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Phil 252: Midterm
Epistemology
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the study of knowledge (or a justified belief)
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What is conceptual clarification?
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What does a concept mean? what implications does that meaning have for experience?
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Deductive Arguments
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don't go beyond the info contained in the premises; draw conclusions based on valid inference forms
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Validity |
if the premises are true, then the conclusion must be true; guarantees the truth of the conclusion
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Soundness
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the argument is valid and the premises are all true
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What are Vaughn's rules for reading philosophy and argument?
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know the basis of deductive and inductive arguments, determine if conclusion follows the premises, determine if premises are true
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What does Vaughn define as common mistakes when reading philosophy and arguments?
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failing to distinguish b/t the logical structure of an argument, and the truth of its premises; thinking stating views makes a valid argument; thinking persuading someone to accept a claim makes a valid argument; failing to distinguish between argumentative vs. non argumentative material
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Intentional |
based on the meanings of the words in the definition
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Extensional |
based on pointing out examples or like items
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What are 3 psychological attitudes to avoid with philosophy?
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not thinking, rationalization, dogmatism
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Ethical Relativism
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A prescriptive theory that claims that moral standards depend on the group or culture which you belong
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Ethical standards
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criteria that help differentiate right from wrong
Ex: virtue, utility |
Prescriptive vs. Descriptive assertions
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prescriptive: Prescribes rules governing what people should/shouldn’t say/ write
descriptive: Describes the rules that govern what people do or can say (their “mental grammar”) |
Premises
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The reasons offered in support of the conclusion
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Deduction |
reasoning from known facts to a logical conclusion
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Modus Pones
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1. If P then Q
2. P
3. therefore, Q
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Modus Tollens
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1. If P, then Q
2. Not Q
3. Therefore, not P |
Dogmatism |
An idea is true if someone in authority says it is true; go with what the majority believes
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Cultural Relativism
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A descriptive (non judgmental) theory about the variety of moral beliefs, systems, and practices that one can find around the world
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Subjectivism |
-Principles are justified by their acceptance of an individual
-"I think it is true therefore it is true." |
Criticisms of Ethical Relativism
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makes social criticisms impossible
-makes moral progress impossible
-Cultural Differences Argument is invalid
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What are the criticisms of cultural relativism?
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counter-intuitive, difficult to determine what a culture is, and how many people in a culture need to say what is morally right or wrong
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Criticisms of Subjectivism
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suggests an individual's belief in the rightness of an action is a sufficient basis for concluding the action is right
we cannot evaluate the rightness of ours decisions |
The Euthypro Question
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“Is an action right because God says so, or does God say so because the action is right?”
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Divine Command Theory
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Ethical principles are simply the commands of God. They derive their validity from God's commanding them
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Problems with the DCT
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Morality is arbitrary
therefore we cannot use our moral faculties
-The Euthypro question
-Epistemological and arbitrariness
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Universalism
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suggests ethical standards apply across all cultures
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Absolutism |
the acceptance or belief that absolute principles matter
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Rationalism
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we decide, consciously, what is in our best interest, and we do it
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Consequentialism
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Choosing our actions on the basis of their consequences
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Welfarism
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Accessing our consequences on the basis of how well they satisfy the needs/interests of everyone affected by those actions
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Basic Utilitarianism
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-Aim is to maximize utility (happiness)
-Takes net utility (good consequences - bad consequences) into account for each person |
Rule vs. Act Utilitarianism
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1. rule - looks at consequences of having everyone follow a certain rule and calculates overall utility
2. act - looks at the consequences of each individual act and calculates the utility for each act
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Common currency Objections to Bentham
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weighs preferences without judging them;
everyone's preferences count evenly
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Hedonism |
happiness = pleasure with the absence of pain
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Objections to Bentham's utilitarianism
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-does the result justify the means? ex. an act with the highest net utility requires harming a group etc.
-common currency of value ex. pain for pay?
- |
Singer's preference for Utility
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... |
Objections to Mill
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Sandel says that higher pleasures are not higher because we prefer them, but because we recognize them as higher
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Singer's preference satisfaction
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what constitutes being happy is having your preferences satisfied
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Equal consideration of interests (ECI)
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it requires that, if we can serve others’ interests by sacrificing lesser interests of our own, then we are obligated to do so
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Entity |
A matter arranged functionally
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Living entity
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a matter arranged in such a way that it can maintain and reproduce
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Incentive |
... |
Animal |
a living entity capable of forming a conception of its environment; carried out by instinctive or rational ways
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Action |
interaction of an incentive and a priciple
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Incentive |
the drive to make an action occur
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Normative response
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an automatic sense that a certain action is called for
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Instinctive action
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acting on the basis of an established connection between an incentive and a normative response
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Intelligent Animal
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one that has the ability to learn from its experiences
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Rationality |
Ability to reason
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Maxim |
concise statement of truth or rule of conduct
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Moral worth
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Whether an act is right or wrong
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Autonomy vs. heteronomy
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Heteronomy: acting according to inclinations, causes outside of our rational self
- Autonomy: acting according to the determinations of our rational self |
Categorical imperative
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what is right (or wrong) for most is probably right (or wrong)
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Act vs. agent theories
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act: focuses on "how should I act?"
-agent: focuses on "what kind of person should I be?" |
Arete |
a disposition to act rightly and for the right reasons
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Eudiamonia |
Aristotle's idea of happiness; doing good things
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Phronesis |
practical wisdom
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Ergon |
work or action
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Telos |
the purpose or reason why we do something
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Limits of the skill analogy
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Skills are relatively independent of feeling
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Human function argument
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each individual has a function
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Wisdom, justice, temperance, and courage are?
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the Cardinal virtues
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Naturalism and teleology
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Happiness is our final end; happiness is not pleasure
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Virtue Ethics
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Approach focuses more on the integrity of the moral actor than on the moral act itself; important that the individual intends to be a good person and associate with good people.
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Objections to virtue ethics
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egoism: VE is does not say 'living at the expense of other'; EE does
-Moral Guidance: VE does not ground moral judgments in moral principles
-application: we ought to do what the virtuous person would do |
Central objections to traditional ethical theories
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reason vs. emotion: moral motivation is by reason, not emotion
-the sameness problem: universalism DNE
-Oppressive conceptual frameworks: humans meet the criterion, but non-humans do not
-public/private distinction: argument can be reconstructed
-concept of self: generalized other vs. concrete other |
Value dualism
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either you meet the criterion or you do not
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Value Hierarchy
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Ranking of values in order of importance
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Logic of oppression
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whatever meets the criteria is not just more valuable, but is also justified in subordinating whatever does not meet that criterion
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Natural vs. ethical caring
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Ethical-done out of a sense of duty (ought to care)
Natural-care that is intial (love) |
Liberal feminism
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moral virtue is unitary, but women are still denied opportunities for edu. and development
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glass ceiling
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invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions
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Marxist feminism
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sees women as economically dominated by men
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Eco feminism
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theories critical in society for degrading the natural and social conditions of women
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Reasonable person standard
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Would a reasonable person do this?
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Reasonable woman standard
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Sexual harassment should be measured by what the average woman would find to be harassment
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