Phil Final Exam Study

Sexism

Sexism

1: prejudice or discrimination based on sex; especially: discrimination against women

2: behavior, conditions, or attitudes that foster stereotypes of social roles based on sex.

Racism

1: a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race

2: racial prejudice or discrimination.

Prejudice

having or showing a dislike or distrust that is derived from prejudice; bigoted.

Institutional Sexism

refers to invidious sexual inequalities in the explicit rules and implicit norms governing and structuring social institutions.( In the Catholic Church, for instance, it is an explicit rule that all priests are men and all nuns an women. Only priests can run the church hierarchy, and priests outrank nuns in most decision-making situations.)

Interpersonal Sexism

involves the explicit rules and their implicit norms that sustain oppressive social institutions, interpersonal sexism involves interactions between persons that are not governed by explicit rules(As a child, the girl is not allowed the free play of her brothers; she is prevented by her parents and teachers from engaging in rough-and-tumble play, not included in activities involving building, transportation, etc., not encouraged to try or expected to succeed at sports, mathematics, or leadership activities, and required, unlike her brothers, to do domestic chores.)

What is the wrongness of sexism and racism

A consequentialist will explain the wrongness of sexism and racism in terms of the purported (overall) negative consequences of such actions and practices.

For a Kantian, all persons regardless of ethnicity and sex are deserving of equal respect in the sense that it is not permissible to treat anyone in a discriminatory manner, since doing so fails to treat them as ends in themselves

Ross/Audi view includes a duty of beneficence—a duty to promote the well-being of others. Applied to the issues of sexism and racism, this duty implies the more specific duty of integration at both the interpersonal and institutional levels.

Forms of sexism

Institutional sexism,Institutional sexism,Uncosious sexism

Feminist views on sexism

“equality feminism” maintains that social institutions are the primary medium of sexism. Men and women do not differ markedly in their potential capacities, interests, and abilities. Given similar training, men and women would develop fairly similar talents, at least as similar as those between men or between women.

“difference feminists” maintain that unconscious desires are the primary medium of sexism. Accordingly, social institutions are the result, rather than the cause, of sexism. Recently a variety of feminists holding this view have attempted to both articulate the differences between men and women and re-evaluate equality feminism.

Objections of the feminist views

Three kinds of objections have been raised to feminist struggles against sexism, which we shall call the objections from essentialism, skepticism, and defeatism.

Essentialism

maintains that there are essential biological or psychological differences between men and women such that true equality or even equal evaluation of men and women will ultimately be impossible or will too greatly restrain our liberty.

Skepticism

maintains that sexism is admittedly a serious problem in some other countries, but, though in has been a problem in our society in the past, sexism has largely been overcome.

Defeatist

argues that there is nothing that he or anyone personally can do to fight sexism. Defeatists often continue by arguing that since they are not themselves mistreating women, do not dislike women or hold them to be inferior, they should not therefore be required to do anything to combat sexism; nor do they think that anything constructive can be done to eliminate it.

A Volitional Conception of racism: its implications and advantages

Racism is wrong and it can never be justified just because somebody has stereotypes doesn’t mean their racist

The immorality of racism and its implications

immorality stems from its being opposed to the virtues of benevolence and justice.”Racism, on Garcia’s account, is fundamentally a type of individual moral vice, the expression of a bad character.

Racist belief and its role in defining racism

According to Garcia, racist beliefs are a secondary and an inessential feature of racism.While Garcia admits that racist beliefs may be psychologically necessary for some racists—given our deep need to justify our actions to others, ourselves, and perhaps God—he insists that it is not logically necessary for the existence of racism.

Hardin’s argument for the 3rd Option in the lifeboat dilemma

Admit no more to the boat and preserve the small safety factor. Survival of the people in the lifeboat is then possible (though we shall have to be on our guard against boarding parties).

Empirical concerns of Hardin’s view

Reproduction(The harsh characteristics of lifeboat ethics are heightened by reproduction, particularly by reproductive differences. )

the Ratchet effect(he ratchet effect is a mechanical analogy in economics that refers to a process that moves easily in one direction but not the other)

Ruin in the commons(The tragedy of the commons is an economic problem where the individual consumes a resource at the expense of society.)

