PHL281H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Prima Facie, Universal Health Care, Moral Relativism
27 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
Morality (moral norms) employs norms to evaluate the rightness of actions, judge character. Moral norms" features: normative dominance- moral norms dominate all other kinds of norms. Aesthetic norm- demand all homeless people thrown in jail for tainting the city"s beauty. Norm- prescribes more humane treatment of these people: universality- moral principles apply in all relevantly similar situations. Wrong for one to tell a lie- it"s always wrong for anyone (in a similar circumstance) to tell a lie. Impartiality- everyone should be considered equal, everyone"s interests should count the same. Ridiculous- murder is wrong, except when committed by myself. Prevents discrimination against people because they are different (in ways that are not morally relevant) Can discriminate only in cases where there"s good reason- not discriminating arbitrarily: reasonableness- moral norms must be backed by reasonable logic. There should be good reason behind accepting moral norms- reasons that all other reasoning persons can acknowledge.
