Ethics and Moral Philosophy - Video Lecture Flashcards

A set of vocabulary-style flashcards covering key concepts from the ethics lecture notes.

Ethics

A field of philosophical inquiry that asks fundamental questions about morality and seeks answers supported by strong reasons.

Moral Codes

Beliefs concerning right and wrong, good and bad.

Rationality

A core component of ethics emphasizing evidence and reasoning; facts are more important than opinions.

Evidence

Facts or data used to justify or support a moral claim.

Reasoning

The process of drawing conclusions from evidence and premises.

Universality

The idea that moral conclusions must be true for all persons, places, and times.

Impartiality

Judgments that are fair and not biased toward any person or group.

Pragmatism

An approach that evaluates truth by the success of practical application and uses morally relevant criteria.

Dominance

Moral claims that are dominant over other values and cannot be reduced to legality, profitability, or popularity.

Obligatory

Actions that are required or demanded by morality.

Supererogatory

Actions that are praiseworthy but not required.

Permissible

Actions that are allowed but not morally required; morally indifferent.

Suberogatory

Actions that are blameworthy but not strictly forbidden.

Forbidden

Actions that are morally prohibited or repugnant.

Gradations of Moral Judgments

Categories (Obligatory, Supererogatory, Permissible, Suberogatory, Forbidden) describing the strength of moral claims.

Descriptive Ethics

Describes what people, institutions, cultures, and societies believe about morality.

Metaethics

The study of the meaning and logical structure of moral beliefs, including fact statements vs. value statements.

Instrumental

Moral statements that are extrinsic or means to an end.

Intrinsic

Moral statements that are inherent or valuable in themselves.

Normative Ethics

The study of the principles, rules, or theories that guide our moral actions and judgments.

Applied Ethics

The branch of ethics applying moral concepts to real-world areas such as medicine, society, and global issues.

Medical Ethics

Applied ethics in medicine, including abortion, euthanasia, healthcare delivery, and pandemic ethics.

Social Ethics

Applied ethics addressing racism, equality, discrimination, harassment, tolerance, and civil liberties.

Global Ethics

Applied ethics dealing with issues like capital punishment, war, immigration, and global injustice.

Four Fields of Ethics

Descriptive Ethics, Metaethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics.

Divine Command Theory

Morality is right because God wills it; morality is dictated by divine commands.

Euthyphro Dilemma

The question of whether morality is independent of God’s will or God’s will is dependent on what is morally right.

God wills actions because they are morally right

The view that actions are right because they are morally right independent of God’s will (the alternative to Divine Command Theory).

Objectivism

The view that moral truths exist independently of individuals or cultures.

Subjectivism

The view that moral rightness depends on an individual's approval.

Emotivism

Moral utterances express emotions or attitudes and are not true or false (noncognitive).

Cultural Relativism

An action is morally right if one’s culture approves of it; cultures are morally infallible.

Tolerance (Objective Principle)

Tolerance is an objective moral principle compatible with rationality, universality, impartiality, and dominance.

Statements/Propositions

A statement can be falsifiable (true/false) or nonmoral/factual; moral statements express moral value.

Premise

A statement of evidence or reason used to support a conclusion.

Conclusion

A statement supported by one or more premises.

Deductive Arguments

Arguments where the conclusion follows necessarily from the premises; categories include Sound, Valid, and Invalid.

Sound

A deductive argument with true premises and logical reasoning, guaranteeing a true conclusion.

Valid

A deductive argument where if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true.

Invalid

A deductive argument where the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the premises.

Inductive Arguments

Arguments that generalize from specific instances; categories include Cogent, Strong, and Weak.

Cogent

An inductive argument with premises that are nearly certainly true and a conclusion that is probably true.

Strong

An inductive argument whose premises are probably true, making the conclusion probably true.

Weak

An inductive argument where premises are unlikely to be true, making the conclusion unlikely.

Availability Error

A cognitive bias where people rely on readily available information rather than reliable data.

Confirmation Bias

Tendency to seek or interpret information in a way that confirms one’s preconceptions.

Motivated Reasoning

Reasoning aimed at supporting a predetermined conclusion rather than finding the truth.

Dunning-Kruger Effect

The tendency for people to overestimate their own knowledge or competence.

Ad Hominem (Appeal to the Person)

Rejecting a claim based on the person making it, rather than the claim’s merit.

Appeal to Authority

Relying on an alleged expert’s opinion as evidence without evaluating expertise.

Appeal to Emotion

Persuading by triggering emotions rather than presenting reasons.

Straw Man

Misrepresenting someone’s argument to make it easier to attack.

Hasty Generalization

Drawing a broad conclusion from an insufficient sample.

Faulty Analogy

Using a weak or inappropriate comparison to argue a point.

Appeal to Ignorance

Arguing a claim is true because it has not been proven false.

Equivocation

Using multiple meanings of a term in an argument to mislead.

Begging the Question

Assuming the conclusion as a premise in a circular argument.