| A | B |
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| Epistemology | - the study of knowledge. Asks, “what is knowledge?” “What is truth and fallacy and to what do they apply?” |
| Instrumental Value | the value that something has as a means of getting or producing something else. |
| Ethical Egoism | human beings ought to behave in ways that will bring about good consequences; act in their own self-interest. Three possible forms. 1) Individual ethical egoism-which states that everyone ought to act in my self-interest. 2) Personal ethical egoism-I ought to act in my own self-interest but that I make no claims as to what anyone else should do. 3) Universal ethical egoism-everyone should always act in his or her own self-interest, regardless of others. |
| Hedonism | the view that whatever human beings consider to be good involves happiness and pleasure in some way, and whatever they consider to be bad involves unhappiness and pain in some way. |
| Empiricism | the theory that all human knowledge comes from the five senses and therefore we can never know more than our five senses will allow. |
| Rationalism | the theory that at least some human knowledge comes from reason (thought) unaided by the senses and therefore we can know about things that the senses don’t reveal to us and we can know with greater certainty than the senses will allow. |
| Traditional Morality | Morality that we are born into. Morality that exists in various cultures and societies is usually based on custom or tradition, and is presented to its members, often without critical analysis or evaluation, throughout their childhood and adult years. |
| Reflective Morality | - every human belief, proposition, or idea be examined carefully and critically to ensure that it has its basis in truth |
| Utilitarianism | “Human beings should always act the interest of all concerned, self-included.” |
| Act Utilitarianism | says that everyone should perform the act that will bring about the greatest amount of good over bad for everyone affected by the act. |
| Rule Utilitarianism | says that everyone should always establish that rule or those rules that will bring about the greatest good for all concerned. Try to set up a series of rules that, when followed, will yield the greatest good for all humanity. (i.e. never kill anyone except for in self-defense.) |
| Prima Facie Duties | (Sir William David Ross) Literally means “At First Glance” or “On the Surface of Things” so a prima facie duty is one that all human beings must obey in a general way before any other considerations enter into the picture. We have certain prima facie duties that we must always adhere to unless serious circumstances or reasons tell us to do otherwise. (Fidelity –faithfulness-, reparation, gratitude, justice, beneficence, self-improvement, nonmaleficence) |
| Retributive Justice | “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Means that people should get what they deserve, either by way of reward or punishment, regardless of the consequences. |
| Distributive Justice | concerns itself with essentially with the equitable distribution of good and bad to human beings on a just and fair basis. |
| Absolutism | perfect in quality, and complete”; “not limited by restrictions or exceptions”; “not to be questioned-positive, certain, and unconditional.” |
| Cultural Relativism | - the view that ultimate moral principles vary greatly from culture to culture in taboos, religions, moralities, daily habits, and attitudes. |
| Intrinsic Value | worth while purely for itself alone regardless of what it may lead to |
| Ethics | - (Greek = ethos = character) values, and value judgments. Pertains to the individual character of a person or persons. |
| Reversibility Criterion | - (Kant) if an action were reversed, would a person want it to be done to him? ‘’The Golden Rule concept” (would-you-want-this-to-be-done-to-you criterion) |
| Amoral | means having no moral sense, or being indifferent to right and wrong. Like certain criminals who can’t seem to realize they’ve done anything wrong, they show no remorse or regret. Basically an attitude that only few posses. |
| Immoral | that which is bad or wrong, such as a bad person or a wrong action, same as unethical. |
| Consequentialism | - ethical theories that are concerned with the consequences of actions or rules. The tradition philosophical name for this is teleology. |
| Nonconsequentialism | ethical theories based not upon consequences but upon some other moral standard. |
| The Divine Command Theory | states that morality is based not upon the consequences of actions or rules, nor upon self-interest or other-interestedness, but rather upon something ‘’higher’’ than these mere mundane events of the imperfect human or super natural worlds. Based upon the existence of an all-good being who is supernatural and has communicated to humans what they should and should not do. |
| Categorical Imperative | asserts that an act is immoral if the rule that would authorize it can not be made into a rule for all human being to follow. |
| Practical Imperative | theory that no human being should be thought of or used merely as a means for someone else’s end that each human beings is a unique end in himself. |
| Virtue | - the quality of moral excellence, righteousness, and responsibility…a specific type of moral excellence or other exemplary quality considered meritorious; a worthy practice or ideal. |
| State of Affairs | an occurrence or situation that either is or is not actual; the occurrence or situation in reality, as distinguished from our judgment or claims about it. Not actual, not actual, not true, and not false. |
| Indeterminism | there is a certain amount of chance and freedom in the world- that not everything is caused and that there is real pluralism (choices) in reality. Most of the freedom or chance that exists can be found in the area of human deliberation and choice. |
| Retributive Punishment | - deserts theory (based upon what people actually deserve). States that punishment should be given only when it is deserved and only to the extent that it is deserved. |
| Relativism | theory that states there are no absolutes in morality but rather that morality is relative to particular cultures, groups, or even individuals, and further that everyone must decide upon his or her own values and ethics because there are no absolutes. |
| Cultural Absolutes | the view that says ultimate moral principles do not vary from culture to culture. The ultimate principles underlying all of the varying rules and standards are the same. |
| Religious morality | refers to a human being in relationship to a supernatural being. In Christianity by violating a commandment a person could act immorally toward God without acting immorally toward anyone else. |
| Individual morality | refers to individuals in relation to themselves and to an individual code of morality that may or may not be sanctioned by any society or religion, allows for a “higher” morality that can be found within the individual rather than beyond this world in some supernatural realm “conscience.” |
| *Social morality | concerns a human being in relation to other human beings. This is the most important and most universal aspect. |
| Near absolute | - basic moral principles that we will try to observe as absolutes whenever we can, but we will realize that there may be some justifiable exceptions to the principles. |
| Absolutism | the theory that morality is absolute rather than relative; that is there are absolute moral truths that we must adhere to and which particular situations, people, or places do not affect |
| Hard determinism | maintains that if all events are caused, then there can be no such thing as freedom or free will. That is, if you trace causes back far enough in history or in any person’s life, you will find that the basic causes are not within human control. |
| * Soft determinism | maintains that there is universal causation, but, unlike hard determinism, they believe that some of this causation originates with human being, thus giving meaning to the phrase “human freedom.” If human beings can be said to cause some of their actions by means of their own minds and wills, then they can be said to have some freedom. |
| Internal sense propositions | human beings assert about their own internal senses or states (feelings, moods, emotions), such as “my head hurts.” Such propositions are always true (assuming that they are honestly spoken) because we alone truly know our own internal states. This type of proposition, then, states the truth that we know is absolute. “The strong sense of knowing” I must believe that the proposition is true. The proposition must actually be true. I must have absolutely conclusive evidence that it is true. |
| External sense propositions | describes a state of affairs that occurs in the external world of which we have evidence through our external senses (sight, touch, hearing, taste, and smell) or indirectly, through our reasoning. I.E. her hair is brown. |
