Ethics section 1
College: First year, College: Second year, College: Third year, College: Fourth year
Define Conseqentialism
what is morally good or right in terms of effects or consequences
what are the two and three ways consequentialsm defines what is right and good.
predjudicially - what produces desirable consequences for certain individuals but not others
Ethical egoism - defines the good and right in terms of what produces the best consequences for ones self
What does utility and disutility mean?
Utility - what makes a consequence desirable
disutility - that makes a consequence undesirable
What is hedonistic consequentialsim?
When utility is defined as pleasure and disutility is defined as pain, pleasure is a fundamental good and it should be promoted
What are some objections to the notion that utility is determined by pleasure?
pleasure is not necessarily very satisfying,Pleasure is also shot lived
Who developed Hedonistic Calculus
Jeremey Bentham
What four aspects of pleasure was Hedonistic Calculus meant to measure, and what do they measure?
- measure the possible utility and disutility of an act
1. Scope: how many affected
2. Duration: how long effects last
3. Intensity: how forceful expierences are
4. Probability: what are the most likely effects
What does Mill mean by higher quality pleasures?
Some things cause higher sense of pleasure, such as accomplishment or helping someone else
What does Mill mean by the quote, "It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied?"
most of us are drawn to satisfaction from our human experiences,
-we want mere pleasures rather than the higher pleasures. and that the higher pleasures should hold more moral weight
How does Mill think we can determine which pleasures have more qualitative value?
we should assign weights to different kinds of experiences on the basis of what most people would say they prefer
What is ethical egoism?
requires that a person always act so as to promote the greatest utility for himself.
How does Ethical Egoism accord and contradict moral intuitions?
it contradicts it in the fact that if I can cheat and get away with it I ought to, when intuition tells you its wrong
accords it by actually prescribing what we would consider moral unselfish acts
What are some arguments in favor or Ethical Egoism?
-how how it seems so self centered, but the theory actually ends up producing the same results
- we should not lie to another person nor break a promise
What are some arguments against ethical egoism?
- it is self defeating or inconsistent
What is altruism and what does ethical egoism say about it?
altruism: unselfish regard for the needs of others
ethical egoism says: is impossible offensive and degrading
What are the major criticisms of ethical egoism?
- relationships, an ethical egoist could never have a real relationship, because egoism requires the person to always act in their own best interest.
- James Rachels, notion of moral equality, all persons have equal moral worth and should be treated as such
What is psychological egoism?
claims that we are only capable of making self centered and self serving choices, all human choices are selfish choices
explain how philosophers tend to consider it empty or false?
The word choice implies selfish, so to say selfish choices is redundant, saying choice and selfish choice imply the same thing, coming to the conclusion that all choices are choices, this leaves the psych egoist claim completely uninformative and empty
is psychological egoism about psychology or morality?
human psychology
What is falsifiability criterion?
a theory is genuinely scientific only if it is possible in principle to establish that it is false