[PHIL 120W] - Final Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (33 pages long!)

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 120W
• Professor: Samuel Black

Document Summary

Legal duty: an action is a legal duty in a given political association in if that action is required under that political association"s laws. Characteristics of legal duties: laws are action-guiding. They identify actions and specify that they should be performed (eg. pay taxes) or not performed (eg. interfering with another person"s body) Laws acquire their authority, the reasons they supply for guiding action, exclusively from particular states or institutions: their authority is derived exclusively from particular states or institutions, the reasons for complying with laws are not categorical reasons. A moral judgment is a belief about the moral reasons that apply to a person. Moral judgement: that guy who cut into line is a jerk . Moral reason: people have a reason not to cut into line in a circumstance like this one. Characteristics of moral reasons: moral reasons are action-guiding, they don"t derive their authority (reason-giving force) from institutions like the state, they are categorical reasons.