Philosophy and Ethics key words

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Absolute Truth
A truth which never varies.
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Absolutist
A rule that is true in all situations.
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Actuality
When an object fulfils its potential and becomes something else.
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Analytic
A statement that is true by definition, no evidence is needed. e.g. all bachelors are unmarried men.
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Apparent Good
A faulty judgement as a result of the misuse of reason or misunderstanding of Divine Law e.g drinking alcohol.
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A priori knowledge
Knowledge gained from logical reasoning, wholly independent of sense experience.
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Autonomy
Independence or freedom, as of the will or one's actions.
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Categorical imperative
An absolute and universal sense of moral duty which directs humans to the right actions.
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Contingent
Dependent on something else for its being e.g. an apple from a tree.
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Cloning
A form of genetic engineering that produces a new life that is a gentic copy of its parent.
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Creationism
An acceptance of the genesis account of the creation as factualt truth.
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Deontological
Refers to an action that is inherently right or wrong. No account is taken of circumstances or outcome.
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Efficient cause
Aristotle used this to explain how sopmething happens, the agent which brings something about.
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Ego
The concious self, the personality thye outside world sees.
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Empirical knowledge
knowledge gained from the senses.
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Eudaimonia
A Greek word that means happiness through living well.
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Final cause
Aristotle used this to mean the purpose of something.
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Five Primary Precepts
The five basic princi-ples of Aquinas' Natural Law.
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Hedonic Calculus
Bentham's method of measuring the good and bad effects of an action.
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Hetronomy
The condition of being subject to a law or standard external to itself.
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Higher pleasures
Those that involve intellect such as reading, art or music. According to Mill, higher pleasures are more valuable than lower pleasures because only humans can appreciate them.
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Hypothetical imperative
In Kant's ethical system, a moral command that is conditional on a personal motive or desire.
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Immutable
Unchangeable.
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Inconsistent triad
An omnibenevolent, omniscient God cannot exist at the same time as evil.
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Infinate regression
Things which can go back forever, an answer always creating a new question.
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Irreducible complexity
The idea that some biological organisms are too complex to evolve without the help of an unevolved intelligence.
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Lower pleasures
Those that please the body, like food and sex. Because tese would also please an animal, Mill rates them as lower pleasures.
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Maxims
Rules which are derived from the categorical imperative.
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Necessary
Refers to something which logically must be true.
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Objective
Judgements based on an impartial absolute value system.
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Ontological
Of or relating to essence or the nature of a being.
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Postulate
Something which is an initial assumption.
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Potentiality
When something contains the ingrediants to become something else e.g. paper has the potantial to become fire.
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Prescriptive statement
Makes a rule about how people should behave.
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Privation
Means the absence, or lack of something e.g. St Augustine believes evil is a privation of good.
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Relativist
A judgement that depends on the circumstances; there is no universal right or wrong.
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Sanctity of life
Means human life is sacred.
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Secondary precepts.
The rules that are developed from Aquinas' Five Primary Precepts.
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Subjective
Judgements are based on personal opinion and not on any fixed rules e.g. situation ethics.
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Summum bunum
The state of supreme good when virtue and happiness come together.
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Superego
The subconcious set of moral controls given to us by outside influences like the rules of society.
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Synthetic
A statement in which the predicate is not necessarily pert of the description or true by defination e.g. all bachelors are happy.
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Telos
The Green word meaning purpose. An argument concerned with the purpose, or ultimate goal of something is called a teleological argument.
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Theodicy
Literally means a justification of God. It is an attempt by philosophers to reconcile the goodness and omnipotence of God with the existence of evil. Augustine and Irenaeus are two key scholars.
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Theonomy
The principles and values behind both religious and ethical rules are the same.
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Transgenic organism
Where a living organism is given genes from a different organism like a plant, an animal, virus or bacteria.
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Principle of utility
To seek always the greatest balance of good over evil.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

A rule that is true in all situations.

Back

Absolutist

Card 3

Front

When an object fulfils its potential and becomes something else.

Back

Preview of the back of card 3

Card 4

Front

A statement that is true by definition, no evidence is needed. e.g. all bachelors are unmarried men.

Back

Preview of the back of card 4

Card 5

Front

A faulty judgement as a result of the misuse of reason or misunderstanding of Divine Law e.g drinking alcohol.

Back

Preview of the back of card 5
View more cards

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