you give an example of an ethical situation? Can you identify ethical situations?

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What question is ethics concerned with?

“How to live a good life?”

What are moral intutions?

One’s natural, initial judgement on the morality of a situtation ?

What role do moral intuitions play in moral theorizing?

starting point of moral inquiry, intutions can be used to ask if we are being consistent accross cases

Should we always trust our moral intuitions? Why or why not?

No, we should not always trust it because it is not usually backed up by an accurate perception of the situation

Can you give an example of a moral intuition you have that, upon reflection, you would endorse?

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Can you give an example of a moral intuition that you have (or have had) that, upon reflection, you would not endorse?

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What is a thought experiment? What use do they have in moral inquiry?

It is

What are examples of thought experiments discussed in class?

• Vintage Sedan vs. Envelope

• Fred tortures puppies & Cocoamone in coffee/cake?

• The dying violinist and music appreciation society

• Open Window: People-seeds, and burglar

What role do intuitions and reason play in ethics?

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How are we supposed to consult our moral intutitions?

We are meant to use them as a starting point in our argument?

What is the Vintage Sedan Case?

• Vintage Sedan is your prized possession, the only luxury in your life

• Driving down a rural road and finding a man wounded and covered in blood

  • The man cut himself on a rusty barbed wire after trespassing on a field

  • Kicked out of medical school, so he knew how to tie a diy turniquet to stop the bleeding

• If you carry the man into your car, you will have to pay $5,000 in repair damages to get his blood out of you upholstery

• If you don’t help the man, he will not die, but he will lose his leg

What is the Envelope case?

Unicef send you a letter asking for $100 check to help save 30+ children from imminent death

What is Unger’s Puzzle? What (4) features make it puzzling?

Envelope should be just as, if not, more, morally impermissible than the Vintage Sedan

• Vintage Sedan costs x50 more than the envelope

• 1 person vs. 30+ children

• Loss of a leg vs loss of life

• Responsible for misfortune vs. innocent in their misfortune

What is a preservationist strategy in general?

The goal is to maintain the status quo of moral standards in society

What is a liberationist strategy in general?

The goal is to liberate society from our initial moral intuition to understand the more accurate moral standards

What are particular preservationist replies to Unger’s puzzle?

• Physical and social proximity, informative directness, and experiential impact all make the Vintage Sedan case feel more urgent in a way the envelope doesn’t

• The disastrous further future of the kids makes their death morally permissible

• Unique potential savior vs. multiple potential saviors

• The thought of the government who should be responsible for saving the children in the underdeveloped country

• Multitude of children vs the single individual makes it easier and more satisfying help one person and see a beneficial result

What are particular liberationist replies to those preservationist replies?

• No matter how close or far the children are, there is still great urgency to help because their death is imminent

• The pain the children may experience in their future does not justify denying them life

• Many people assume another person will send money to UNICEF, so almost nobody sends money to help the children

• The moral work that the government does does not correlate with the moral work that you yourself do

• It is human nature to want a problem that is simple to fix with a good result, but that doesn’t morally justify not helping the sick children

Be able to list at least three preservationist attempts to vindicate our moral intuitions in the original cases. And be able to articulate at least one (liberationist) response to each of those.

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Do you get the intuition that driving away in Vintage Sedan is morally better or worse than

chucking the envelope in Envelope?

• Defend your view by giving at least two moral reasons.

• That is, explain why they are not mere psychological explanations (for why you have

the intuitions you have) but are moral justifications (for the intuitions you have).

My intuition said it is worse to drive away in the Vintage Sedan because the Unicef children are products of their environment and more kids will continue to fall ill unless there is a systematic change in their underdeveloped country and ?

What is a morally permissible action?

Something that we are allowed to do

What is a morally impermissible action?

Something we should not do

What are some reasons people give for moral permissibility of eating meat?

• Humans have biologically evolved to eat meat

• Humans have moral superiority due to our cognitive sophistication and rationality

• Humans and domestic farm animals have an interdependent relationship, where humans must eat the animals in order to continue raising them and giving them life

What are some reasons people give for moral impermissibility of eating meat?

• Animals suffer and feel pain as well

• Human desire for gustatory pleasure does not outweigh the animals’ right to well-being

• Not morally just to treat cognitively inferior Humans as animals, even if there are animals more rational than them

Is gustatory pleasure a morally relevant reason for eating meat? Does the pleasure we get from eating meat justify the mistreatment of animals in factory farming?

