Exploring Ethics Chapters 12,14-15 Cheat Sheet

1. The moral worth of an action is to be judged not by the conseq­uences but by the nature of the maxim (ground rule) or principle that motivated the action
2. The only correct Maxims are those that can serve as universal laws because they are applicable without exception to every person at any time.

1. Good will is the only thing in the world that is good without limita­tion.
2. Acting from duty is perform the action because it is your duty, does not matter if you are inclined to do it or whether or not it is in your interests.
Acting in accordance with duty mean performing an action because you are inclined to do it or it pleases you or your interests.
3. Catego­rical Imperative - Flat out command: Do X
Hypoth­etical Imperative - If you want X, you should do Y

1. Utilit­ari­anism is the creed which accepts as the foundation of morals "­uti­lit­y" or the " greatest happiness princi­ple­" holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness
a) happiness is pleasure and no pain and unhapp­iness is pain and no pleasure
b) pleasure and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends (the end being happiness)

1. The only thing that can be called good without qualif­ication is good will
a) Good will is not good because of its effects or accomp­lis­hments nor its adequacy to achieve a proposed end but because by virtue of its willing it is good in itself
2. The duty to help others has no moral worth if done for the purpose of taking delight in the conten­tment of others in order to achieve inner pleasure
a) this is because the maxim lacks the moral merit of such actions done not out of inclin­ation but out of duty
b) the moral worth of an action done out of duty has the moral worth solely on the principle of volition in accordance with which the action was done, without any regard for objects of the faculty of desire (found in the principle of the will)
3. The idea of an objective, in so far as it constrains a will, is called a comman­dment (of reasons), and the formul­ation of this comman­dment is call an Imperative

1. A guy has a horrible life and wonders if its duty to take his life. His maxim is "I make it my principle out of self-love to shorten my life if it shorten my life if its contin­uance threatens more evil than it promises advant­age."
a)This cannot be univer­salized because the law of nature is to promote life and saying it should destroy life would contradict itself
2. A guy borrows money and promises to pay it back but actually intends not to. The maxim of the action is "When I need money, I will borrow money, promise to pay it back but then not pay it back".
a)This cannot be univer­salized because it would make the concept of promising itself impossible because no one would believe anyone that promises anything anymore

1. Hypoth­etical Imperative - declares a possible action to be practi­cally necessary as a means to the attainment of something else that one wants
a) if you want "­A", then do
"­B" ( you will not know what a hypoth­etical imperative contains until given its condition)
2. Catego­rical Imperative - represents an action as itself object­ively necessary, without regard to any further end.
a) Do "­x" (requires a certain type of conduct directly)
b) The ONLY catego­rical imperative is "Act only on that maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law"

3. A guy has a talent that if practiced would make him a useful man but he prefers to give himself up to pleasure rather than working on increasing this talent. His maxim is "Does my maxim of neglecting my natural gifts, besides agreeing with my taste for amusement, agree also with what is called duty?
a) This is cannot be univer­salized because as a rational being he automa­tically wills that all his powers should be developed, since they are after all useful to him.
4.A guy believes that he should­n't help anyone and just worry about himself. Now the human race could survive perfectly well if this was univer­sal­ized.
a) Although the maxim could be univer­salized it is impossible to will that such a principle should hold everywhere as a law of nature because it conflicts with itself since many situation might arise in which the man needs love and sympathy from others and in which, by such a law of nature generated by his own will, he would rob himself of all hop of the help he wants.