ETHICS MIDTERM/FINAL

What are the two major arguments for capital punishment?

- 1) Argument of deterrence Premise #1: brutal crime exist Premise #2: there is a need to deter brutal crime Premise #3: punishment is a deterrent Conclusion: capital punishment is therefore moral Weakness: The sociological claim is that there is a negative correlation between crime and execution however, there is no evidence that this is true, as correlation does not equal causation. - 2) the argument from retribution Premise #1 brutal crime exist Premise #2: those who commit brutal crime deserve equal treatment Premise #3: punishment is equal treatment Conclusion: punishment is, therefore moral Weakness : equality is not always attainable

What is virtue ethics ?

- First system of ethics: Virtue ethics - States an action is moral if the person who commits the action displays excellence - Principle thinker in virtue ethics is Aristotle - Happiness is the only intrinsic value - Essential problem with the mean is that it is hard to identify -First line of Aristotle's ethics "All human actions aim at some good" - Happiness does not equal pleasure because there is a qualitative difference - Human beings often confuse pleasure and happiness - Pleasure is a condition of the senses - Happiness is a condition of the soul

Meletus

- Meletus: principle accuser - says laws coerce people not improve them; Laws change behavior not character - Good people don't need laws - Want: desire/volition versus willing reluctance/resistance - Conformity does not constitute goodness

What are the charges against Socrates in the "apology" ?

- Plato's Apology - Socrates charged for corrupting the youth intellectually (provoking their curiosity) - More ignorance equals less questions asked (to control the masses) - Second Charge: not acknowledging the gods of the city of Athens - Third Charge: Atheism - The people in power feel threatened; want to maintain status quo - Socrates does not corrupt the youth, He improves them; Life of destitution - Basis of the slander against me is that i speak the truth - The wisest man in all of Athens (poets and laborers and politicians were not so wise) - Socrates equals wisest man because he admits his own ignorance unlike anyone else - The claim of ignorance is superior to the claim of knowledge

What is deontology ? What is the categorical imperative ?

- Second system of ethics: deontology - States an action is moral if the person who commits the action fulfils their duties or obligations - Greek word "DEON": Duty or obligation - Important thinker of deontology: Kant argues human beings have duties/obligations just for being in the world with other people. - Kant says "We do not have obligations towards other species" - Categorical imperative: 1. Act from such a maxim, that you would wish to become universal law. 2. Always treat every individual as an end and never merely as a means. - Three deontological principles: 1.Principle of honesty 2. Principle of non aggression 3. Principle of goodwill - Freedom is the condition of the possibility of ethics (responsible of things under own control)

Three arguments regarding abortion.

- 1) The bodily rights arguments - Premise 1 - Every woman has rights an autonomy over her own body. Premise 2 - The unborn is a part of the mother's body Premise 3 - The mother has right and autonomy over the unborn. Conclusion: Abortion is therefore moral Weakness: Surrogate mother would have soul rights over unborn as it is physically attached by the umbilical cord - 2) The argument from potentiality Premise 1 - Every human being has a right to life Premise 2 - The unborn is potentially a human being Premise 3 - The unborn has a right to life Conclusion: Abortion is there for immoral Weakness: Potentiality does not equal actuality -3) The negative social impact argument Premise 1 - The well being of society is critical Premise 2 - The birth of a unwanted child could have a negative social impact Premise 3 - Abortion eliminates unwanted births Conclusion: Abortion is there for moral Weakness: Likelihood does not equal certainty -4) The argument of the deprivation of a future Premise 1 - Every being has the right to realize their own future Premise 2 - The unborn is a being Premise 3 - The unborn has a right to realize it's future Premise 4- Abortion deprives the unborn of it's future Conclusion: Abortion is there for immoral Weakness: The future is uncertain

What is abortion ? Legal Versus Moral Question: Does biological life equal moral status ?

- Abortion is the termination of the unborn - The unborn is everything before birth - Three types of abortion - 1) Therapeutic Abortion: The termination of the unborn for reasons of health. 2) Spontaneous abortion: Miscarriage 3) Elective abortion: Any abortion that is not spontaneous or therapeutic -The legal question of abortion is at what point should the state intervene in the welfare of the unborn? - The moral question is does the unborn deserve moral consideration? - Moral status means there are moral implications for how you treat a particular thing. Inanimate objects do not hold moral status - Biological life does not equal moral status because microorganisms are alive and do not deserve moral consideration. - Potentiality does not equal actuality ( list premise if needed )

What is bias? What is discrimination?

