Philosophy - Moral Philosophy Study Guide

Hedonism

The theory that pleasure and a lack of pain are the only intrinsic goods.

Consequentialism

A moral theory asserting that the rightness or wrongness of actions is determined by their outcomes.

Utilitarianism

A moral theory emphasizing the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Phronesis

Practical wisdom, necessary for virtuous living and making moral decisions.

Eudaimonia

A term often translated as happiness but more accurately means flourishing or fulfilling one’s potential.

Moral Exemplars

Individuals who embody virtues and serve as role models for moral behavior.

Experience Machine

A thought experiment that questions the value of a life filled with pleasure that is not real.

Rule Utilitarianism

A form of utilitarianism that upholds rules that maximize happiness when followed consistently.

Act Utilitarianism

The idea that the rightness of an action is determined by its specific consequences.

Mystery & Magic Fallacy

The fallacy of assuming that a lack of natural explanation necessitates a supernatural one.

Quantitative Utilitarianism

A version of utilitarianism that measures happiness and pain in numeric terms.

Heroic Virtue

A quality of individuals who act with moral excellence instinctively.

Verificationism

A statement is meaningless if it cannot be empirically observed.

Emotivism

A moral statement is simply an expression of one’s passion or sentiment.

Meta-Ethics

The field of ethics that looks for the truthmaker for right or wrong.

Divine Command Theory

The truthmaker for moral statements is God’s commands.

Intuitively Wrong Actions

A standard test that an ethical theory is FALSE.

Intrinsic Good

Being happy is a good in itself, also known as this.

Hedonic Calculus

Criteria for Happiness: Intensity, Duration, Proximity, Certainty, Purity, Fecundity, Extent.

Higher Quality Pleasure

Saving from a burning building over getting a massage is this.

Experience Machine

Recommends a Stimulated Happier World to a Sadder Real World.

Deontological Ethics

A Moral Truthmaker is based on Logic (a Duty determined by Logic).

1st Categorical Imperative

If 'what if everybody did that?' makes the rule illogical, then it’s immoral.

2nd Categorical Imperative

Never treat people as a means to your ends only, but as an end in themselves.

Free Will

You can’t use people because we are rational & therefore have this.

Logical Contradiction

Murder asks where the victim is. You must both LIE & not LIE; this is a.

Virtue Ethics

This theory doesn’t focus on actions being right/wrong, but on the person’s character.

Arete

Translation of this term is Virtue.

Phronesis

Translation of this term is Practical Wisdom.

Eudaimonia

Translation of this term is Best of all Possible Lives (Objectively).

Golden Mean

Seeking the balance of courage (between cowardice & recklessness) is this.

Practical Wisdom

Offering her 'Frozen' DVD to a grieving divorcee lacks this.

Ethics of Care

Theory says it’s more moral to save your own child than 20 strangers.

Michael Stocker’s 'The Schizophrenia of Modern Ethical Theories'

You visit a friend in the hospital because you care, not because of ethics.

Self-Centered Virtue Ethics

Christopher Toner claims Virtue Ethics is this.

Ethics

Rational investigation of good & evil, it is logical, unbiased, and consists of facts that are definitionally coherent.

Moral Relativism

The view that moral judgments are true or false only relative to some particular standpoint (you can’t judge one culture’s morals by the standards of another.)

True or False: All moral facts are only relative to cultures.

False.

Truthmaker

Correspondence of thought bubble with a physical fact.

True or false: Moral truthmakers are material objects.

False.

Hume Is/Out Fallacy

Values do not equal facts.

Meta-Ethics

The area of Ethics that seeks moral truths.

Emotivism/Subjectivism

Statements are meaningless if not empirically observed.

Who said “Emotivism comes from Verification”?

Ludwig Wittgenstein.

A.J. Ayer proposed what?

Verificationism spawned logical positivism.

Are moral statements facts or emotional opinions?

Only emotional opinions.

“Yuck, Murder.” “Yay, Charity” is neither true nor false so it is a…?

Non-cognitive statement.

The truth maker is a physical fact that equals…?

That person’s opinion.

Ludwig Wittgenstein lived from?

1889-1951.

A.J. Ayer lived from?

1910-1989.

Divine Command Theory

God is the source, the truth maker of right and wrong.

Euthyphro 1

Prosecuting the impious is peity.

Euthyphro 2

What’s loved by the Gods?

Euthyphro Dilemma

Being loved by all the Gods makes it Pious.

Why does God command things?

Because God recognizes something about moral things that makes them moral.

God is Love (John 4:8)

Moral not b/c God commanded it, but because of God’s character.

The statement “God is Good'‘ is not praiseworthy because…?

It must have a meaning apart from God saying so.

Crude piece of Religion was developed by which academic theologian that abandoned DVC?

B. Williams

A statement is meaningless if it cannot be empirically observed.

Verificationism.

A moral statement is simply an expression of one’s passion or sentiment.

Emotivism.

he field of ethics that looks for the truthmaker for right or wrong.

Meta-Ethics.

The truthmaker for moral statements is God’s commands.

Divine Command Theory