Ethics - 3 Marks

The priciple of utility states that actions or behaviors are right in so far as they promote happiness or pleasure, wrong as they tend to produce unhappiness or pain. Hence, utility is a teleological principle.

'Act only on that maxim through which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.' - Kant

The theory that only happiness is good, and the right act is that act that maximises happiness. Hedonist act utilitarianism understands happiness in terms of the balance of pleasure over pain.

The normative theory that starts from the question of what it is to be a good person, then derives an account of morally right action as what a good person would do. Aristotle argues that a good person has the virtues, which enable them to achieve eudaimonia.

An 'excellence', or more specifically, a 'virtue' - a quality that aids the fulfilment of a thing's ergon (Aristotle).

'Function' or 'characteristic activity' of something; e.g. the ergon of a knife is to cut; the ergon of an eye is to see.