Study Guide
ETHICS
Philosophy 120
Also known as
Religious Studies 120 Professor Marcella Norling
“We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought live.” Socrates, in Plato’s Republic Loading...
The Oxford English Dictionary definition of PHILOSOPHY:
•Use of reason and argument in seeking truth and knowledge of reality, especially knowledge of the causes and nature of things and of the principles governing existence
•Particular system or set of beliefs reached by this
Branches of Philosophy
•Epistemology: What is knowledge?
•Ontology: What is the nature of existence?
•Aesthetics: What is beauty?
•Ethics: What should I do?
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Ethics, or moral philosophy, asks basic questions about the good life, about what is better and worse, about whether there is any objective right and wrong, and about how we know it if there is.
An ethical theory is
•a systematic exposition of a particular view about what is the nature and basis of good or right An ethical theory provides reasons or norms for judging acts to be right or wrong and attempts to give a justification
DESCRIPTIVE: Factual, describes what IS
NORMATIVE: Evaluative, prescribes what SHOULD BE
WHAT
SHOULD
I DO?
EGOISM
You should act in your own best interest
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UTILITARIANISM
You should act to create the greatest good for the greatest number
KANTIANISM
You should do your moral duty by following the Categorical Imperative:
•Form 1) Do only that which you would will to be a universal law
•Form 2) Treat all people as ends, never as merely means
VIRTUE ETHICS
You should be a good (virtuous) person
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
You should act in accordance with your human nature and with the natural laws of the universe
FEMINIST ETHICS
•Recognize and care for all people as equally human, and attend ethically to the full range of human experience however shaped by gender.
If NO objective truth exists:
•Relativism: Do what your society says is right
•Subjectivism:
Philosophy 120
Also known as
Religious Studies 120 Professor Marcella Norling
“We are discussing no small matter, but how we ought live.” Socrates, in Plato’s Republic Loading...
The Oxford English Dictionary definition of PHILOSOPHY:
•Use of reason and argument in seeking truth and knowledge of reality, especially knowledge of the causes and nature of things and of the principles governing existence
•Particular system or set of beliefs reached by this
Branches of Philosophy
•Epistemology: What is knowledge?
•Ontology: What is the nature of existence?
•Aesthetics: What is beauty?
•Ethics: What should I do?
Loading...
Ethics, or moral philosophy, asks basic questions about the good life, about what is better and worse, about whether there is any objective right and wrong, and about how we know it if there is.
An ethical theory is
•a systematic exposition of a particular view about what is the nature and basis of good or right An ethical theory provides reasons or norms for judging acts to be right or wrong and attempts to give a justification
DESCRIPTIVE: Factual, describes what IS
NORMATIVE: Evaluative, prescribes what SHOULD BE
WHAT
SHOULD
I DO?
EGOISM
You should act in your own best interest
Loading...
UTILITARIANISM
You should act to create the greatest good for the greatest number
KANTIANISM
You should do your moral duty by following the Categorical Imperative:
•Form 1) Do only that which you would will to be a universal law
•Form 2) Treat all people as ends, never as merely means
VIRTUE ETHICS
You should be a good (virtuous) person
NATURAL LAW ETHICS
You should act in accordance with your human nature and with the natural laws of the universe
FEMINIST ETHICS
•Recognize and care for all people as equally human, and attend ethically to the full range of human experience however shaped by gender.
If NO objective truth exists:
•Relativism: Do what your society says is right
•Subjectivism: