Topics for review Exam #1 Spring 2019

click here for the link on fallacies,

click here for the link on necessary and sufficient conditions,

1. Moral vs. non-moral standards standards: Human behavior of fundamental consequence for human welfare.

2. Morality and etiquette (etiquette are codes of polite behavior in different societies).

3. Morality and Law (not everything that is legal is moral (slavery was legal and is not moral).

4. Are there moral standards? Where do they come from? Click here for more my lecture on moral knowledge,

5. Ethical relativism, Cultural Relativism. Relativism is the view that the rightness (or wrongness) of an action is relative to the individual, culture, perspective, etc. 

Subjective relativism: what makes an action right for that person is that they approve of it.

Cultural relativism: what makes an action right for the members of a culture is that it's approved by the culture. 

Counterarguments to subjective and cultural relativism: 1- both theories are self-contradictory, an action cannot be both right and right at the same time. 2- moral disagreements cannot be absorbed since the relativist is always right.

6. Difference between fundamental, deep (moral values) and peripheral values (fashion, etiquette, marrying customs, eating, rituals, etc). Most cultures share similar fundamental values (such as killing your own, stealing from the group, adultery, respecting the elders, incest, etc).

7. Defensible Moral Judgments: Moral judgments = Moral norms + facts (what this means is that we want our moral judgements to be defensible. We want to be able to give reasons for why we believe what we believe. 

Inevitability of moral disagreements: we constantly makes decisions that affect other people, just as their decisions affect us, and in both cases we need to make moral judgments about the acceptability of such decisions.

8. Are there universal moral principles? The best answer seems to be YES. And one can point to two important principles. Principle of justice: Treat people fairly. Principle of mercy: Avoid unnecessary suffering.