WORLD FOOD BANKS( In the international arena we have recently heard a proposal to create a new commons, namely an international depository of food reserves to which nations will contribute according to their abilities, and from which nations may draw according to their needs. )

Duty of beneficence

the ethical principle of doing good or acting in the best interest

Singer’s argument on global poverty

"if it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought, morally, to do it."

Approaches to justify Singer’s argument and their objections

Lucy said that people have a right to spend the money they earn on themselves. Even if we agree with that, having a right to do something doesn’t settle the question of what you should do. If you have a right to do something, I can’t justifiably force you not to do it, but I can still tell you that you would be a fool to do it, or that it would be a horrible thing to do, or that you would be wrong to do it. You may have a right to spend your weekend surfing, but it can still be true that you ought to visit your sick mother.

Entitlements

our moral rights to life and to property represent entitlements that we can invoke as a moral justification for not helping strangers when the cost to us is substantial.

Rights

Moral rights are normally divided into two categories. Negative rights are rights of noninterference. The right to life, for example, is a right not to be killed. Property rights, the right to privacy, and the right to exercise religious freedom are also negative, requiring only that people leave others alone and not interfere.

Positive rights, however, are rights of recipience. By not putting their children up for adoption, parents give them various positive rights, including rights to be fed, clothed, and housed. If I agree to share in a business venture, my promise creates a right of recipience, so that when I back out of the deal, I’ve violated your right.

Desert

in philosophy is the condition of being deserving of something, whether good or bad. It is sometimes called moral desert to clarify the intended usage and distinguish it from the dry desert biome

Arthur’s argument for entitlement

In his reply to Peter Singer, John Arthur appeals to entitlements including rights and desert. He argues that one’s rights to life and property provide moral justification for not helping strangers when doing so would come at a substantial cost.

The Lifeboat Dilemma

a 1974 metaphor describes a lifeboat bearing fifty people with room for ten more. The lifeboat is in an ocean surrounded by a hundred swimmers. The ethics of the situation stem from the dilemma of whether (and under what circumstances) swimmers should be taken aboard the lifeboat.

Saving a drowning child dilemma

If you walk past a pond and see a child drowning, should you wade in and pull the child out, even if it ruins your clothes and makes you late to your first class?

Direct moral Standing

there are possible circumstances in which agents morally ought to consider an entity for its own sake when deciding what to do

Indirect Moral Standing

if it is morally considerable (i.e., one cannot do whatever one pleases to it) because of its relationship to something else that has direct moral standing.

Singer’s moral equality argument and its implications

Singer's core argument is that the interests of all humans are due equal consideration, regardless of what they are like as a person or the individual abilities they possess. Now, this doesn't mean that everybody must have their interests considered by the same criteria. Different groups of humans have different needs

Speciesism

discrimination against animals.

The argument for social stability

Social stability is necessary to have a strong society, and adequate socialization and social integration are necessary to achieve social stability. Society's social institutions perform important functions to help ensure social stability. Slow social change is desirable, but rapid social change threatens social order.

Contractualism

what is right or wrong is determined by agreement among ideally situated human beings who are motivated to find principles and rules to govern their behavior toward one another.

Indirect moral consideration

when something has its moral welfare considered by a directly morally considerable thing.

Moral character

an individual's disposition to think, feel, and behave in an ethical versus unethical manner, or as the subset of individual differences relevant to morality.

Environmental ethic

Environmental ethics is a branch of applied philosophy that studies the conceptual foundations of environmental values as well as more concrete issues surrounding societal attitudes, actions, and policies to protect and sustain biodiversity and ecological systems.

Armstrong’s justification for non-individual moral obligation concerning global warming

concludes that no individual is morally responsible for climate change, or the harm that results from it. If it were morally wrong to go on a single joyride because it emits a bit of excess CO2, then it would follow that MOST of our actions are morally wrong.

Hourdequin’s argument for individual moral obligation concerning global warming

Marion Hourdequin argues that individual action can serve to promote collective action and in doing so it can also serve as an ethical obligation.

Confucianism and its definition of persons

is one of the most influential religious philosophies in the history of China, and it has existed for over 2,500 years. It is concerned with inner virtue, morality, and respect for the community and its values.Confucianism believes in ancestor worship and human-centered virtues for living a peaceful life. The golden rule of Confucianism is “Do not do unto others what you would not want others to do unto you.”