Philosophy of Life Final Trippett

Deontological Rententionist

execution is a proper punishment for a murder

Deontological Abolitionist

wrong to kill, violates acts intrinsically wrong

Consequentialist Retentionist

capital punishment deters and prevents future crime therefore benefitting society

Consequentialist Abolitionist

life in prison without prole is just as effective when dealing with crimes

Kant's view on punishment and the death penalty

-Kant strongly endorsees the death penalty for murders, not exclusively because then it hurts society, but guilty deserves it

-Punishment must resemble crime

"LEX TALIONIS"

"eye for an eye" notion of punishment

-punishment is equal to wrong doing

Equal Punishment Principle

undeserved evil should be punished with the same kind of action, there should be a kind of equality or a relationship between crime and punishment

Three Kinds of Justice/Just Punishments

retribution- aims towards punishment is to be penalized, wrong doers deserved punishment, right doers rewards

prevention- aim of punishment is to prevent crime, isolate criminals and deter potential crime

rehabilitation- aim punishment should rehabilitate criminals, make them better.

Bryan Stevenson criticisms of capital punishment

discriminates against the poor, trials that are rushed, minorities sentenced without parole.

Paul Cassells claims about race and death sentences

-it is infected with racism, innocent have been executed.

-claims that evidence does not support the race makes you more likely to receive the death penalty and that the "race-of-the-victim" effects is spurious.

James Q. Wilsons harm argument against the legalization of drugs

1.) acts that cause harm to others worthy of legal punishment

2.) illegal drug use causes harm to others like children, fetal deformities

3.) Criminalizing drugs leads to less damage to others than decimalizing would

4.) legalization would make drugs cheaper

James Q. Wilson's argument for alcohol being legal

harms created by alcohol abuse are much more manageable than harms caused by other drugs like cocaine or heroin

Douglas Husak's argument for our moral right to use drugs and his thoughts on drugs use in America and the "War on Drugs"

-argues the war on drugs cannot be measured by dollars used to punish drugs users

-diminishes our civil liberties, increases raids, random searches, confiscation

-countries were drugs are plentiful, higher quality have less drugs than America

Husak's objections to virtue based arguments and legal moralists

legal moralism states that apart from whether or not something causes harm to user or others, certain acts still sufficient in being criminal differences

Difference between legalization and decriminalization of drugs

legalization- make the production and sale of drugs no longer a criminal offense

decriminalization- makes the use of drugs no longer a crime

Pros and Cons of using cloning for reproductive rights

pro- reproduce with biological offspring who has infertility, enable couples with ricks of transmitting disease to offspring, make a clone so they can provide organs

con- right to have a unique identify, right to ignorance or "open future"

Peter Singer argument that all animals are equal

- all animals (non-human and human) are equal

-not different in how we feel pain

example the horse and baby

-we do not consider animal interests out of specism

Principle of Equality

legal doctrine asserting that all human beings are equal, they ought to be treated "equally" under the law

Principle of equal consideration of interests

moral principle that states that one should both include all affected interest when calculating the rights of an action and weights those actions only.

Carl Cohen's argument that animals do not have rights

-lack of capacity of moral judgment

-understand duty, governing, justice, and own interest

- a holder of rights must be able to comprehend what a right is

-treating animals humanly does not mean treating them as humans with rights

Carl Cohen's requirements for something to have a right

-his def: a claim, or potential claim that one party may exercise against another

-various kinds like law, bend legal and moral

-humans have morality; freewill, inner conscience, membership in a organic moral community

Don Marquis Argument against abortion

-seriously immoral, expect in rare cases, same as killing an innocent adult human

-life is present from the moment babies are conceived

Primary wrong-making feature of killing and "future of value"

-the loss of one's future is wrong-making feature of killing

-killing brutalizes the one who kills, but does not explain immorality

-significant loss to others

Judith Jarvis Thomson's Violinist Thought Experiment

-woke up with unconscious with a violinist , they kidnapped you because you have the right blood type with a kidney

-claims abortions does not violate fetus right to life, but merely deprives it from something, she withdrawals the fetus right to use her body

Personhood Debate

Anti-Abortionist

-every person has right to life -fetus has right to life - mom has right to decide what happens to her body but right to life is more powerful than her body -fetus may not be killed

