Ethics Lecture Review: Kant, Utilitarianism, Confucius, and Buddhism

Vocabulary-style flashcards covering the key concepts and major figures from Immanuel Kant, Utilitarianism, Confucianism, and Buddhism as presented in the lecture notes.

Immanuel Kant

A German philosopher, mathematician, and physicist whose work addresses the constraints of human knowledge to the empirical realm of space and time.

Categorical Imperative

A moral law that is unconditional or absolute for all agents, acting as the product of human rationality and the only basis for determining duties.

Good Will

The effort of rational beings to do what they ought to do rather than acting from inclination; it is considered good in itself by virtue of volition.

Deontological moral theory

A theory where the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on whether they fulfill duty rather than on their consequences.

Hypothetical Imperatives

Commands that are conditional upon an individual having a relevant desire, such as studying or eating.

Formula of Universal Principle

A formulation of the categorical imperative: "act only with that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it become a universal law."

Formula of Humanity

A formulation of the categorical imperative: "act that you use humanity… always at the same time as an end, never merely as a means."

Utilitarianism

A moral theory emphasizing that pleasure is inherently good and pain is bad, aiming to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.

Jeremy Bentham

The philosopher who introduced the principle of utility, defined as the greatest happiness for the greatest numbers ($1784$-$1832$).

Utility

The property in any object whereby it tends to produce pleasure, good, or happiness to the party whose interest is considered.

Felicity calculus

Jeremy Bentham's method for calculating pleasure and pain based on seven elements: intensity, duration, probability, proximity, fecundity, purity, and extent.

John Stuart Mill

English philosopher ($1806$-$1873$) and student of Bentham who coined the term utilitarianism and argued for higher spiritual and aesthetic pleasures.

Principle of Utility

The principle that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness (pleasure and absence of pain) and wrong as they produce the reverse.

Confucius

Also known as K'ung Fu-tzu or Master K'ung ($551$–$479$ b.c.e.), a teacher who promoted social order based on benevolence, custom, and moral cultivation.

Li

In Confucianism, the rules of conduct, sense of propriety, custom, and ceremony necessary for social order.

Jen

The Confucian concept of humanity or benevolence used as a basis for personal moral cultivation.

Humanism

Any philosophy emphasizing human welfare and dignity, believing human intelligence can improve conditions in the "here and now."

Golden Mean (chung-yung)

A Confucian concept signifying centrality and universality, consisting of moderation, normality, and equilibrium.

Chun-Tzu

The "Superior Man" who takes righteousness as his basic stuff (chih) and practices it with the rules of correct usage (li).

Tao

The Way in Confucianism; following human nature as imparted by Heaven (T'ien), the cultivation of which is called education.

Siddhartha Gautama

The Buddha, a former prince who sought enlightenment after witnessing the Four Signs of suffering: poverty, sickness, old age, and death.

Ascetics

Individuals who turn away from pleasure and limit sensual appetites through fasting and prayer to achieve salvation or peace of mind.

Four Noble Truths

Buddha's teaching that suffering is universal, caused by greed and egocentrism, but can be overcome by following the Eightfold Path.

Middle Path

A path proposed by Siddhartha Gautama that rejects the extremes of both indulgence and denial.

Bodhisattva

An enlightened being who voluntarily postpones his own nirvana to help other conscious life-forms find "supreme release."

Eightfold Path

A guide for behavior consisting of wisdom (panna), right conduct (sila), and right mental training (samadhi).