ETHICS - PHL 205 - Midterm #1

Explain how socrates' question for Euthyphro applies to contemporary debates about Divine Command Theory.

Socrates' questioning for Euthyphro applies to contemporary debates revolving around the Divine Command Theory in the essence that there are no reasons for morality: If there is no moral standard other than God's will, then God's commands are arbitrary (i.e., based on pure whimsy or caprice). This would mean that morality is ultimately not based on reasons: "if theological voluntarism is true, then God's commands/intentions must be arbitrary; [but] it cannot be that morality could wholly depend on something arbitrary... [for] when we say that some moral state of affairs obtains, we take it that there is a reason for that moral state of affairs obtaining rather than another." This would also "cas[t] doubt on the notion that morality is genuinely objective." An additional problem is that it is difficult to explain how true moral actions can exist, if one only acts out of fear for God, or in an attempt to be rewarded by him.

Consequentialism

"start not with moral rules, but with goals. They assess actions by the extent to which they further those goals.

Innate human nature

(Natural Law Theory) People are perceived as good, evil or combination of both. Based on actions of what is instinctual for us to carry-out. ADVERSITY to innate human nature: acting on our instinct does not make our action morally right, or does it? We may cause harm to ourselves and to others , unintentionally by acting on "what is innate to our Being"

What is Moral Progress?

-when our actions become morally better than they used to be -this occurs when more of them are true and in particular, when our most fundamental beliefs change for the better -the problem for relativism and subjectivism is that it can't make sense of the most basic progress

Ethical objectivity

... moral judgments based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices.

Altruism

Behavior that reduces an individual's fitness while increasing the fitness of another individual *selflessness; generosity; devotion to the interests of others

A priori

Deductive reasoning: 1. Proceeding from a known or assumed cause to a necessarily related effect; deductive. 2. a. Derived by or designating the process of reasoning without reference to particular facts or experience. b. Knowable without appeal to particular experience. 3. Made before or without examination; not supported by factual study.

Psychological egoism

Descriptive in nature, and says that human beings are basically selfish, that we always act in our own best self-interest. We are "wired" this way, we can't help it.

Why is expressivism inconsistent with teh possibility of valid moral arguments?

Expressivists cannot account for the EXISTENCE of moral arguments since the basis of expressivism is to "vent our emotions" no one can be morally right nor wrong when expressing how they feel. There exists a GAP in the expressivists theory also relating to amoralism, not admitting of moral distinctions or judgments; neither moral nor immoral - yet acting by a code (and not being motivated in any way by the code they live by). Doesn't make sense. ex: I'm a vegetarian, but neither admitting that you do like meat or have a problem with the ehtical treatment of animals. Shouldn't there be a rhyme or reason for our actions, always? Expressivism states: "No, there is not. It's just how I feel. " hmmm A bit silly.

Cultural Ethical Relativism

Holds that ethical values vary from society to society and that the basis for moral judgments lies in these social or cultural views.

What key terms are ambiguous in natural law theory?

Human being. What is a human being? Purpose. What is the purpose of a human being? unclear.

Common Human Nature

Human nature is defined as the traits and mechanisms of personality that are typical of our species and are possessed by everyone or nearly everyone. ADVERSITY to Common Human Nature:

How does the psychological egoist explain a person who behaves altruistically?

It is impossible. In the end, the person, although doing something good on behalf of another, still gains self-satisfaction from performing the act. Therefore, altruism is determined impossible.

How does Natural Law Theory attempt to avoid the difficulties raised by Hume's Argument?

Many make claims about what ought to be on the basis of statements about what is. However, Hume found that there seems to be a significant difference between descriptive statements (about what is) and prescriptive or normative statements (about what ought to be), and it is not obvious how we can get from making descriptive statements to prescriptive. The is-ought problem is also known as Hume's Law. Natural Law Theorist attempt to avoid the former difficulties by offering merely descriptive statements about what is. I do believe it is a clever mechanism to offer purely descriptive claims, but this avoids the relativity of moral arguments, which by observation, we have seen DO indeed exist in the world. It fails. I'm with Hume on this.

Does accepting with psychological egoism or ethical egoism commit you to accepting the other?

PE: A descriptive theory of human nature about how humans in fact do (must) behave (always exclusively in own interest) EE: A normative theory about how people ought to behave (they should act in their own interest exclusively) Possible relationships between EE and PE Does PE imply EE? NO: Is does not imply ought (naturalistic fallacy) If PE true, then pointless to advocate any moral theory, including EE If PE is true, then any altruistic moral theory asks us to do the impossible If PE is true, then EE is pointless (because we are already automatically acting correctly (i.e., as EE tells us we should act) If both PE and EE are true, then we are always acting correctly (all our acts are right; we never do anything wrong)

"Every action is motivated by one's strongest desire." Explain how this claim might be used to argue for psychological egoism.