Abortionist

-rape - endanger - career -financial -life style

Singer View on Charity and Aiding the hungry in foreign countries

immoral for affiant counties to ignore needs of other countries, proximity of a person should not affect our moral obligations, if we can prevent something bad from happening w/o sacrifice then we ought too

Singer Strong and Weak Principles

strong- point of "marginal unity", have a duty to prevent something bad from happening if we can do it "without sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance"

Weak- duty to prevent something bad from happening if we can do it without sacrificing anything moral, don't do marginal utility but don't spend on trivial things

Proximity Argument

example: save a child from drowning in a pond

if we can prevent something bad from happening without sacrificing anything morally significant, then we must do it

The Train Thought Experiment and its relation to charity

bob saved retirement money to buy a rare car, he see's a runway with a boy on it, and has a choice to save the boy or the car

Morally wrong to save the car over a boy, could save children if we donated money, different between being nice and fulfilling moral duty

Liberal View

prevent bad things from happenings to others if we do not sacrifice treatment of humans biased on the free actions not born with

Conservative View

no duty to help poor distance countries, if you are poor don't share

Moderate View

moral behavior depends on agreement, based on human flourishing

Louis Pojman's criticisms of each view about aiding the poor

first focus on the inner circle so our community, then expanding circle to the whole world

1.) it will cause "caring capacity" to be strained

2.) increase misery due to ratchet effect

3.) threaten future generations

Hardins life boat

world = sea life boat = wealthy countries

-he thinks affluent countries are already at capacity and helping more is tough

Tragedy of the Commons

shepherds let their sheep graze on a field, and then add another sheep which the grass could not handle

each country has limited resources they must leave alone and if they don't it created more pain

The Ratchet

deer lacking natural predators and can't provide for deer

aiding starving people would let them procreate and increase population to dangerous levels

J. Gay Williams three argument against physician assisted suicide

Nature- natural body ends of bodily survival, hence survival is natural human goal, euthanasia is death cause by unnatural affects so it is not good

Self-Interest- mistake diagnosis new treatment can be made leads to giving up so easy

Practical Ethics- doctor and nurse are supposed to help and by euthanasia it lets then give up and not do their job

James Rachel's argument about passive and active euthanasia

get money when their 6 year old cousin die, one of them kill the boy for the money while the other watches

James Rachel's argument about passive and active euthanasia

Doctor can stop treatment and patient can die in unbearable agony, after a few days (passive euthanasia)

Doctor could use a lethal injection and end the patients life quickly and with little pain (active euthanasia)

Voluntary euthanasia

situations in which competent patients voluntarily request or agree to euthanasia

Euthanasia

intentionally bringing about a death of another person, directly or indirectly, for that person's sake

passive euthanasia

allowing someone to die by not doing something that would prolong life ("letting die")

active euthanasia

the administering of a lethal substance, force, or some direct action that will result in death ("mercy killing")

abolitionist

those that want to do away with or abolish the death penalty

rententionist

want to keep the death penalty as part of legal punishment

animal rights

rights believed to belong to animals to live free from use in medical research, hunting, and other services to humans

anthropocentrism

regarding humankind as the central or most important element of existence, especially as opposed to God or animals.

applied ethics

branch of ethics concerned with the analysis of particular moral issues in private and public life

capital punishment

the legally authorized killing of someone as punishment for a crime

cloning

making an identical copy

legal moralism

theory of jurisprudence and the philosophy of law which holds that laws may be used to prohibit or require behavior based on society's collective judgment of whether it is moral.

moral status

concept that deals with who or what is so valuable that it should be treated with special regard

reproductive cloning

creating an animal that is genetically identical to a donor animal through somatic cell nuclear transfer

retributivism

aim towards punishment is to be penalized, wrong doers deserve punishment, right doers deserve a reward

speciesism

prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of members of ones own species and against members of another species.

3 different form of Abortion

Spontaneous abortion—abortion due to natural causes—birth defect or injury

Induced abortion—intentional termination of a pregnancy through drugs or surgery

Therapeutic abortion—abortion performed to preserve the life or health of the mother

Absolute Poverty

- being so poor that you cannot afford basic necessities required to live

Neo-Malthusian View

you shouldn't give to the poor, especially those in foreign countries