Test 1 PHI2630 STUDY GUIDE 1 Act Utilitarianism a version of consequentialism that maximizes happiness and welfare the rightness or wrongness of something depends entirely on how they af fect welfare or happiness Conjunction of consequentialism action is right just in the case that it has the best consequences hedonism pleasure is the only thing that is valuable and univer salism every being s consequences are relevant 2 Rule consequentialism an action is right if and only if it is in accord with that set of riles the near universal acceptance of would make things go best Ex making a promise to someone riot scenario should the officer kill the inno cent man to prevent a riot 3 Kant s formulations of principle of morality Categorical imperative aka Kant s Moral Theories Two different ones but on the test she said one of them both are listed below 1 Formula of humanity act in such a way that you treat humanity whether in your own person or in the person of any other never merely as a means to an end but always at the same time as an end 2 Formula of universal law Act only to that maximum where you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction 4 Ross ethical theory Prima Facie Duty There are a series of prima facie duties that you must decide which takes precedence if they clash none of them reduce to another They are listed below 1 Fidelity one ought to keep one s promises 2 Justice one ought to ensure that pleasure is distributed according to merit 3 Reparation one ought to make amends to others for any past wrongs one has done to them 1 Test 1 4 Gratitude one ought to show gratitude towards one s benefactors 5 Non maleficence one ought to refrain from harming others 6 Beneficence one ought to help those in need and in general increase the virtue pleasure and knowledge of others 5 Normative Relativism a theory that claims that there are no universally valid moral principles 6 Virtue Theory an action is only right if and only if and because it is what a virtu ous one who has virtues such as courage kindness temperance honesty and jus tice agent acting in character would not avoid doing in the circumstances under consideration It contrasts with vices such as cowardice cruelness greed dishon esty and injustice 7 Normative ethics the branch of ethics concerned with giving a general account of what is right and what is wrong 8 Harm principle a liberty limiting principle according to which a government may justifiably pass laws to limit the liberty of its citizens in order to prohibit individuals from causing harm to other individuals or to society 9 Harm and its types mental physical and economic harm an action that directly undermines the rights of another person or group of people this is related to one s interests being frustrated or defeated cumulative harm ex walking on a lawn repeatedly may not be harmful once but over time it accumulates 10 Offensive principle this principle asserts that the prevention of offensive conduct is properly the states business individual s liberty can be interfered with in order to prohibit individuals from offending others 11 Hate speech language that expresses strong hatred contempt or intolerance for some social group particularly social groups classifies according to race ethnicity gender sexual orientation religion disability or nationality 2 Test 1 12 Speech codes prohibited stigmatizing or victimizing either individuals or groups on the basis of race ethnicity religion sex marital status age sexual orientation creed origin ancestry handicap or veteran status at the University of Michigan in 1989 This was rejected as unconstitutional for violating free speech and due process of law 13 Principle of legal moralism A government may justifiably pass laws that interfere with individual liberty in order to protect common moral standards independently of whether the activities in question are harmful to others or one s self 14 The straw man fallacy taking a persons viewpoint or argument and twisting it to sway the listeners against them this technique is often used in political debates ex Senator smith says that we shouldn t fund the new weapons program for the army I completely disagree I can t understand why he would want to leave us de fenseless like that It makes the other person seem worse than they are in a mor phed way 15 Slippery slope fallacy if something happens then a chain reaction of bad things will occur into something really bad usually the following events are displayed as inevitable and irrational ex The direct TV commercial we watched in class basically telling viewers that if they didn t get rid of cable they would fall in a ditch More fallacies and reasoning errors Majority belief the evidence is that most people feel this way not that it s right The fallacy of common practice a lot most many people do it so it s the right thing to do ex lying to your friends beating your children 3 Ad hominem attacking a persons character rather than attacking the argument ex in a video about sending troops to Iraq someone declined an idea and said No that s just me and my caring ways which is implying that the person on the other side isn t caring False dilemma either you do this or it makes you that creates an either or situa Test 1 tion you re either with us or against us ex Buy me a car or you re a bad father Appeal to authority makes you think that authorities are always right about a view claims that courts are always just or that something that is written is always correct ex Tom Hanks talks about psychology and people listen because he is well known and authoritative meanwhile the stuff coming out of his mouth could easily be wrong because he is not an expert in psychology Post hoc ergo propter hoc not looking for an alternate explanation commonly used with the death penalty ex you got here and my refrigerator broke so you are buying me a new one Mistaking correlation for causation someone uses olive oil and they are healthy that does not mean that they got healthy by using olive oil Conflation of morality with legality not everything that is legal is moral not every thing that is moral is legal not everything that should be moral is legal Appeal to ignorance the lack of evidence against something is the evidence for it ex Science hasn t ruled out ghosts therefore ghosts exist Hasty generalization claim that a small group of people have become generalized about everyone else ex My father smoked four
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