[PP223] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (76 pages long!)
Document Summary
Module one: philosophy and some influential moral theories. Ethical theories: amoralism: says that in reality nothing is morally good or bad, no actions morally right or wrong, this view is generally impossible to maintain in practice, human language is full of expressions which presuppose moral categories. If we are starving, it can not be best for both that you get the last piece of food: theological views: what is morally good is exactly what a creator or supernatural spirit has commanded. If god commands what is good, it can not be a complete account of the nature of goodness. We can agree on what is good or bad, but there is no straightforward way of testing or measuring moral rules in the same way that a physical quantity can be publically tested. Saying that the main idea of ethics is this: always do what produces the greatest pleasure/happiness/utility for the greatest number of people.
