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A1) Describe: key platers, core aspects, and
result of Tracy Latimer
Key Players: Tracy Latimer- 12 yr old victim of cerebral palsy father- killed tracy while mom was out because her condition was so catastrophic that she had no prospect of a life in any buy a biological sense mom- relieved because she didn't have the courage to do it herself Core aspect: initially waived mandatory 10 year sentence response by handicapped people felt insulted saying "nobody has the right to decide [one] life is less than [another]". slippery slope of murders Result: TERM 2 Father got full sentencing
A2) How can this case (TL) be considered
wrong from the perspective of discriminating
against the handicapped?
DEFINITION 2 Impartiality states that handicapped people should be given the same respect and same rights as everyone else TERM 3
A3) How could the case (TL) be considered
the tip of a slippery slope?
DEFINITION 3 open doors to other people to decide who should live and who should die if we accept mercy killing, at the bottom of the slopee, all life will be held cheap where does it end? TERM 4
A4) What does Rachels suggest we must
overcome to ethically asses this case? Why?
DEFINITION 4 Rachels says "When we feel strongly about an issue, it is tempting to assume that we just know what the truth is, even without having to consider arguments on the other side." Rachels says that we must overcome our own personal feelings about the issue "if we want to discover the truth, we must let our feelings be guided as much as possible by reason. in order to make a judgment, we must put ourselves in other people's shoes. TERM 5
A5) How does this inform the minimum
conception of morality?
DEFINITION 5 it makes us conceive facts we must put an effort to guide our conduct by reason that gives equal weight to the interests of everyone involved. while we might feel sympathy towards or against tracy's family, we must not react on our first feeling.
B1) Describe the seemingly torrid aspects of
Eskimo life.
Livedseparately, shared wives. wives could break sexual arrangements just by leaving their husbands. leave their old relatives in the cold to die infanticide no birth control TERM 7
B2) What does an analysis of Eskimo life
teach us about Cultural Relativism?
DEFINITION 7 CR says that "there is no such thing as universal truth in ethics; there are only the various cultural codes and nothing more." each culture has it own set of morals that apply to their situation and conditions. due to the extreme conditions, it is difficult to survive TERM 8
B3) How do the Eskimos exemplify the
cultural differences Argument?
DEFINITION 8 They saw nothing wrong with infiticide; americans believe it is immoral therefore infanticide is neither objectively right or wrong, it is merely a matter of opinion which varies from culture to culture TERM 9
B4) Is this a sound argument? Why or why not
(with sound arguments)
DEFINITION 9 it is not a sound argument: for an argument to be sound: its premises must all betrueand the conclusion must follow logically from them. the conclusion does not follow from the premise-that is, even if the premise is true, the conclusion might still be false TERM 10
B5) What reasonable standard can we use to
think about the social practice of the
Eskimos?
DEFINITION 10 A question has to be asked: does the practice promote or hinder the welfare of the people affected by it? We must ask this question to verify that our custom's morals are just.
C5) How does the family guy episode help us
think through these issues?
The episodeillustrates that the ethical understanding from holy texts are subjective, they are a human's interpretation. TERM 17
D1) Why does Hobbes think the state of
nature would be awful?
DEFINITION 17 Equity of need-everyone has the same needs scarcity- we have to work hard to produce the items we need. essential equality of human power- only the strongest will get those scarce items, unless the weaker band together. limited altruism- we can't rely on the goodwill of others. TERM 18
D2) What agreement can we make to escape
this state and how does this explain the
purpose of morality and government?
DEFINITION 18 The SCT is an agreement a society can agree to. this is only going to be viable if there is a group of individuals elected by the society to keep those rules in check. TERM 19
D3) What is the prisoner's dilemma and what
is the solution?
DEFINITION 19 A problem invented by Merrill Flood and Melvin Dresher. it examines the true nature of people's self preservation two people are arrested, and they are given choices if they would like to confess. The solution is that you should always confess, no matter what the other one does. TERM 20
D4) How does civil disobedience pose a
problem for the social contract theory?
DEFINITION 20 Sometimes the only way to illustrate that a law is unethical is to break it. According to the SCT we are obligated to obe the law because we each participate in a social system that promises more benefits than burdens. if a people are denied their basic rights, the SCT is not being honored. When the disadvantaged are denied the benefits of social living, they are released from the contract that would otherwise require them to follow society's rules
D5) What are the difficulties for the SCT
SCT is based on historical fiction- forces us to pretend that we all lived in isolation then joined together agreeing to rules some individuals cant benefit us. Because infants, animals, future generations, and oppressed populations can't benefit us, should we ignore them? Should we set no standard for pollution to protect the future population. this theory is grounded in self-interest and reciprocity.
