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• These are study notes on ethics, fallacies, and related concepts.

Metaethics

• Metaethics concerns the nature, concept, and study of ethics.
• Ethics is the study of how we should act, not necessarily how we currently act.

Theological Voluntarism

• Theological voluntarism posits that morals are set by a divine command.
• These commands or character traits are considered fixed, external, and absolute.
• Downside; can be contradictory and limits reason, which influences a feeling toward the religious since God knows best at a surface level.
• Ethics becomes about following God without questioning.
• Ethical actions should be done "because it is good" vs "to avoid punishment" .
• Religion can initiate ethics-based movements and motivate people to unite to make a difference.

Classical vs Socioeconomic Views

• Classic View; management's only responsibility is to maximize profits.
• Socioeconomic View; management's responsibilities extend beyond profits.

Ethics vs Morals vs Laws

• Ethics involves the moral principles, values, and beliefs that define right and wrong behavior.
• Legal behavior isn't necessarily ethical behavior.
• Ethics represents an internal system of controls, while law refers to an external mechanism of control.

Ethical Dilemma

• An ethical dilemma arises in situations concerning right and wrong choices when values are in conflict, as well as any circumstances that involve making a decision of two or more options.
• Ethics acts as an important guide to ensure what is factually right or wrong.

Absolute Ethics vs Moral Relativism

• Absolute ethics (moral absolutism/morality) suggests one final universal code applies to everyone.
• Moral relativism suggests there are no absolute rules to determine right from wrong, with moral judgments based on the situation or society.
• Ethics can be an important guide, while legal actions do not always coincide with ethical intentions.

Fallacy

• A fallacy represents a defect in reasoning.

Red Herring Fallacy

• A red herring fallacy creates a distraction (using irrelevant points in an argument).

Ad Hominem Fallacy

• This fallacy attacks the person rather than the argument.
• Note attacks arguments, not arguers.

Straw Man Fallacy

• Here, a position is distorted/misrepresented to make it easier to attack.

Principle of Charity

• Always represent opposing views in the strongest or most plausible form.

Appeal to Authority

• This occurs when a claim is based on an appeal to authoritative testimony.
• If the expert is genuine and consensus exists, it might be legit; if not, it's fallacious.

Deductive Arguments by Analogy

• The consistency is debated by saying if one case is agreed upon, another case supported by the same principle should also be accepted.

False Dilemma

• This fallacy reduces an argument to only two very different sides, while many shades exist between them.

Slippery Slope

• The initial small step will precipitate a very dramatic outcome.

Circular Argument

• The start and end of the argument are the same e.g. "the bible is true, so it is true".

Alphabet Soup

• This involves assuming that using bigger words or acronyms suggests greater knowledge (shock talk, etc.).

Bandwagon

• Here it is argued that if more people believe it, the more true it becomes.

Personal Incredulity

• The position that if something is hard to understand, it's probably not true.

False Cause

• This is the assertion that if B occurred after A, then A caused B.

Hasty Generalization

• This occurs if actions of a small group are applied to a larger group ("her dog is mean, so all dogs are mean").

Fallacy Fallacy

• Even if someone uses a logical fallacy, it doesn't necessarily make their argument false.

Nihilist

• This is a person who believes life is meaningless and rejects all religious/moral principles.

Hedonist

• A person who believes pursuit of pleasure is most important in life.

Narcissist

• Someone who has an excessive interest in themselves.

Nepotism

• This concerns those with power favoring relatives, friends, etc., especially with jobs.

Right

• A right can be a moral or legal entitlement to have/obtain something or act in a certain way.
• Everyone is afforded something regardless of their contribution to society.

Privilege

• A special right, advantage, or opportunity granted or available only to a certain group.
• Extra advantage is received, although not a formal entitlement.

Critical Thinking

• This is the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue, in order to form a judgment.

Association Fallacy/Guilt by Association

• Someone is attacked based on their supposed connection to something/someone unrelated in their discussion (e.g., celebrity photos).

Kafka Trap

• When accused, denial is taken as evidence that the accusation is true.

Equivocation

• This is the misleading use of a term with more than one meaning.

Fallacy of Composition

• Here, it's assumed if something is true for part of a group, so too must it be for the entire group.

Fallacy of Division

• Asserts that if something true of a whole group must also be true for a small part/individual member.

Begging the Question

• "Begging the question" offers the summary of an argument as a premise e.g. "bad drivers don't use turn signals because all good drivers do".

Cherry Picking

• This (suppressed/incomplete evidence) is an act of pointing at individual cases/data that seem to confirm a particular position, while ignoring significant positions of related cases/data that may contradict that position.

Appeal to Ignorance/Argument From Ignorance

• When arguing a conclusion, it must be true if there is no evidence against it.

Gish Gallop

• Happens when someone asserts as many half-truths or falsehoods into a short timespan (rapid fire), knowing the opponent has no chance to debunk every point in time given.

Post Hoc Fallacy

• This happens when it is assumed that if one event occurred after another, then the second event was caused by the first.

Overconfidence Bias

• This embodies holding unrealistically positive views of one's own performance.

Anchoring Effect

• The anchoring effect is fixating on initial info and ignoring subsequent info.

Confirmation Bias

• Seeking out info that reaffirms past choices while discounting contradictory info defines confirmation bias.

Availability Bias

• Losing decision-making objectively by focusing on the most recent events defines availability bias.

Self-Serving Bias

• Quick credit for successes & blaming outside factors for failures is what defines self-serving bias.

Conformity Bias

• The tendency of people to behave as they are around them rather than using their personal judgment.

Utilitarianism

• Utilitarianism denotes an ethical responsibility to do whatever produces the greatest amount of pleasure minus pain.

Normative Facts

• Facts about what you should do (not about what things are, but what they ought to be).

Ethical Egoism

• Here, self-interest is treated as the foundation of morality; every person acts strictly for their own benefit.

Moral Relativism

• Moral Relativism is the thesis that what is right is relative to each culture (no absolute rules).

Intuitionism

• Herein, basic truths are known intuitively and decisions are based on experiences, feelings, and judgments.

Utilitarianism

• Here, judgment comes from whether it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over suffering for everyone.

Satisficing Consequentialism

• Per this version of the ethics, an act can be good even if it doesn't produce the best results.

Social Contract Theory

• The social contract theory starts from the perspective of what a system of rules or ethical principles would be favored by those creating the mutual agreement for you themselves.

Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance

• Rawls endorsed the veil of ignorance as a moral reasoning device designed to promote impartial decision-making, by denying decision-makers access to potentially biasing info about who will benefit most/least from available options.

Virtue Ethics

• Emphasizes individual character traits.

Virtue Signaling

• When someone conspicuously displays their awareness of popular social issues.

Determinism

• Asserts that given the state of the universe at any point, all future events are fixed by causal laws, and only one future course is genuinely possible; events are completely determined by previously existing causes.

Free Will

• The supposed capacity of humans to make decisions or perform actions independently of any prior event.

Moral Responsibility

• One justly deserves punishment, reward, praise or blame.

Principles Level

• Individuals make a clear effort to define moral principles apart from the authority of groups to which a person belongs.

Conventional Level

• Moral values reside in maintaining expected standards & living up to the expectations of others.

Preconventional Level

• Choices are made between right and wrong.