| A | B |
|---|
| Existentialism | a school of thought that that puts an emphasis on the freedom of will to determine one’s life |
| Nihilism | the attitude of believing in nothing |
| Moral nihilism | the conviction that there are no moral truths |
| Slave morality | Nietzsche said this view held Christian values belonging to weak people |
| Master morality | Nietzsche’s said this view thought people should create their own values |
| Overman (or “ubermensch”) | According to Nietzsche, this person affirms his power, dismisses the morality of the masses, and creates his own values by deciding what is good and evil |
| Nietzsche | this philosopher thought that to be authentic meant you would affirm your power and create your own values. |
| Sartre | to be authentic means to take on the responsibility of choice and choose one’s values |
| Bad faith | Sartre’s view in which the responsibility of choice is avoided and a person says his/her actions are determined by circumstances |
| Chinese conception of virtue | letting parents grow old and die without your support is the gravest sin you can commit |
| ethic of justice | this approach to morality can be harsh if it lacks compassion |
| ethic of care | this approach can be vague and directionless if it lacks logical reasoning |
| ethical relativism | a normative theory that maintains there is no universal moral code and that whatever the majority of any given society or culture considers morally right is morally right for that culture |
| cultural relativism | a descriptive theory that merely points out different societies or cultures have different moral codes. |
| soft universalism | the ethical theory that maintains there are a few bottom-line rules we can agree on, despite our different ways of expressing them. |
| hard universalism | moral absolutism: the ethical theory that there is a universal set of moral rules that can and should be followed by everybody. |
| descriptive ethical theory | merely describes what is seen as fact regarding the moral rules of a society |
| normative (prescriptive) ethical theory | makes moral judgments; evaluates or justifies moral rules of a society |
| act utilitarianism | the version of utilitarianism that focuses on the consequences of a single act |
| rule utilitarianism | the version of utilitarianism that focuses on the consequences of a type of action done repeatedly |
| Bentham's hedonistic calculus: | a process whereby pleasures are added and pains subtracted to find the most utilitarian course of action |
| John Stuart Mill’s idea of higher and lower pleasures | concept that spiritual and intellectual pleasures were more valuable than physical pleasures in determining utilitarian value of actions. |
| ethical altruism | the theory that says everyone ought to disregard self for the sake of others’ interests |
| ethical egoism | the theory that everyone ought to be focused on the self |
| psychological egoism | the theory that observes that everyone, in fact, is selfish |
| Ayn Rand’s objectivism | a theory that stresses the rights of the individual to keep the fruits of his or her labors and not to be held responsible for the welfare of others. |
| Hume’s emotionalism | the view that maintains values derive from emotions and not from reason |
| Kant’s first formulation of the categorical imperative | act only in such a way that you can will for your maxim to become a universal law |
| Kant’s second formulation of the categorical imperative | act only in such a way that you treat people as ends in themselves (with their own purposes) rather than merely a means to your ends |
| Kant’s concept of good will and its connection to duty | someone with a good will feels duty-bound to carry out the categorical imperative |
| natural rights | the idea that we are born with certain rights as human beings |
| natural law | the idea that what is natural for humans—such as preservation of life, procreation, socialization, and pursuit of knowledge of God—is good for humans |
| Mary Midgely’s views | maintains moral isolationism is incorrect; we should be able to make moral judgments or evaluations about other cultures’ moral systems as well as our own |
| concepts of forward justice | focuses on creating good future consequences |
| backward-looking justice | emphasizes the correcting of past wrongs |
| restorative justice | focuses on rehabilitation of criminals and restitution to the victims |
| retributive justice | focuses on punishment of criminals in proportion to their crime |
| materialism | the metaphysical theory that reality consists of matter only, not mind |
| idealism | the metaphysical theory that reality consists of mind only, not matter |
| dualism | the metaphysical theory that reality consists of matter and mind |
| the Greek concept of virtue | to behave in an excellent way as a course of habit, i.e, in a way that fulfills one’s potential |
| Aristotle’s concept of virtue as the mean between extremes | virtue is the midpoint (which reason points out to us) between excess and deficiency |
| Plato's theory of the tripartite soul | ). In a just/virtuous person (and country) reason rules and gets willpower to control the appetites, so that all three parts are operating as they should, in harmony. |
| existentialism | the theory that focuses on freedom to determine one’s own life |
| Nietzsche’s concept of the Overman (or Superman): | a person who has recognized his will to power and created his own system of values |
| Sartre’s view of the importance of freedom and choice | we are free and thus have the responsibility to choose our own values |
| Gilligan | maintains that women tend to have an ethics of care in contrast to the male ethics of justice |
