PHIL 2020 : Philosophy 2020 Test 2 Review
Philosophy 2020- Test 2 Review
Philosophy and Ethical Theory: What you should know
• Technical definition of philosophy.
o The study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of
life, etc.
o two ancient Greek terms philia – love – and sophia – wisdom. Literally,
the term philosophy means “love of wisdom.”
o Philosophy is the well-reasoned inquiry into and attempt to address
the fundamental, non-empirical questions of the human condition.
• Lexical definition of ethics, morality.
o Ethics- moral principles that govern a person or group's decisions
▪ Textbook answer- Attempting to discern and remove
contradictions among non-empirical, reasoned beliefs that
have universal importance, with the resulting benefit of
achieving a greater understanding of the world and our place
within it.”
o Morality- the differentiation between actions that are "good" or "bad"
• Basic subject matter of moral philosophy or ethical theory.
o the study of conceptual, non-empirical questions regarding the nature
of ethics and morality.
▪ –Are any moral judgments objectively true or are they merely
expressions of subjective preferences and personal attitudes?
▪ –Why be moral?
▪ –What is the correct standard for guiding moral decisions?
▪ –What is the good life for human beings?
• Meta-ethics, normative ethics, applied ethics.
o Meta-ethics- the subfield of moral philosophy that focuses on issues
regarding the fundamental status and nature of morality
o Normative ethics- The subfield of moral philosophy that focuses on
identifying and defending standards of right conduct and/or good
living
o
• Normative, prescriptive vs. descriptive ethics.
o Normative Ethics- the subfield of moral philosophy that focuses on
identifying and defending standards of right conduct and/or good
living
▪ Example: Whether it is correct to hold a belief that killing is
wrong
o Prescriptive Ethics- Another name for normative ethics
o Descriptive Ethics- An empirical investigation of people’s moral
beliefs
▪ Example: what proportions of people believe that killing is
wrong
Utilitarianism in Pop Culture: What you should know
• Utilitarianism (first formulated by Bentham)
o The doctrine that the rightness of actions is to be judged by their
consequences.
o Mill’s Greatest Happiness Principle (another name for utility)
o Based off of harm or benefit from someone’s actions
o Can’t take personal integrity into account
o There are no actions that are inherently right or wrong.... it’s just
based off of what happens from the actions.
o Utilitarianism fits with ethical naturalism.
*Mills on proving the principle of utility: “Happiness has made out its title as one of
the ends of conduct, and consequently one of the criteria of morality.”
o Consequentialism: the view that moral theories should stress the
results of actions; invariably associated with UT
▪ -Maximizing utility: bringing about the greatest ratio of
pleasure (or desire satisfaction) possible given the
circumstances.
• (contemporary consequentialists: Peter Singer, J.J. C. Smart, Brad Hooker)
• Criticisms of Utilitarianism:
o -Deontological objections... some actions should not be done
regardless of their consequences.
o -Predicting consequences is difficult
o -Calculating happiness
o -Nozick’s “utility monster”: “monsters” who get enormously greater
sums of utility from any sacrifice of others than these others lose... the
theory seems to require
o Bernard Williams
▪ Believes one can be committed to personal gain vs. the UT view
that we should stand back from our projects and value them
only if the promote the general utility
▪ Believes the doctrine of UT deprives agents of their integrity
because it separates an agent’s actions from his “projects”.
▪ Two examples he gives
• 1) George (an unemployed new Ph.D. in chemistry):
should he take a job working on biological and chemical
warfare? Someone else will if George doesn’t; George
has a family; jobs are scarce; George’s wife isn’t against
this sort of research.
• 2) Jim in the jungle: either A man kills twenty Indians or
Jim kills one to save 19.
• In both the utilitarian should take the job and kill the
one, but the after effects of bad feelings are thought as
irrational to UT people rather than valued or followed.
• -Act vs. rule utilitarianism, Smart's extreme vs. restricted utilitarianism.
• Smart: utilitarian philosopher, argues pleasure is inherently valuable and
defends act/ extreme utilitarianism.
• Extreme utilitarianism (Act Utilitarianism)
o Holds that we ought to do the act that promises to produce the most
utility
o We test individual actions by their consequences. the rightness or
wrongness of keeping a promise on a particular occasion depends
only on the goodness or badness of the consequences of keeping or
breaking the promise on that particular matter
o Moral rules are rules of thumb. Example: If Hitler was drowning, an
e.u. may leave him to drown... but if someone saves him, an e.u. will
praise the rescuer because these actions are good. extreme utilitarian
would apply the universalisation principle in the casual form.
(Bentham)
• Restricted utilitarianism (Rule Utilitarianism)
o The rightness of an action is not to be tested by evaluating its
consequences but only by considering whether or not it falls under a
certain rule
o Actions are to be tested by rules and rules by consequences
o Aren’t concerned with consequences but obey rules that are proven to
be good from consequences
o The rule does not give us a reason for acting so much as an indication
of the probable actions of others, which helps us to find out what
would be our own
o We ought to follow the rules that promise to produce the most utility.
o Smart says rule collapses, saying it falls into act/extreme because
there are situations in which breaking that particular situation would
maximize utility. (Mill)
• Mill's greatest happiness principle:
o *Mill’s concept of respect for autonomy involves the capacity to think,
decide and act of the basis of such thought and decision freely and
independently.
Document Summary
Philosophy and ethical theory: what you should know: technical definition of philosophy. life, etc, the study of ideas about knowledge, truth, the nature and meaning of, two ancient greek terms philia love and sophia wisdom. Utilitarianism in pop culture: what you should know: utilitarianism (first formulated by bentham, the doctrine that the rightness of actions is to be judged by their consequences, mill"s greatest happiness principle (another name for utility) Based off of harm or benefit from someone"s actions: can"t take personal integrity into account, there are no actions that are inherently right or wrong it"s just. In both the utilitarian should take the job and kill the one, but the after effects of bad feelings are thought as irrational to ut people rather than valued or followed. In reality, utility is defined as pleasure itself, and the absence of pain. Thus another name for utility is the greatest happiness principle.