People always do what they most want to do (act on their strongest desire), it follows that they always act selfishly. I believe moral motivation is a type of desire, a type of want. An individual may be morally motivated our of self-preservation and avoidance of guilt. To give to the poor, or help and old woman across the street because if you do not, since you happened to be able bodied- you do not want to stain your own conscience that you did not assist someone who was readily in need. DCT view: "you will seen well in they eyes of the lord, and be granted entry into heaven." GUILT.

What assumption do error theorists claim is at the heart of morality?

Subunit of Moral Nihilism: *OUR MORAL JUDGMENTS ARE ALWAYS MISTAKEN. *ALL moral views are equally bankrupt! *Moralist is nothing but FICTION. There are no moral features to the world, nothing is morally good or bad, right or wrong, vicious or virtuous. *Instead: list of scientific features, symmetry - the LIST will not contain any moral features. NO moral judgments are true. There are NO MORAL FACTS, so no moral claims can be accurate since there are no moral facts to record. Our sincere moral judgments try and always fail to describe to eh moral features of things. We always lapse in error when thinking in moral terms. We are trying to state the truth when we make moral judgments, but since there is NO MORAL TRUTH, all of our moral claims are mistaken, HENCE the ERROR. There is NO MORAL KNOWLEDGE. Knowledge requires truth. If there is not moral truth, there can be NO MORAL KNOWLEDGE.

Ambiguity

The multiple meanings, either intentional or unintentional, of a word, phrase, sentence, or passage, a technique by which a writer deliberately suggests two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work. * a technique by which a writer deliberately suggests two or more different, and sometimes conflicting, meanings in a work.

Soundness of argument

Valid + all true premises (strongest argument) *Deductive, logically impossible for conclusions to be false.

Purely descriptive

neither normative or evaluative. ex: That movie is 120 min. long ex: My name is Allan. My car is black. STRICTLY FACTUAL. The scientific method is good for checking whether a pure descriptive sentence is true or false because it has a method and experiment to test.

Deductive reasoning

reasoning in which a conclusion is reached by stating a general principle and then applying that principle to a specific case (The sun rises every morning; therefore, the sun will rise on Tuesday morning) *Descartes, doubt everything and use deductive reasoning. Reasoning based on facts. Combined with empiricism to create scientific method. Ex: All men are mortal Socrates was a man. Therefore, Socrates is mortal

Inductive reasoning

reasoning that uses a number of specific examples to arrive at a plausible generalization or prediction. An observation/generalization beyond experience. An Analogy. ex: Heroin is a drug. If "x" is illegal, then "x" is immoral (*law does not equal morality*) Selling Heroin is illegal. Therefore, Herion use is immoral. IMPORTANT: Just because it is true, DOES NOT MEAN that you OUGHT to do it!

Metaethics

study of characteristics, or nature, of ethics. It examines the meaning of such abstract terms as good, right, justice, fairness and attempts to identify those values that are the best moral values. There is a difference between ethical values and matters of taste or attitude. It should provide a precision of meaning so that all members of society can start with a level playing field in reaching moral judgments. What can we know? vs. Beliefs.

Natural Law Theory

the normative ethical view that says that actions are right if and only if they are natural, and wrong if and only if they are unnatural; people are good to the extent that they fulfill their true nature, bad insofar as they do not.

Applied ethics

the practical application of moral standards to the conduct of individuals involved in organizations

premises

the reasons presented to persuade someone that a conclusion is true or probably true

Why might someone believe that religion is necessary in order for people to be motivated to behave morally? What challenges does such view face?

the relationship between God and humans that results in a body of beliefs and a set of practices: creed, cult, and code. Religion expresses itself in worship and service to God and by extension to all people and all creation THE ULTIMATE CODE OF CONDUCT, to live by. Challenges: Even monkeys can have morality but they're not able to have religion. And some people can completely lack morals regardless of being religious or atheists.

Explain why psychological egoism is not considered a theory about ethics?

A PURELY descriptive theory of human nature regarding how humans in fact do (must) behave (always exclusively in own interest). Not how they "ought" to be behave. psychological egoism would have serious implications on society and humanity as a whole wherein by each person's pursuit to satisfy their own self-interests, without moral judgments or claims in mind. On the extreme side of this point of view, we as individuals we will run ourselves to extinction in upholding complete disregarding for the well-being of others and only ourselves, only negative outcomes may come of this. Co-existence, I believe is a fundamental character within human nature; we are the only species with the consciousness of the application of co-existence, without, Armageddon will be nearer to us than we'd prefer. But so goes it...

