Week 3 Study Questions (1)
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Apr 3, 2024
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PHIL 21001: Introduction to Ethics
Week 3 Study Questions
Dr. Gina Zavota
You are not required to respond to these questions; they are just a guide to help you study for this week’s
quiz. Only (but not necessarily all) the material that is covered in these questions will appear on the quiz.
Plato,
Republic
(excerpt)
Define
ethical egoism, ethical subjectivism, psychological egoism,
and
ethical relativism
(we studied
ethical relativism last week, but it’s important that you know how it differs from the first three concepts
on this list).
Ethical Egoism- a moral theory that states that we should do what is in our rational self-interest, should
look out for their own self-interest (normative)
Ethical Subjectivism- morality is relative to the individual person
Psychological Egoism- the theory that human beings naturally only look out for their own self-interest
(descriptive)
Ethical Relativism- there are no universal, moral principles
Be able to tell the story of the Ring of Gyges and to explain why Glaucon tells
it. Know why Glaucon thinks that people are not naturally just.
Gyges is a shepherd that has a ring that makes him invisible when he turns a
certain direction. Mans uses the ring to seduce the Kings wife and get her to
kill the king; Glaucon claims that we would do things to consider things unjust;
if we could do unjust things, then we would; support belief that everyone
would act bad if we knew we wouldn’t get caught (psychological egoism) - we
all look after our own self-interest; no one is naturally just, we only behave
justly so that we aren’t victims of injustice ourselves and because we are
scared of getting caught
Give the definitions of the
perfectly just person
and the
perfectly unjust person
from the
Republic
, and
know which one Socrates thinks is happier.
Perfectly just person- always does the right thing but doesn’t appear to be just (wrongly imprisoned)
Perfectly unjust person- someone who appears just but isn’t (Gyges) - worst kind of injustice
Mill,
Utilitarianism
, Chapter 1
Define
consequentialism
and
hedonism
and remember that
utilitarianism
is a type of consequentialist
ethics
.
Utilitarianism- actions are right if they are useful of for the benefit of a majority
Consequentialism- only the effects or consequences of a person’s actions have moral worth
Hedonism- the belief that people are motivated by the desire for pleasure
Be able to explain Bentham’s version of the
Greatest Happiness Principle
.
We should seek to bring the greatest amount of happiness to the greatest number of people
- only the quantity of happiness matters
- we should use our own definition of happiness as a guideline
Know the two types of moral theory Mill is reacting against.
Inductive Theories- experience and observation tells us what is right and wrong
Intuitive Theories- we know prior what is right and wrong (innate)
Explain the difference between
deductive
and
inductive reasoning
and between
a priori
and
a
posteriori
truths.
Deductive- begins with a general statement and determines what conclusions follow logically
from it
Inductive- makes generalizations from many individual observations
A priori- statements we know are true just through the meaning of the words
Posteriori- statements whose truth can only be proved with external evidence
Know what type of reasoning Mill plans to use to prove his theory is right, and why he needs to use that
kind of reasoning.
Proves theory indirectly/inductively; ultimately, he doesn’t contradict himself
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