- Bias is a preconceived notion - Discrimination is acting upon that bias - [Sexism: bias on the basis of gender or belief and superiority on the basis of gender - Classism : bias on the basis of social class/standing - Regionalism: bias on the basis of region - Racism: bias on the basis of race]

What is Capital Punishment ? What is wrongful execution ?

- Capital punishment is the termination of life for the purpose of reprimanding someone - Retentionism: The position that the death penalty is morally justifiable - Abolitionism: The position that the death penalty is not morally justifiable - Wrongful execution is carrying out capital punishment against an innocent person - The international community stands on capital punishment is an abolitionist point of view - Historical methods of execution: Poisoning, Decapitation, Electrocution, Hanging, Drowning , Stoning, Impalement, Dehydration, Starvation, Burying alive - Capital offenses: Theft, Murder, Rape, Espionage, Possessions and arson

What is the central question of Plato's dialogue "Euthyphro" ?

- Central question is, what is piety ? - Piety: Is that what is dear to the gods - Two responses to what is piety ? : 1. Piety is treating everyone the same/applying the same moral standards to everyone. 2. What is dear to the gods ? - Pious: Holy or sacred - Socrates exposes Euthyphro's ignorance; He never claims to know the answer to what is piety

What is consequentialism?

- Consequentialism is the view that the morality of an action is determined by the results - Utilitarianism is a form of consequentialism - Utilitarianism tries to quantify the results - The weakness of consequentialist ethics is that 1) Consequences are uncertain 2) Harm the few for the benefit of the many

What does Socrates say about the fear of death ?

- Death is inevitable - 1. Death is a lack of perception for eternity (being asleep but forever) 2. Death is a change of location; body is transported somewhere else - Socrates fears a life living the way most do: With low intellectual standards - Socrates fears the unexamined life is not worth living; a life of never asking the ultimate questions

The difference between opinion and knowledge?

- Doxa: opinion or belief - Episteme: knowledge - Difference between opinion and knowledge is knowledge has the predicate of the condition of certainty - Opinion or belief is uncertain - The difference is important as knowledge calls on a higher intellectual standard

What is the elenchus?

- Elenchus is the methodology used by Socrates (the Socratic Method) - Elenchus is 1) cross-examination, 2) the search for definitions, 3) what is X?, 4) the search for essences - What is X? X= ultimate questions (beauty,love,happiness)

What is the sovereignty of virtue thesis ?

- Sovereignty of virtue thesis: Excellence should be the primary pursuit/ ambition for all human beings - Virtue: Excellence; Greek Origin ARETE: Virtue - Vice: absence of excellence (subject to misuse) - Aristotle says that virtue is the mean between excess and deficiency - Human Values into two categories: 1. Intrinsic value (value for own sake) 2. Instrumental Value ( value as of a means to obtaining something else)

What is the Judeo-Christian conception of members of other species? Five uses of other species? 5 modern day practices towards animals that are being reared for consumption? Language towards disposition:

- The Judeo-Christian conception is that other animals are put on this earth for human beings to use them. - Anthropocentrism is a worldview where humans have priority over other living things. The Judeo-Christian conception is anthropocentric. Also, the western world tends to be more anthropocentric. - Members of other species are used for the consumption of animal flesh, transportation, animal experimentation, labor, and companionship - To avoid aggression between species in unnatural conditions, modern day practices used are: de-beaking of chicken to prevent feather pecking, placing chickens on wire, tail docking of pigs to avoid tail biting, placing pigs on concrete, and growing to unnatural levels. - The pig is the most intelligent animal consumed in the western world. - Beef and poultry are a commodity; The use of language transitions an animals to a product.

What is the argument for medical necessity? What is the Draize experiment?

- The argument for medical necessity claims animal experimentation is justified because it leads to the improvement of medicine Premise, #1 : the well-being of humanity is critical Premise#2: advancing medicine is essential to humanities well-being Premise #3: animal experimentation is necessary for medical advances Conclusion: animal experimentation is therefore more - The Draize experiment is weakness and an example of speciesism because we are inflicting suffering on animals. - The Draize experiment is overwhelmingly performed on rabbits. performed by placing rabbits inside a device where their body is immobilized, and their head protrudes one massive infection is forced onto the pupil and iris, because of the action of pouring chemicals; experiment is used to measure the effect of different eye products.

What is Utilitarianism ?

- Third system of ethics - Principle thinker: Englishmen John Stuart Mill ( Response to Kant ) - Utilitarianism is a system of ethics that states an action is moral if the person who commits the action produces the greatest good for the greatest number of people - Weakness: The majority can be wrong - Consensus does not equal correctness

What is war? Just War Theory? Proper conduct?