Describe the Expressivist view of moral language, and explain how it differs from the view of ethical objectivists, relativists and nihilists.

ASK IN CLASS!

What moral theory should (would) an ethical egoist advocate publically ? Would it be ethical egoism?

Altruism is self-defeating; People better off if we look out for ourselves If everyone looked out for themselves, society will be better off; so we should care only for ourselves Everyone will be best served if we each act in our own self interest instead of acting to benefit others Rationales One: Since we are more familiar with out own needs (than are other people) Two: We are better able to satisfy them (than are other people) Three: And so if we mind our own business Four: Instead of trying to help others (which is degrading to them and makes them dependent on us) Five: We will all be better off (than if we all tried to take care of each other's needs) Problem with this argument for EE: It appeals to altruistic moral theory (utilitarianism) This argument is that the welfare of society overall will be better served if each looks out solely for her own self-interest But the welfare of society is not something an ethical egoist should be concerned with (for EE claims one should only be concerned with oneself)

Subjectivism

An extreme version of relativism, which maintains that each person's beliefs are relative to that person alone and cannot be judged from the outside by any other perso. (The Individual)

Human Function of Human Nature

Aristotle: the good life for a human being is the life of happiness. This seems straightforwardly true, as Aristotle himself notes. The only real issue is to identify the activity or activities in which human beings find happiness most of all. To get insight into this question, Aristotle tries to understand happiness in terms of the function (or way of working) peculiar to human beings. He supposes that this function consists in the exercise of reason because this is the life characteristic of human beings. Hence Aristotle concludes that the good life for a human being consists in the exercise of reason. "Life seems common even to plants, but we are seeking what is peculiar to man. Let us exclude, therefore, the life of nutrition and growth. Next there would be a life of sensation, but it also seems common to the horse, the ox, and every animal. The remaining life is a life of practice holding with reason." ADVERSITY: Human function is to reproduce, happiness has not part or reason within this higher-order purpose. If we do not reproduce, we will cease to exist, terminating future discussions held on human nature.

Arguments against Ethical Egoism

EE endorses Wickedness. It can be in one's self-interest to do terribly evil things EE is self-contradictory because it gives inconsistent advice (slightly different version than one given in text...) When two people's interests conflict, EE tells A to win out over B and B to win out over A and these are not compatible recommendations Problem: The advice is consistent to each, but not overall consistent and the EE can claim this is not a problem EE is unacceptably arbitrary (it is like racism and sexism in being a form of unjustified discrimination) Principle of Equal Treatment: We should treat people the same way unless there is a relevant difference between them Difference in treatment (i.e., "discrimination") is justifiable only if there is some relevant factual difference between individuals that is relevant to and justifies treating the individuals differently Thus racism is arbitrary because there are no morally relevant differences between the races that justifies the differences in treatment the racist advocates EE is a similar type of arbitrary discrimination EE divides the world into two groups (me and everyone else) and says the interest of one group (me) counts for more than the interests of the other group (everyone else) But what justifies this difference in treatment? Is the individual more intelligent than others? Enjoy her life more than others? Have needs and abilities that others don't have? What makes the individual so special? Given there is no answer, EE is an arbitrary doctrine in the same way that racism or sexism are arbitrary doctrines

Expressivism

Moral judgments are neither true nor false. They do not make claims to truth. When you make a moral judgment, you are expressing (but not describing) your feelings about the subject Emotivism Prescriptivism *a theory about the meaning of moral language. According to expressivism, sentences that employ moral terms-for example, "It is wrong to torture an innocent human being;-are not descriptive or fact-stating; moral terms such as wrong; or right do not refer to real, in-the-world properties. The primary function of moral sentences, according to expressivism, is not to assert any matter of fact, but rather to express an evaluative attitude toward an object of evaluation.[3] Because the function of moral language is non-descriptive, moral sentences do not have any truth conditions.[4] Hence, expressivists either do not allow that moral sentences have truth value, or rely on a notion of truth value that does not appeal to any descriptive truth conditions being met for moral sentences.

Objectivism

Objectivism is the view that holds that certain moral principles are valid for all individuals and cultures. There are different levels of objectivism: the fixed view, which says that principles are fixed and do not change; the universal view, which includes the fixed view and adds that principles apply to all people everywhere; and the absolutist view, which includes the universal view and adds that certain principles are non-overrideable and true for all situations. People who hold this theory answer the question "where do these principles come from?" in several different ways: from the essence or commonality of human nature, from natural reality (moral realism), from God or the divine, or from the intrinsic good that comes from their application consequentialism).

