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Subsections
Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.
morals (descriptive ethics) |
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ethics (prescriptive) |
metaethics |
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analytical ethics |
normative ethics |
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moral |
nonmoral |
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immoral |
amoral |
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cultural relativism |
ethical relativism |
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ethical absolutism |
ethical nihilism |
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ethical skepticism |
ethical subjectivism |
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necessary condition |
sufficient condition |
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contributing condition |
Important Distinctions: Be able to list differences and give examples.
- morals and ethics
- psychological and ethical relativism
- ethical relativism and ethical absolutism
- necessary and sufficient conditions
- ethics and social practice
Important Essays: Be able to explain in depth.
- What are the central questions of ethics?
- What is an ethical or moral issue?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages to the various criteria of truth in ethical matters: authority, consensus gentium, legality, conscience, revelation, intuition, reason?
- Why be moral? What are the advantages and disadvantages of the purported justification: ``it pays,'' common interest, and ``it's right.''
- What are the main objections to ethical relativism?
Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.
scientific (hard) determinism |
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soft determinism |
predeterminism |
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fatalism |
predestination |
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indeterminism |
á priori chance |
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á posteriori chance |
reason |
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faith |
free will |
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Pascal's Wager |
duty ethics |
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religious ethics |
good will |
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intrinsic good |
instrumental good |
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means and ends |
categorical imperative |
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practical imperative |
teleological suspension of ethical |
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maxim |
Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples.
- Comte's three stages of progress: theological, metaphysical and scientific
- free will and determinism
- means and ends vs. instrumental and intrinsic goods
- duty ethics and religious ethics
- actions in accordance with duty and actions for the sake of duty
- maxim and universal law
- Kierkegaard's stages on life's way: æsthetic, ethical, and religious
Important Essays: Be able to explain in depth.
- What are the four major discoveries in science according to Engels? How do these discoveries suggest scientific determinism?
- Explain why Mill and Venn believe that human actions cannot be predicted. How do their philosophies of determinism differ?
- What are Spinoza's objections to the doctrine of free will? Do these objections apply to James' genuine option theory of free will? Explain.
- Explain by citing examples the relation between the practice of morals and the ethics of the Souix as described by Ohiyesa.
- What does Kant mean by universalizing my maxim? Give an example of a maxim which cannot be universalized, and explain why it cannot be universalized.
Important Concepts: be able to characterize and give examples.
eudaimonia |
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árete |
doctrine of the mean |
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lower pleasure |
higher pleasure |
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soft determinism |
apatheia |
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hedonism |
egoism |
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psychological egoism |
ethical egoism |
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personal ethical egoism |
universal ethical egoism |
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egotism |
Socratic Paradox |
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cynicism |
active awareness |
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social contract |
utilitarianism |
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principle of asceticism |
Important Distinctions: be able to list differences and give examples.
- pleasure and happiness
- Epicureanism and hedonism
- Egoism and hedonism
- psychological and ethical egoism
- lower pleasure and higher pleasure
- principles of sympathy and antipathy
- master and slave morality
Important Essays: Be able to explain in depth.
- What is the Socratic Paradox? What is paradoxical about it? How are the distinctions between intrumental and intrinsic goods and means and ends related to the paradox?
- What are the main points of, and objections to, Epicureanism? What is the role of pleasure in Epicureanism?
- What are the main points of and objections to Stoicism? What rôle does active awareness play in Stoic philosophy?
- Explain some of the common confusions with examples concering the use of the terms ``self-interest,'' ``selfishness,'' and ``other-regarding motives.''
- What are the main points of and criticisms of Aristotle's ethics? What is the rôle of pleasure in Aristotle's ethics?
- Explain Bentham's hedonistic calculus.
- Contrast the social contract accounts of Plato, Mandeville, and Nietzsche
Next: Other Readings
Up: COURSE SYLLABUS Philosophy 302:
Previous: Course Requirements
Contents
Index
Lee Archie
2006-08-18