- War is an armed conflict between nations or between parties within a nation - Some major conflicts in human history are World War II, the Vietnam war, the Korean war - historical motivations for going to war are economics, defense, or ideology - Civilian casualties have outnumbered those of combatants with the ratio often being 2:1 - nuclear weapons are used to target civilian populations as it targets the vulnerability - Just war theory is an attempt to justify war 1) right reason to go to war 2) proper conduct in war - Proper conduct in war: 1) Proportionality means aggression should be somewhat comparable, 2) no targeting of citizens, 3) targeting of property that is not associated with the war effort, 4) no torture, 5) no genocide, 6) no harming of POW's or ones who surrender - Anarchism is the view that coercion always requires justification; states often act in their own interest

Two main questions to divide ethics into:

- What does it mean to be a morally good person? - What does it mean for a specific action to be moral?

Divine Command Theory

- divine command theory: states an action is moral because God says so - the theory is flawed because it puts God as tyrannical authority (weakness) - piety: is that what is dear to the gods - possible claim that authority can steer human correctness (strengths) (but authority not = correctness)

What is economic ethics? What is historical materialism? What is poverty?

- economic ethics are whether or not there are moral implications to how resources are distributed in the world - The difference between developed and underdeveloped world references to the standard of living in the world. 80% of the world is considered underdeveloped or Third World. - Historical materialism is the view that history is propelled by the economic conditions. (The Marxist conception of war is all war is driven by economics.) - poverty is the deprivation of basic human needs (food, shelter, clean drinking water, money, healthcare, primary education) - Absolute poverty is complete deprivation of basic human needs; Relative poverty is the reference to the individual poverty line in a particular region of the world - causes of economic disparity: natural disasters, colonization, lack of resources, corruption, war

Essential difference between rhetoric and dialectic?

- rhetoric: the art of persuasion - dialectic: the concern with content as opposed to appeal (accuracy (what you say) vs. appeal (how its said)) - essential difference is persuasiveness (rhethoric) vs content (dialectic) is what determines correctness

What is speciesism?

- speciesism is bias on the basis of species, or belief and superiority on the basis of species - Peter Singer's argument from unnecessary suffering claims: Any action that produces unnecessary suffering is immoral. (The most influential moral argument of the 20th century) - We should have equal consideration for members of other species, not equal treatment, because they are sentient - critical difference: animals do not have the capacity for moral reflections

Where does the study of ethics begin in the history of the West? Three main thinkers of ethics?

- study of ethics begins in the history of the west in Antiquity: first attempts to make a moral claim - antiquity: period of history (6th century B.C. - 3rd century A.D.) - ancient is interchangeable with antiquity AKA ancient greek world - 3 main thinkers: Aristotle, Plato, Socrates - Socrates is Plato's teacher; Plato is Aristotle's teacher

What is ethics?

- the branch of philosophy that deals with correctness of human action - greek origin word ethos: means norm/habit/custom

what is the standard of living index and it's indicators?

- the standard of living index is a compilation of data that attempts to quantify the quality of life in a particular part of the world - standard of living indicators: 1) life expectancy: the average number of years lived by a citizen of that country Significance: political stability, sanitation, per capita crime rates, healthcare access 2) literacy rates: a measurement of the adult population that can read and write in their native language significance: education is usually always compulsory for young children 3) infant mortality: how many infants do not survive the first year of life significance: maternal healthcare, pediatric healthcare 4) per capita income: average income expressed in dollar amount per person 5) unemployment rates: percentage of a population that is not working in voluntarily significance: wealthier countries tend to have lower unemployment rates

What is philosophy?

- the study of ultimate through reason - philosophy provides clarity and better understanding - philosophy NOT concerned w/ trivialities (inconsistency) or taking sides - greek word philos: love of/ Sophia: wisdom

Ultimacy

- ultimacy: study of ultimate or fundamental questions regarding human - Does God exist? What is the meaning of life? What is the essence of beauty? - ultimate questions are unique to human beings (and philosophy); not superior to other academic disciplines

What is euthanasia ?

-Euthanasia is the termination of life for the purpose of elevating suffering - Greek origin: eu= good, thanatos= death -Active euthanasia is killing versus passive euthanasia which is letting someone die ( example - active = lethal injection; passive = suspension of action) - Voluntary euthanasia is when a competent person has chosen to end their life - Non-voluntary euthanasia is euthanizing someone who lacks competence/ judgement - Involuntary euthanasia is when a competent person is euthanized against their competent will - The problem of anthropocentricism is that we are more reluctant to euthanize members of our own species