Philosophical Terms and Concepts in Ethics and Morality, Quizzes of Introduction to Philosophy

Download Philosophical Terms and Concepts in Ethics and Morality and more Quizzes Introduction to Philosophy in PDF only on Docsity! TERM 1 Affection of humanity DEFINITION 1 Hume, It arises from benevolence and the origins of ethics. We feel concern for other and tend to identify with the interests of people as a whole. TERM 2 Altruism DEFINITION 2 Barash, Unselfish devotion to the welfare of others. Barash says that it is proportional to the relatedness of the individuals. People tend to be more altruistic to the family because it will help them to continue their genetic line. TERM 3 Cooperation DEFINITION 3 Hobbes talks about cooperation between humans who are outside the state of nature. Cooperation is also discussed by Axelrod in the tit-for-tat theory where people work together to get out of situations and mutual benefit is reached through kind actions. TERM 4 Duty DEFINITION 4 Kant discusses duty. He says that morality arises from individuals carrying out their duty, whatever that might be. Only actions out of duty carry moral worth. He feels that people should act out of respect for moral law. TERM 5 Egoism DEFINITION 5 Hume: cant serve as the basis for morality because self love is self directed. It cant move us to feel for others. It arises from someones particular circumstances. TERM 6 Eye-for-an-eye DEFINITION 6 Hammurabi made the eye for an eye when he created a set of rules that would apply to his entire kingdom. This rule basically meant that if someone did something to harm somebody else, the punishment should be similar. TERM 7 Gifts of Fortune DEFINITION 7 Kant, these are benefits that arise from luck, situation, or chance. They are things that are acquired throughout your lifetime such as power, riches, and honor. TERM 8 Gifts of Nature DEFINITION 8 Kant, Gifts of nature are benefits that you are born with, such as courage, resolution, or perseverance. These things are desirable, in some respects, but they are not good without qualifications, because even these positive things can lead people astray. TERM 9 Golden Rule DEFINITION 9 ethic of reciprocity is a maxim, ethical code, or morality TERM 10 Craft DEFINITION 10 a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In a historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Middle Ages and earlier, the term is usually applied to people occupied in small-scale production of goods. TERM 21 Means/ends DEFINITION 21 Kant discusses how you should never treat someone like a means to an end, but rather as an end in themselves. Basically it says that you shouldnt use people. TERM 22 Moral law DEFINITION 22 Kant, he uses this term to mean the actions that morality demands. For humans, this is a constraint to their desires. It is motivated to a though of duty, or what someone is obligated to do to uphold the standards of society and goodness. TERM 23 Moral sense DEFINITION 23 Darwin- He feels that moral sense arises from a social instinct like sympathy, love for ones tribe, and preservation of the species. It allows us to live in harmony with others. TERM 24 Passion DEFINITION 24 Hume- Hume discusses how everyone is at least in part, motivated to action by passion. This is contrary to the idea that reason should control and check passion. TERM 25 Pity DEFINITION 25 Rousseau- he feels that people naturally have pity for their fellow man. It is this pity that softens the drive of self- preservation. He feels that men would be monsters if they did not have both reason and pity. TERM 26 Prisoners Dilemma DEFINITION 26 The game that basically ends up saying that the people will get off easiest if they both commit to helping each other.obviously elaborate that, I just dont want to type it out. TERM 27 Reason DEFINITION 27 Lots of philosophers talk about reason, but Darwin and Hume were the standouts. Hume thought that reason was not a motivator for real action. Reason can be used to control passions and figure out the best course of action to tie a passion with a result, but it is not enough to actually make anybody do anything. Darwin thought that reason was what made us human, and therefore a higher mammal. TERM 28 Reciprocity: DEFINITION 28 Hammurabi and Axelrod- Hammurabi said that punishments should have absolute reciprocity, meaning an eye for an eye. Axelrod discussed the importance of reciprocity in the tit-for-tat idea. If one player were to defect from an agreement then the other player would have to do something negative as well to keep the other player from taking advantage of the situation. Both players must understand that defection will be punished. TERM 29 Respect DEFINITION 29 Hillel-he emphasizes that everyone is deserving of respect because they were all equally created in gods image. TERM 30 Right of nature DEFINITION 30 Hobbes- this was created alongside the concept of the state of nature. Hobbes felt that in this state, people would be morally allowed to do whatever was necessary to preserve themselves. This includes harming others. TERM 31 Ruler qua ruler DEFINITION 31 See Platos hypothetical conversation. This type of ruler was one that thought of himself as providing a service to his people (like a doctor to their patients). He never acted out of self-interest. TERM 32 Self-interest/self-love DEFINITION 32 Plato discussed the evils of a self-interested tyrant. Hume talked about self love, which apparently is the best kind of love and arises from circumstances. It should not be used to dictate morality because it is looking inward instead of outward. TERM 33 Self-preservation: DEFINITION 33 Hobbes. Axelrod. Rousseau- agrees with Hobbes in the sense that all humans are self-preserving, however Hobbes thought this in a way in which they were not self sufficient in the state of nature, which caused competition. Rousseau claims that resources meet the needs of humans, even as they are self preserving. TERM 34 Social instincts DEFINITION 34 Darwin- He thought that people had developed a social instinct like sympathy and loyalty to help the entire group thrive. TERM 35 State of nature DEFINITION 35 State of Nature is a term in political philosophy used in social contract theories to describe the hypothetical condition that preceded governments.