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Questions and Answers
What is etiquette primarily concerned with?
Which type of ethics reports how groups make moral valuations without judgment?
What does normative ethics seek to establish?
What describes a situation where one must choose between two goods or lesser evils?
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What is a characteristic of the law's authority?
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Which of the following best defines a moral judgment?
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What role does religion typically play in ethical discussion?
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What is a moral decision characterized by?
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What did Jeremy Bentham refer to as the two sovereign masters that govern our actions?
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How does John Stuart Mill differentiate pleasure from Bentham's view?
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Which statement best reflects Mill's view on happiness?
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What is the main implication of Mill's argument against Bentham's utilitarianism?
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What concept did Bentham develop for evaluating pleasure and pain?
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According to Mill, what is a key characteristic that separates human pleasure from animal pleasure?
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What critique does Mill offer regarding excessive quantities of pleasure?
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Who is recognized as the preeminent intellectual figure of the scholastic period?
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What is emphasized as the central promise of Christian faith regarding creation?
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What does the concept of 'efficient cause' refer to?
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What aspect does 'formal cause' address?
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How does Aristotle define happiness in his ethical studies?
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What role does Plato's notion of a supreme good play in Christian theology?
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What does 'material cause' explain about beings?
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What is the apparent end or goal described by 'final cause'?
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Which of the following statements best describes the relationship between human experience and the real, according to Plato?
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What role does the individual play in subjectivism?
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Which statement best describes ethical egoism?
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What does cultural relativism emphasize regarding ethical valuations?
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Which of the following defines psychological egoism?
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What concept describes a culture's integrated pattern of knowledge, belief, and behavior?
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Which of the following best illustrates the principle of simplicity in ethical theories?
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What is a common misconception about ethical egoism?
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In what way does plausibility relate to human actions according to psychological egoism?
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Study Notes
Ethical Frameworks
- Etiquette involves social approval or disapproval of actions deemed trivial, addressing right and wrong without serious ethical implications.
- Descriptive Ethics describes how individuals or groups value moral actions without making moral judgments.
- Normative Ethics engages philosophical inquiries into the rightness of actions, setting standards for moral valuations.
- Moral Issues stem from debates on contentious topics, such as capital punishment and euthanasia, provoking significant discourse.
- Moral Decision occurs when an individual must choose how to act in a specific situation.
- Moral Judgment involves an observer assessing the morality of actions or behaviors.
- Moral Dilemma presents complex situations requiring a choice between competing goods or lesser evils.
Authority of Law
- Law comprises a system of rules enforced by governmental institutions to regulate behavior, reflecting the science and art of Justice.
- Law compels adherence to societal norms without instructing individuals on positive actions; it outlines prohibitions instead.
Authority of Religion
- A variety of religions results in conflicting ethical standards due to differing demands on adherents.
- Ethical beliefs often require believers to understand the relationship between ethics and the Divine.
Authority of Culture
- Culture represents the collective knowledge, beliefs, and behaviors transmitted across generations, influencing moral valuations.
Cultural Relativism
- Acknowledges the differences in ethical valuations across cultures, reflecting diverse moral perspectives.
Subjectivism
- Emphasizes the individual's role in determining moral values, where personal judgments define right and wrong.
Psychological Egoism
- States that all human actions are motivated by self-interest, presenting self-interest as the fundamental driver of behavior.
Ethical Egoism
- Prescribes that individuals should prioritize their own interests, though it may lead to actions beneficial to others only if they also benefit the self.
Simplicity, Plausibility, and Irrefutability
- Simplicity refers to theories that provide clear explanations for various actions.
- Plausibility indicates the likelihood that self-interest motivates both self-serving and seemingly altruistic behaviors.
- Irrefutable highlights the challenge of counterarguments against self-serving motives inherent in human actions.
Utilitarianism
- Jeremy Bentham posited that pleasure and pain govern human actions, tying moral choices to these experiences with his Felicific Calculus framework.
- John Stuart Mill built upon Bentham's ideas, asserting that moral good equates with happiness and calling for qualitative distinctions among types of pleasure, emphasizing the superiority of higher intellectual pleasures over base desires.
Natural Law
- Thomas Aquinas, a prominent Catholic theologian, emphasized humanity's creation by God with the intent of eventual return to Him, contributing greatly to Christian theology through his work, Summa Theologiae.
- Plato introduced the concept of a transcendent moral good that forms part of Aquinas’s teachings, suggesting that truth exists beyond sensory experience and is accessible through intellect.
Causes in Natural Philosophy
- Efficient Cause: Refers to something that brings another being into existence, emphasizing a chain of causality.
- Formal Cause: Represents the specific form or shape that defines the being's nature.
- Material Cause: The physical substance that makes up a being, contributing to its individuality.
- Final Cause: Denotes the purpose or goal inherent to a being's existence, such as a seed's growth into a tree.
Aristotle's Contributions
- Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics is foundational in the study of virtue ethics, identifying happiness as the ultimate self-sufficient aim, surpassing wealth or power in fulfillment.
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Description
Explore the foundational concepts of the ethical dimension of human existence in our quiz. This chapter covers the distinctions between etiquette, descriptive ethics, and normative ethics, helping you understand moral evaluations in societal contexts. Test your knowledge on these vital ethical frameworks and their implications.