Key Vocabulary Philosophy and Ethics

Gyges Ring
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Terms in this set (23)
Gyges Ring
A story designed to show that without fear of punishment that all people would behave unjustly.
Anarchy
A state with no rules.
Psychological egoism
The belief that all actions are selfishly motivated
Virtue ethics
A theory proposed by Aristotle that the good life and the virtuous life are identical.
Deontological ethics
A theory that we should judge actions or their intentions.
Consequentialist ethics
A theory that we should judge the consequences of actions.
Utilitarianism
A theory that we should judge actions according to the amount of happiness that they create.
Divine command ethics
A theory that good actions are those which God approves of and that bad actions are those which God disapproves of.
Applied ethics
Applying ethical theories to practical ethical problems.
Allegory
A story with a symbollic meaning, usually ethical or political
Allegory of the caveAn allegory that says that our existence is like that of prisoners who only ever experience the shadows of reality.ScepticismDoubting the existence of all knowledge, or doubting the existence of a particular type of knowledge.DescartesA philosopher who proposed the three waves of doubt.First wave of doubtSensory deception; because our senses deceive us sometimes we should never trust them, knowledge through the senses is therefore impossible.Second wave of doubtDreaming. Because we have had dreams that we cannot distinguish from reality we do not know we are dreaming. If we do not know we are dreaming then we cannot have knowledge.Third wave of doubtEvil demon. There might be an omniscient, omnipotent, deceptive demon who deceives us into believing that we are having experiences when we are not. We therefore don't know that we're not being deceived and so cannot trust our sensory perception.Free willThe ability to decide how we wish to act.IncompatibilismThe claim that free will and determinism cannot both be true.CompatibilismThe claim that free will and determinism can both be true.Hard determinismThe incompatibilist's claim that determinism is true and therefore that there is no freedom.LibertarianismThe incompatibilist's claim that we have free will and so determinism is false.Soft determinismThe compatibist position who asserts that we have free will and that determinism is true.Theological determinismThe belief that God's omniscience causes us to be determined.