what are the 3 ethical theories?
- Utilitarianism
- Egoism
- dentology
What is utilitarianism? and what principle is it based on? who are 2 people who are utilitarians? what is complicated about this?
- based on the principle of utility
- one should always act in such a way as to bring the greatest good and the least harm for the greatest number of people
- Jeremy Bentham & John Stuart Mill
- could mean that you have to sacrifice for the good of others (ie. killing 300 ppl in a plane crash vs 1000 people in a city)
What is Good? - What is Bentham and what is the Pleasure Principle?
- Bentham - “Good” = Pleasure (Hedonism)
- “Pleasure Principle” = if it feels good, you should do it for the greatest number of people
what is Felicific Calculus
- a way to calculate how to feel good
- add up the positives (pleasure inducing, “hedons”) and subtract the negatives (pain-inducing, “Delors”) and d if the total is 1 or higher = it is good
- higher number the better it is
what are the 7 questions that are related to Felicific calculus?
- intensity
- duration
- Certainty or uncertainty
- propinquity or remoteness
- fecundity
- purity
- extent
define happiness - what does mill think about it
- the sense of well-being, balance, mental and physical joy
- actions are right if they tend to promote happiness and wrong if they produce the reverse of happiness
- Mill - “Good” = Happiness (eudaemonia)
how are Bentham and Mill different?
- Bentham: “Good” = Pleasure (Hedonism)
- Mill: “Good” = Happiness (eudaemonia)
what does Mill argue about happiness? secondary mortality?
- by “happiness” he means pleasures that are both intellectual and sensual
- Mill thinks we have a sense of dignity which has us prefer intellectual pleasures over sensual ones
- if you let pleasure run your life it undoes any goodness
- secondary (applied) mortality (don’t steal), can come from the Principle of Utility - tricky bc there’s always exceptions
what are the 2 different ways of Applying the Principle of Utility?
- Act: determine what is good own each circumstance and then do what is good - commit to promoting the greatest good and minimizing harm
- Rule: circumstances are predetermined and less specific - establish rules that create the greatest good most of the time
what is an example of applying the principle of utility? what does the rule and act say?
Ex. Homeless person is begging for money - you come to find out they are using the money to drink
- Rule: give the $$ cause more than half the time you would be promoting good (doesn’t allow for unique circumstances)
- Act: determine if giving $$ to them will promote the good (evaluate the evidence first hand - gives people the chance to do what is not good thro false claims)
what is Deontology? Who is the most prominent deontologist?
- emphasis on duty and principles, not on outcomes
- basically like follow duties & principles that if everyone followed them and did their part the world would be a better place
- obligations are there to promote the good for other people
- Immanuel Kant
What is categorical imperative? what is practical imperative? and example about lying to a patients family with HIV
- categorical: act only according to that maxim which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law
- Practical: act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, always as an end and never as a means only
Ex.
- Categorical: lying is wrong bc you couldn’t universalize lying as good
- practical: lying deprives the parents of their entitled tole and treats them as a means to the end (supportive family, and comfortable death)
what are the 6 principles that deontologist agree are funded,ental principles for good action?
- principle of autonomy and respect for persons:
- you have the right to self- determination
- only interfere when you use that right to violate others right to self-determination - Principle of impossibility:
- rights & duties are void id they are impossible (ie. duty to safe the life of a terminally ill patient) - principle of fidelity or right action:
- you have the duty to discharge your obligations to the best of your abilities
- fidelity (adhering to the assigned mission) - principle of equality and justice:
- doing your duty without discrimination to others - principle of beneficence:
- do good things - principle of non-malfeasance
- do no harm
what are the 4 codes of ethics that are discussed in terms of principles?
- autonomy
- beneficence
- non-malfesceance
- justice
