Phil 2310 Study Guide for the First Exam Professor Stephen Plecnik 2 10 2014 I Part 1 of the Exam will ask you to match some key ethical theories and terms with their definitions Make sure that you know the following ethical theories and terms Moral Philosophy the study of what morality is and what it requires of us Cultural Relativism the idea that there is no such thing as universal truth in ethics there are only the various cultural codes and nothing more Moral Objectivism the view that some actions are by nature right or wrong and so discounts the morality of the subject and his circumstances such as weakness of mind or body Psychological Egoism Asserts that each person does in fact pursue his or her own self interest exclusively Social Contract Theory it creates an agreement to obey a set of rules that ratio nal individuals would accept provided that others accept them as well State of Nature it is a state in which there is no government God or rules to hold us accountable Moral Subjectivism aka Simple Ethical Subjectivism it hold that the moral judg ments an individual makes are solely formed or influenced by his her emotional at titudes and prejudices Natural Law Theory all things have a structure or nature one discovers what is good for a being by discovering its purpose theists believe that God created a uni verse an ordered grouping of beings each thing has a purpose in the universe as a member has a purpose in the body when things act to attain the fulfillment of their natures they are following their nature s law when they do so they do what is good Emotivism second stage of subjectivism it is the position which states that moral language is used to express one s feelings towards something and to influence other people s attitudes and feelings Prisoner s Dilemma an attempt to show that cleverness and self interest are in sufficient to achieve the most favorable social results Ethical Egoism the doctrine that each person ought to pursue his or her own self interest exclusively or that one should always do what is best for himself with out necessarily taking others interests into account Divine Command Theory the view that what God commands is morally good and what God forbids is morally bad most people along with the ancient Greek philosopher Plato however believe that what God commands He does so be cause it is good and not that it is good because God commands it The Euthyphro Dilemma is the pious loved by the gods because it is pious or is it pious because it is loved by the gods The Ethics of Altruism the claim that each person ought to pursue the good of others to some degree this doctrine is accepted by the majority of ethical theories throughout history and today Normative Claim it is a statement of how things ought to be Value Judgment a judgment that something is good or bad moral or immoral just or unjust etc Part 2 of the Exam will consist of multiple choice questions Part 3 of the Exam will consist of true false questions Part 4 of the Exam will consist of short answer questions II III IV Some questions that will help to focus your studying for these three parts of the Exam Why does Rachels say there is a problem of definition when it comes to the notion of morality There are many rival theories each expounding a different conception of what it means to live morally and any definition that goes beyond Socrate s simple formulation is bound to offend at least one of them What is the minimum conception of morality and what does it require of us as moral agents The minimum conception of morality is the effort to guide one s conduct by rea son that is to do what there are the best reasons for doing while giving equal weight to the interests of each individual affected by one s decision in other words the nature of morality consists in reason and impartiality The conscientious moral agent is someone who is concerned impartially with the interests of everyone affected by what he or she does What are the definitions of a valid invalid sound and unsound argument Valid Argument a deductive argument that has all true premises and whose conclusion necessarily follows from these true premises Invalid Argument a deductive argument capable of having all true premises and a false conclusion Sound Argument a valid argument that has all true premises and whose con clusion necessarily follows from the true premises Unsound Argument an invalid argument a deductive argument that has one or more false premises or both What are the five claims that cultural relativists typically make Different societies have different moral codes The moral code of a society determines what is right within that society There is no objective standard that can be used to judge one society s code as better than others The moral code of our own society has no special status It is arrogant for us to judge other cultures What three consequences would follow if cultural relativism were true We cannot judge the moral codes of different societies We cannot criticize our own moral code Moral progress is impossible Are there moral values that are transcultural The value of protecting and caring for the young The value of truth telling The prohibition against murder Describe the theory of Moral Subjectivism Is it a cognitivist or non cogni tivist theory This theory hold that the moral judgments an individual makes are solely formed or influenced by his her emotional attitudes and prejudices It is consid ered to be non cognitivist which means that it is an ethical theory devoid of reason According to Emotivism how should moral language be understood How does the emotivists understanding of moral language differ from the sim ple subjectivists understanding of moral language Simple Subjectivism says that moral language is about stating facts ethical statements reports the speaker s attitudes Ex Tim says that Homosexuality is immoral this means that I Tim disapprove of homosexuality it is a statement of fact about Tim s attitude Emotivism says that moral language is not fact stating language it is not used to convey information or to make reports It is used first as a means of influ encing people s behavior Ex If I say You shouldn t do that I am trying to persuade you not to do that My utterance is more of a command than of a fact Also moral language is used to express one s attitude Ex Tim says Homosexuality is immoral emotivists interpret her utterance as equivalent to something like Don t be gay or
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