How do opponents of psychological egoism explain it?

That a person has a self-interested motive (to feel good), doesn't mean he/she does not also have an altruistic one -Why does the person get satisfaction from helping others? Because she has a non-egoistic concern about them -She cares about what happens to others and that shows she's not egoistic -Confuses goal (object of desire) with results (good feelings) we get from achieving it -That we get good feelings when we achieve our goal (helping others) doesn't show that the good feelings were IN FACT the goal -Falsely treats pleasure we derive from achieving a goal as the goal itself -Desire---->object or goal---->resulting satisfaction PE FAILS TO DISTINGUISH Self-interest Selfishness Pursuit of Pleasure -Brush teeth and going to the dentist -This shows that not all acts are selfish -Smoking -This by itself shows that not all acts are based on self-interest -These examples refute PE even without examples of altruistic acts

Ethical Egoism

The belief that individuals should live their lives so as to maximize their own pleasure and minimize their own pain a consequentialist theory that states that actions are right if they maximize self interest Ethical position that moral agents ought to do what is in their own self-interest.

Ethical Relativism

The belief that nothing is objectively right or wrong and that the definition of right or wrong depends on the prevailing view of a particular individual, culture, or historical period.

conclusion of argument

The conclusion of an argument is the statements which appears to be implied by the other statements in the argument, which are called premises

Error Theory

The view that moral statements claim to report facts but such claims are in error and no moral claims are actually true (Mackie)

Do relativism and subjectivism generate contradictions?

Yes. Explain Cultural Relativism. Explain subjectivism. Link the two.

Equivocation

a common fallacy of ambiguity, where a word or phrase is used with two distinct meanings, but the conclusion is drawn as if there were only one meaning. This can create statements which are both compelling and incorrect, either by accident or by design. Purpose: subtle fallacies may be deliberate, designed to confuse an issue, to conceal an argument's weaknesses, or connect to unrelated points. Identifying and exposing these flaws can quickly tear down otherwise compelling arguments.

What does it mean to say that an ethical standard is objective? In what way do ethical relativists deny the objectivity of ethics and why do you think they do so?

a kind of standard that cultural relativism rejects. There are societies, the cultural relativist would say, where for historical and cultural reasons it is acceptable that we are limited in our freedom.

Nihilism

a philosophical belief involving the rejection of established values and morality.

Divine Command Theory

any position in ethics which claims that the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on whether they correspond to God's commands or not

Evaluative

articulates speaker's attitude/ take on things. Can be judged differently by different people. ex: It was a GOOD movie. good, bad, ugly, tasty...

Moral Patients

being that cannot be held morally responsible for their behavior but who have moral rights or can be treated in way that may properly be evaluated as morally right or wrong. Such beings typically cannot engage in rational deliberation about the morality of their actions but can feel pleasure & pain. (e.g. toddlers)

Moral Agents

beings capable of making distinctions between right and wrong and acting accordingly. Those whom we hold responsible for their actions

Argument

declarative statement that are not questions. - 2 are premises - followed by one conclusion

Normative

describes beliefs or values about how things should be or what people ought to do rather than what actually is. ex: You should see that movie ex: If you want to do good in this class, you ought to do the readings.

Normative ethics

determines what people ought to do and defines moral duties

truth of argument (invalid)

f the conclusion is true in every row of the truth table in which all the premises are true, the argument is valid. If the conclusion is false in any row in which all of the premises are true, the argument is invalid.

How might the phenomenon of a guilty conscience be used to support the theory of psychological egoism?

guilty conscience.. develops, either as a result performing altruistic acts out of self-interest alone Allegedly altruistic acts are rea Go to heaven Get recognition To feel good To avoid feeling bad

Truth of reason

in traditional rationalism, a belief that can be justified solely by appeal to intuition or deduction from premises based upon intuition. Math. The relation of the meaning of words. Ex: 2+2=4 2 clouds = 1 cloud together. Ex: All single men are Bachelors

Validity of argument

valid if all premises are true, enabling a true conclusion. ex. Either Elizabeth owns a Honda or she owns a Saturn. Elizabeth does not own a Honda. Therefore, Elizabeth owns a Saturn.

Cultural Relativism

view that norms among cultures set the standard for what counts as normal behavior, which implies that abnormal behavior can only be defined relative to these norms and that no universal definition of abnormality is therefore possible; only definitions of abnormality relative to a specific culture are possible *the belief that the behaviors and customs of any culture must be viewed and analyzed by the culture's own standards. *a view that no culture's ethics are superior to those of another culture's