PHI 2010 Introduction to Philosophy Fall 2011 MW 3 35 4 50 Study Questions and notes for the Third Final Exam Short Answer 4 5 sentences Six of the following questions will appear on the exam you will need to answer four of those 10 points each 1 Explain the main subject matter of the following varieties of ethics normative ethics meta ethics and applied ethics Ethics is the study of what s is morally good or bad Normative Ethics the main subject matter is what makes a morally good act good or what makes a right act right Meta ethics ask what the natures of morals are and what are normative ethics is trying to explain Applied ethics applies normative ethics to moral situations such as whether it is wright to lie and ask what one should do in the situation 2 Describe an apparent counterexample to psychological egoism and briefly explain how a defender of this position might attempt to respond to the example you give Assume that your reader is familiar with the main claims of psychological egoism Psychological egoism is a theory of human motivation that states the only thing anyone is capable of desiring or pursuing ultimately is his own self interest For example I want to donate money to a charity but this is only because I want to look kind in front of others A counterexample to psychological egoism would be that there are people that there are people who donate large sums of money anonymously so it appears that they are not acting out of any self interest However a defender may respond that the anonymous donor will gain benefits in an afterlife because of his charity 3 Explain why normative subjectivism NS might appear to promote tolerance of ethical views that differ from one s own Then explain why this appearance is misleading Assume that your reader is familiar with the mains claims of NS NS claims there are no objective truth about which actions are right For example lying is morally wrong if and only if I believe this to be true or lying is morally right if and only if I believe it to be ok Morals can only right wrong relative to an observer Thus as it seems there are no right or wrong answers in ethics it appears that NS promote tolerance the ethical views of other as all views are equal as nun are wrong However it is possible for me to believe in intolerance of others ethical views thus by NS it is morally right for me to be intolerance of others view 4 State and explain the main idea behind meta ethical subjectivism NS and briefly explain how this view differs from normative subjectivism Meta ethical subjectivism claims that NS theories cannot be true or false as they do not report facts about ethical issues instead reporting what a person s attitude is about the issue The main differences from between the two is that NS can be true or false subjectively whereas Meta ethical are just descriptions of attitudes and neither true or false 5 Explain one of the cases discussed in class that are commonly presented as counterexamples to utilitarianism Be sure to explain why the scenario you describe represents a challenge to this position Utilitarianism follows the greatest happens principle which is the action one should do in any situation is the one that creates the most happiness or pleasure and the least unhappiness or pain One counter example to utilitarianism it that of the Organ donor where a patient enters a hospital for a very minor injury The patients doctor being a utilitarian finds that there are 5 other patients that will die without organ transplants and it just so happens that the patient with a minor injury is a match for all 5 and so by killing him he can save the life of 5 other people From a utilitarian stand point the moral thing to do would be to kill and harvest the one man s organs as it creates the most happens However many still feel that it is wrong to sacrifice one man s life in such a way 6 State and explain the major differences between utilitarianism and Kant s moral theory as discussed in class Utilitarianism follows greatest happens principle which is the action one should do in any situation the morally correct one is the one that creates the most happiness or pleasure and the least unhappiness or pain That is utilitarianism considers the consequences of their actions to find the morally right action For Kant on the other hand morally right actions are based on whether they conform to duty That is actions are morally right if they are done for the right reasons not because of their consequences 7 In Kant s terminology what is a good will and how is it related to moral worth Explain the difference between acting from duty and acting in accord with duty as Kant understands it The good will is to do the right actions for the right reasons for example to help an old lady to cross the street because of your morals telling you don t want to see the old lady get hurt Actions may still be right even if done for the wrong reasons for example helping the old lady across the street because you hope she will give you a rewired Helping the old lady is a right action however this is not a morally praiseworthy action To be morally praiseworthy one must do the right action for the wright reason Long Answer 1 pages about 3 paragraphs Three of the following questions will appear on the exam you will need to answer two of those 25 points each 1 State and explain the main thesis of psychological egoism Then state and explain the motive argument in favor of this position and explain Feinberg s response to this argument Psychological egoism is a theory of human motivation that describes human behavior it is a descriptive claim not normative It states the only thing anyone is capable of desiring or pursuing ultimately is his own self interest This means that the only real reason people do anything is because it will in the end benefit them in some way For example donating to charity so the people around you think you re a good person The motive argument 1 Every action I perform is prompted in part by desires that are my desires and not someone else s 2 Therefore all of my actions are intended to satisfy my desires 3 Therefore every time I act I am seeking my own satisfaction 4 Conclusion Therefore every time I act I am pursuing my own self interest Each premise of the argument follows from the last in a way that 2 4 are meant to mean the same thing without any outside knowledge Simple put the argument stats that for one of my every action there is one of my desires