📚 FULL REVIEW SHEET: Ethics & Meaning of Life 🏛️ Aristotle’s Ethics (Virtue Ethics) 🔹 The Golden Mean (Virtue = Balance) Aristotle believed that moral virtue is a balance between two extremes: Excess (too much) Deficiency (too little) 👉 Examples: Courage = between cowardice (too little bravery) and recklessness (too much) Generosity = between stinginess and wastefulness ✔ Key idea: Virtue is not one-size-fits-all—it depends on the situation and requires judgment. 🔹 Habits & Character We are not born virtuous Virtue is developed through practice and repetition “We are what we repeatedly do” 👉 If you act honestly repeatedly → you become an honest person ✔ This is why habits are central to Aristotle’s ethics 🔹 Instrumental vs Intrinsic Goods Instrumental goods = useful for achieving something else (ex: money, tools, education) Intrinsic goods = valuable in themselves (ex: happiness) 🔹 Happiness (Eudaimonia) Aristotle’s ultimate goal: eudaimonia (flourishing) Not just pleasure → a life of reason and virtue ✔ Happiness = Living morally Using reason well Achieving your full potential ⚖️ Kant’s Ethics (Deontology) 🔹 Core Idea: Duty Over Consequences Immanuel Kant believed: Morality is about doing your duty NOT about outcomes or happiness 🔹 Maxims A maxim = your personal rule for acting 👉 Example: “It’s okay to lie when it helps me” 🔹 Categorical Imperative The most important rule: 👉 Only act on maxims you would want to become universal laws Ask yourself: “What if everyone did this?” ✔ If it creates a contradiction → it’s immoral 🔹 Treat People as Ends Another version: Never treat people as means only Always treat them as ends (valuable individuals) 🔗 Free Will & Determinism 🔹 Determinism All events are caused by previous events Your actions are the result of: Biology Environment Past experiences 🔹 Hard Determinism No free will exists Everything is predetermined 🔹 Soft Determinism (Compatibilism) Free will can exist with determinism You are free if you act without coercion 🔹 Libertarianism (Free Will Theory) Humans have true freedom We are not fully determined 🔹 Beliefs, Desires & Freedom Actions come from: What you believe What you want 👉 Debate: If these are determined → are we really free? 🔹 Coercion When someone is forced by external pressure 👉 Examples: Threats (gunpoint) Blackmail ✔ Coerced actions = not fully free 🔹 Free Will & Moral Responsibility We can only be held responsible if: We had control We acted freely 🧠 Existentialism & Meaning 🔹 Jean-Paul Sartre Key Idea: 👉 “Existence precedes essence” You are NOT born with a purpose You create yourself through choices 🔹 Human Nature No fixed human nature Humans are radically free 🔹 Anguish Deep anxiety from: Total freedom Total responsibility 👉 You are responsible for everything you choose 🔹 Meaning of Life No built-in meaning You must create meaning yourself 🪨 Sisyphus 🔹 Sisyphus Punished by rolling a rock uphill forever The rock always rolls back down 👉 Represents: Meaningless or repetitive life Human struggle ✔ Often used in existentialism: Even in absurdity → we can create meaning ✝️ Arguments for the Existence of God 🔹 Ontological Argument (A Priori) Anselm of Canterbury Based on logic alone God = “greatest possible being” If God exists in the mind → must exist in reality ✔ No observation needed 🔹 Design Argument (Teleological) William Paley World is complex and ordered Like a watch → implies a watchmaker 👉 Therefore → God exists 🔹 The Problem of Evil If God is: All-powerful All-good 👉 Why does evil exist? ✔ Challenges belief in God 🔬 Scientism & Naturalism 🔹 Scientism Only science gives true knowledge 🔹 Naturalism Everything is explained by natural causes No supernatural explanations 🔹 Impact on Free Will If everything is scientific → maybe free will is an illusion 😊 John Stuart Mill & Utilitarianism 🔹 John Stuart Mill Focus: maximize happiness 🔹 Higher vs Lower Pleasures Higher Pleasures: Intellectual (reading, thinking, learning) Lower Pleasures: Physical (eating, comfort) ✔ Key idea: 👉 “Better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”