Practical Philosophy

Instrumental goods

Those things whose value consists in the fact that they help to bring about other good things. Examples include vaccinations, mothballs, and money.

Intrinsical value

Those things that are good in and of themselves, considered entirely apart from any good results they may cause. It is controversial which things are intrinsically valuable, but happiness, desire satisfaction, virtue, and knowledge are frequently mentioned candidates.

Hedonism

The view that pleasure is the only thing that is intrinsically valuable, and pain (or unhappiness) is the only thing that is intrinsically bad.

The 2 types of pleasure

1) Physical pleasure: this is pleasure you feel after eating some chocolate or relaxing in a bath. This pleasure is made out of feelings in your body; these feelings aren’t the same as happiness.

2) Attitudinal pleasure (enjoyment): according to hedonists this is happiness. It doesn’t necessarily feel like anything, there is no physical sensation to it. This enjoyment is the key to a good life.

Desire Satisfaction Theory - DST

A theory of human well-being that claims that the satisfaction of your actual or informed desires is necessary and sufficient to improve your welfare

Objective theory of (human) welfare

There are many such theories, al sharing a common feature—they claim that certain things are good for people whether or not they believe them to be and whether or not such things satisfy a person’s actual or informed desires.

Intrinsic satisfaction

Something is intrinsically good for you if it only satisfies your desires and because it satisfies your desires.

Instrumental satisfaction

Something is instrumentally good for you iff and because it helps you to fulfil your desires.

First motivation argument

1) If X is truly good for you, then you will be motivated to get X – so long as you know about X and know how to get it.

2) Many people who know about wealth and know how to get it aren’t motivated to become wealthy.

3) Therefore, wealth will not improve the lives of such people. [from 1 and 2]

Second motivation argument

1) If something is intrinsically good for you, then it will satisfy your desires. This is the central claim of the DST.

2) If something will satisfy your desires, then you will be motivated (at least to some extent) to get it – so long as you know what you want and know how to get it. Desires motivates us to do things.

3) Therefore, if something is intrinsically good for you, then you will be motivated (at least to some extent) to get it – so long as you know what you want and know how to get it. [from 1 and 2]

Argument for self-interest

1) If something makes us better off, then it satisfies our desires. Essential claim of DST.

2) If something satisfies our desires, then we have reason to obtain it. Plausible claim; our wanting gives us a reason to get it.

3) Therefore, if something makes us better off, then we have reason to obtain it. [from 1 and 2]

Objective moral standards

Those moral requirements that apply to people regardless of their opinions about such duties, and independently of whether fulfilling such duties will satisfy any of their desires.

Ethical objectivism

The view that some moral standards are objectively correct and that some moral claims are objectively true.

Moral nihilism

The form of moral scepticism that says that the world contains no moral features, and so there is nothing for moral claims to be true of. Its two major forms are the error theory and expressivism.

Ethical relativism

The view that correct moral standards are relative to individual or cultural commitments. Ethical relativism can take two forms: cultural relativism or ethical subjectivism.

Cultural relativism

The view that an act is morally right just because it is allowed by the guiding ideals of the society in which it is performed, and immoral just because it is forbidden by those ideals.

This is a subgenre of ethical relativism

Ethical subjectivism

The view that an act is morally right just because (a) I approve of it or (b) my commitments allow it, and that an action is wrong just because (a) I disapprove of it or (b) my commitments forbid it.

This is a subgenre of ethical relativism

Iconoclast

People whose views differ radically from the conventional wisdom of their society.

Ideal observers

Those (probably imaginary) people who are fully informed, perfectly rational, and otherwise perfectly suited to determine the content of morality.

The implications of ethical relativism

• Moral infallibility

• Moral equivalence

• Questioning our own commitments

• Moral progress

• The problem of contradictions

Two problems with ideal observers

• Disagreement between ideal observers will lead to, once again, contradictions.

• Nothing is intrinsically right, as things become right just because an ideal observer would favour it. This leads to the Divine Command Theory.

What is well-being according to Epicurus, Bentham and Mill?

• Epicurus: Ataraxia → a state of tranquility and freedom from distress.

• Bentham: Monist pleasure → focusef on the quantity of pleasure.

• Mill: Pluralistic pleasure → considereing both the quality and quantity of pleasures.

What are the advantages for hedonism?

• The claim that happiness improves a person’s life is very plausible.

• it can explain why different kinds of lives are good.

What are the challenges for hedonism?

• People cna be happy by hurting other people.

• Is a life with a downwards happiness-trajectory as good as a life with an upwards trajectory?

• What if happiness is based on false beliefs?

What are the advantages of the DST?

• It tells us how to find out how to make our lives go better.

• It explains why it is not the case that the same things contribute to everyone’s well-being.

What are the challenges of the DST?

• The Scope problem: example of Stranger on a Plane.

• Impoverished Desires Problem: example of The Dutiful Housewife

Deontology

This is a duty-based theory. Actions that have the right consequences can be morally wrong, or the other way around as well.

Kantian ethics

The idea that the moral status of an action has to do with the motives of the agent that performs the action. The idea of ‘acting out of duty’ = doing the right thing for the right reason.

This is a version of deontology.

Categorical imperative

A command of reason that requires a person’s obedience regardless of whether such obedience gets him anything he wants.

Hypothetical imperative

A command of reason that requires a person to take the needed means to getting what she wants.

Principle of universality

Kant’s thesis that an act is moraly acceptable if, and only if, its maxim is universalizable.

This is the first formula of the categorical imperative.

Conceivability test

We should be able to conceive a world where everyone uses the same resources to achieve the same goals.

• First step: formulate (or identify) the maxim.

• Second step: universalise your maxim. Ask yourself: if everyone used the same means to achieve the same end, could I still do the same thing?

• If not, it is impermissible to act on that maxim.

Maxim

It is the principle on which you act. A statement that includes the end of your actions, so why you do something and the means.

Consequentialism

A family of normative ethical theories that share the idea that the morality of actions, policies, motives, or rules depends on their producing the best actual or expected results.

Principle of humanity

Kant’s thesis that one must always treat a human being (oneself included) as an end, and never as a mere means.

You treat someone as a mere means when they could not possibly consent, as rational beings, to the way you treat them.

This is the second formula of the categorical imperative.

Moral judgments

• Feelings - expressivism

• Factual claims - cognitivism

Error theory

The metaethical view that there are no moral features in this world; no moral judgments are true; our sincere moral judgments try, and always fail, to describe the moral features of things; and there is no moral knowledge.

Relativism

The truth of a moral judgment is relative to the person whose judgment it is, or to the society of the person whose judgment it is.