No, because our decision to deny our own desire for pleasure is significantly less harmful than forcing animals into the horrible conditions

Why do opps of facotry farming industry focus on factory farms? Why are they more concerned with factory farming than, say individuals who hunt animals?

Factory farming is done at a large industrial scale, which means there is often negligence for the care and well-being of the animals, whereas hunting is done on a much smaller scale and immediately kills the animals instead of making it’s life full of suffering.

What is the Fred and the puppies case?

• Fred gets in a car accident that irreparably damages his godiva gland, which secretes cocoamone ( a hormone responsible for the taste of chocolate)

• Fred discovers that the only way he can taste chocolate again is by extracting cocoamone from tortured puppies put under severe stress and suffering

• Fred keeps 26 puppies stored in small wire cages, tortures them for 6 months, and then brutally kills them, 1 puppy = 1 week of cocoamone

What does it mean for two cases to be morally analogous to one another?

The two cases are parallels to each other, reflecting the same moral question

permissibility stand and fall together, as required by logic and reason

Why does Norcross think the actions of meat eaters are morally analogous to Fred?

Both Fred and meat eaters view their own gustatory pleasure as more significant than the well-being of animals

How would a liberationist reply to Norcross’ argument?

They would agree and emphasize that the inferior rationality of an animal does not justify humans in sentencing them to a life of suffering

How would a preservationist reply to Norcross’ argument?

They would disagree, arguing that humans are justified in their desire for gustatory pleasure because humans are more morally significant than animals. Many people are reluctant to torture their puppies, not out of moral obligation, but because of sentimental preference(Texan Modus Tollens).

What is the relationship between morality and the law?

Morality acts as a guide for the law?

What is Marquis’s argument in your own words?

Abortion is wrong because fetuses have a FLO

Why does Marquis think it is wrong to kill in general?

It deprives a person of a future like ours (FLO)

What is a FLO? What is it’s significance in Marquis’ argument?

A future like ours, its significance is that a fetus should be granted the same rights as a human because they will be one?

How does Thompson’s argument interact with question about fetal personhood?

The argument does not deny fetal personhood, they concede that the fetus has a FLO

In general: what is Thompson’s argumentative strategy?

They argue that the fetus's right to life does not give it the right to use the mother’s body for its own survival.

What is the hidden premise Thompson calls out in Marquis's argument?

A fetus’s right to life does not give it the right to use another person’s body to sustain its own life

What is the Violinist thought experiment?

• Society of Music Lovers wants to save a famous dying violinist from their fatal kidney ailment

• S of ML find out you are the only one with the right blood type to save him, kidnap you, and hook you up as a life support to the famous dying violinist

What is the People Seeds thought experiment?

• World where babies are made by opening a window and letting in people seeds into your house where they nest themselves in your carpet and upholstery

• If you open the window for fresh air, are you responsible for the people seed that grows in your house, especially if you put up a mesh screen

In your view what makes getting an abortion permissible or impermissible? What is the best reason for and against you view?

Getting an abortion is …

What is active euthanasia?

Intentionally ending a medically ill person’s life (lethal injection)

What is passive euthanasia?

Natural death by terminating medical treatments

How does Rachels relate active and passive euthanasia?

They believe active and passive euthanasia are the same thing because they both result in death

How does Gay-Williams relate active and passive euthanasia?

They believe active euthanasia is impermissible while passive euthanasia is permissible because it is not intentional killing, but death of natural causes

What is the status quo in the US like with respect to active vs passive euthanasi?

What does “killing is worse than letting die” mean?

Why does Rachels believe active euthanasia is the same as passive?

What is the argument for the claim that killing and letting die are morally analogous?

What is the argument for the claim that passive euthanasia is cruel?

What are the Smith vs. Jones thought experiments intended to show?

What are the two camps (Rachels vs Gay-Williams) disagreeing about regarding distinction between active and passive euthanasia?

What are some arguments for the claim that euthanasia is morally wrong?

What is the unjust burdens argument?

instead of pushing social systems to change and take good care of the elderly, elderly will feel selfish to continue living and wasting money and resources of their family on their care

What is the slippery slope argument?

What is the argument from nature?

the body is biologically built to survive

What is the argument from riskiness?

Under what conditions do you think euthanasia is permissible? Under what circumstances is it impermissible?

What are the 4 steps to thought experiments?

What is initial judgement?

Don’t be swayed by consistency

How do you feel about the case

Be boring - don’t try to add details