Ethics and Moral Philosophy: A Comprehensive Guide
Chapter 1: Ethics and Ethical Reasoning
Normative claim: in philosophy, normative statements affirm how things should or ought to be, how to value them, which things are good or bad, which actions are right or wrong. | Aesthetics | Argument | Conclusion |
| Premise | Unstated premise | Valid argument | Sound argument |
| Normative ethics | Descriptive ethics | Factual claim |
1. Be able to identify the conclusion in an argument.
2. Be able to identify a premise or reason given to support a conclusion in an argument.
3. Be able to identify an unstated premise in an argument. That is, be able to read between the lines and pull out an assumption that links the stated premise to the unstated premise.
Chapter 2: Ethical Relativism
| Ethical relativism | Individual or personal ethical relativism (subjectivism) | Social or cultural ethical relativism | Moral realism |
| Dependency thesis | Skepticism | Moral realism |
1. Understand the difference between morality being dependent upon what the culture believes is right (strong claim) and morality being expressed differently in different cultural settings.
2. Understand the difference between morality being dependent upon the beliefs of the individual and morality being dependent upon the beliefs of the society.
3. Be able to give reasons in favor of ethical relativism based on culture and ethical relativism based on the society.
4. Be able to criticize the various arguments given in favor or ethical relativism. Be able to show how some argument in favor or relativism are inconsistent (argument from tolerance) and some don’t go far enough (is ought fallacy).
5. Be able to give reasons in support of moral realism or objectivism.
Chapter 4: Utilitarianism
| Utilitarianism | Consequentialism | Utility | Happiness |
| J.S. Mill | Jeremy Bentham | Greatest Happiness Principle | Hedonic Calculus |
| Higher and lower pleasures | Intensity | Duration | Likelihood (certainty) |
| Fruitfulness (fecundity) | Act utilitarianism | Rule utilitarianism | Intrinsic good |
| Instrumental good | Happiness/Pleasure |
1. Understand how to make moral decisions from a Utilitarian perspective.
2. Be able to apply the principle of utility or greatest happiness principle.
3. Be able to take various factors into consideration when determining the greatest good for the greatest number (intensity, duration, certainty, and fecundity of the pleasure).
4. Understand the difference between an intrinsic and an instrumental good.
5. Know what Mill and Bentham consider to be the one intrinsic good.
6. Understand Mill’s distinction between higher and lower pleasures.
7. Be able to criticize the theory of Utilitarianism. You may consider:
? What potentially undesirable conclusions could it lead us to?
? What difficulties does it have in its application?
? Is happiness the only intrinsic good?
8. Understand the difference between act and rule utilitarianism. What problems does rule utilitarianism attempt to solve? How might I criticize rule utilitarianism?
Chapter 5: Kant’s Moral Theory
| Deontology | Duty | Good will | Hypothetical imperative |
| Categorical imperative | Kant’s categorical imperative | Formula of Humanity | Formula of universal law |
| Universalizable | Ends-in-themselves | Mere means | Means |
| Duty | Inclination | Self-interest | Will |
| maxim | Perfect duty | Imperfect duty |
1. What gives an action moral worth for Kant?
2. Why does Kant think we should not take the consequences of our action into account when making moral judgments?
3. What is the good will? Why does Kant say we would not give up the good will for anything else?
4. What does Kant think is the highest moral motivation?
5. What does it mean to say one acts out of a sense of duty rather than inclination?
6. What is the difference between a categorical and hypothetical imperative. What is Kant’s categorical imperative?
7. Understand what your book calls the first formulation of Kant’s categorical Imperative (formula of universal law) “Act only under that maxim that you can at the same time will to become universal law.” Be able to apply this to various moral decisions.
8. Understand what your book calls the Second Formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative (formula of humanity). “Treat all of humanity whether in yourself or that of another person always at the same time as an ends and never merely as a means.” Be able to apply this to various moral decisions.
9. Be able to criticize Kant’s theory.
? What difficulties might we come to in its application?
? What undesirable conclusions might we come to under this theory?
10. Understand the difference between treating someone as a means and treating them as a mere means.
11. Understand what it is to treat people as ends-in-themselves.
Chapter 7: Morality and Human Nature
| Natural law theory | Natural law | Human function | Eudaimonia |
| Human nature | Aristotle | Rationality | Wisdom |
1.How do natural law theorists try to arrive at morality? What problems are there with this (is/ought, goodness or badness of human nature, etc.).
2.What is Aristotle’s conception of human nature and how does he use it to arrive at a sense of morality?
3.What is eudaimonia or human-flourishing, according to Aristotle?
4.What trait or ability separates human from animals, according to Aristotle?
Chapter 8: Virtue Ethics
| Virtue | Virtuous person | Mean between two extremes | Excess |
| Aristotle | Virtue ethics | Vice | Deficiency |
| Eudaimonia | excellence |
1.Understand the difference between virtue ethics and other types of moral theories like Utilitarianism and Kant’s moral theory. How is the focus different?
2.How does Aristotle think that people develop virtues or become virtuous people?
3.How is virtue the mean between two extremes?
4.How and why is the mean relative to the individual?
5.Be able to identify some virtues and explain how they are the mean between two extremes.
6.Be able to give reasons in favor of virtue ethics.
7.Be able to criticize the theory of virtue ethics.
8.Be able to identify some problems in how we determine what virtues to cultivate and what exactly the mean is between two extremes.
Chapter 9: Feminist Thought and Ethics of Care
| Carol Gilligan | Kohlberg | NelNoddings | Female ethical perspective |
| Male ethical perspective | Feminine ethics | Feminist ethics | One-caring |
| Cared-for |
1.What is the difference between masculine and feminine ethics, according to your book?
2.What is care ethics? How is it based on women’s experiences? Can men use care ethics?
3.Why might we need an ethics of care?
4.What are the problems with traditional morality that care ethics tries to solve and how does it try to solve them?
5.Why do some feminists criticize care ethics?