Logical Fallacies Fallacy of Common Belief A lot of people believe x therefore x must be true Fallacy of Common Practice X is a common action therefore x is a moral justified correct action Ad Hominem Attacking a person s character or personality traits in order to undermine their argument Ad Hominem Circumstantial Attacking a person s argument claiming that they are arguing for their own interests This differs from a regular ad hominem attack in that the attacker uses circumstantial evidence not personality traits Appeal to False Authority According to authority figure X y is true Therefore y is true False Dilemma Either X is true or Y is true There is no in between E g You are either with us or against us Slippery Slope Event X has might will happen Therefore event Y will happen E g We have to stop the tuition increase The next thing you know they ll be charging 40 000 a semester Conflation of Morality with Legality Claiming that something is moral because it is legal or is illegal because it is immoral or any combination Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc After this therefore because of this X happened before Y Therefore X is the cause of Y Mistaking Correlation and Causation A and B are related or regularly occur together Therefore A causes B Hasty Generalization A very small sample is taken from a population Conclusion A is found Therefore A must be true for the entire population Straw Man Person A presents argument X Person B presents argument Y which is an exaggerated version of X Person B then claims X is wrong Perfectionist Fallacy A solution is rejected because it does not solve the entire problem Free Speech Harm anything that impedes on the rights of others harm isn t necessarily a physical action Harm Principle the actions of individuals should only be limited to prevent harm to other individuals This is an idea that is frequently used in law For example libertarians believe that the only job the government has is to prevent harm to individuals Offense Anything that causes an individual discomfort but does not necessarily cause them harm Offense Principle the actions of individuals should be limited if it causes an individual offense However this isn t always the case in law For example burning the US flag may offend people but the action of burning the flag is protected under the 1st Amendment Hate Speech speech gestures conduct etc that attacks a person or group based on their gender ethnicity race religion sexual orientation etc Speech Codes rules or regulations that limit speech outside of the freedom of speech Speech codes typically limit harmful or offensive speech such as harassment slander libel and or fighting words The Principle of Legal Moralism the principle of law that holds that laws may be used to limit behavior based on what society considers moral Charles R Lawrence III Lawrence argues that hate speech used in face to face insults falls within the fighting words category because of the immediacy of the injurious impact and because racist speech is used as a preemptive strike Nadine Strossen Strossen argues that there is limited evidence that pornography leads to sexist and or violent behavior and cites several studies that show the opposite effect She challenges the idea that pornography should be censored Introduction to Ethics Normative Ethics Focuses on the set of questions that arise when considering how one should act Act Consequentialism Utilitarianism Rule Consequentialism Act Consequentialism An action is right iff its consequences would be at least as good as any alternative action Rule Consequentialism An action is right iff it is in accord with a near universal set of rules which makes things go best Utilitarianism maximizing happiness and welfare above all else o Hedonistic Utilitarianism An action is right if it brings about the most universal pleasure Deontology Deontology focuses on the rightness wrongness of actions themselves as opposed to the rightness wrongness of the consequences or the actor Kantian Theory Ethics of Prima Facie Duty Kantian Theory Kant suggests the Categorical Imperative o Formula of Humanity of the Categorical Imperative tl dr Don t use people just as a means to an end Ethics of Prima Facie Duty fidelity justice reparation gratitude non maleficence beneficence self improvement These duties do not reduce to any others When the duties clash common sense must be used to decide which one takes precedence Virtue Theory an action is wrong iff and because it would not be performed by a virtuous agent Virtues are character traits such as courage kindness honesty etc Vices are traits such as cowardice cruelness greed dishonesty etc Normative Relativism there are no moral principles which are universally valid Moral rightness and wrongness differs from society to society Animal Rights Peter Singer Singer argues against speciesism and that all animals deserve equal consideration Principle of Equal Consideration Like interests deserve equal consideration Nonhuman animals have an interest in not suffering just like humans Speciesism discrimination against the members of a species on the basis of species membership I E Arguing that animals do not have rights because they are not human Singer argues that speciesism is just as unacceptable as racism sexism etc Tom Regan Regan argues that zoos are not morally defensible on two approaches a utilitarian based argument and a rights based argument Utilitarian Approach Regan argues that because we are not able to acquire all relevant information we cannot yield a determinate answer to the question of the defensibility of zoos Rights Approach Regan argues that zoos are not morally defensible because they violate the rights of animals He says that non human animals have a right to respectful treatment For example animals deserve the right to free movement which is violated by captivity Limiting the freedom of any animal is only justifiable in a narrow range of cases such as saving another animal s life Moral Agent an individual who is able to tell the difference between right and wrong and can be held accountable for their actions Moral Patient moral patients are unable to tell the difference between right and wrong and are therefore unable to do what is right or wrong children animals disabled people Regan argues that moral patients cannot be held accountable for their actions However he also argues that moral agents can use force or violence against moral patients in self defense or in the
View Full Document
Unlocking...