Title: Ethics And Moral Philosophy — LearnCoachAssist

Q: What is utilitarianism?
A: Utilitarianism is an ethical theory stating that the best action is the one that maximizes overall utility, typically defined as happiness or well-being for the greatest number of people.

Q: Who is considered the founder of classical utilitarianism?
A: Jeremy Bentham is considered the founder of classical utilitarianism, introducing the principle of utility in his work An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789).

Q: What is the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism?
A: Act utilitarianism evaluates each individual action by its consequences, while rule utilitarianism evaluates actions based on whether they follow rules that generally maximize utility.

Q: What is Bentham's felicific calculus?
A: The felicific calculus (or hedonic calculus) is Bentham's method for measuring pleasure and pain using criteria such as intensity, duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent.

Q: How did John Stuart Mill modify Bentham's utilitarianism?
A: Mill introduced a qualitative distinction between pleasures, arguing that intellectual and moral pleasures (higher pleasures) are superior to mere physical pleasures (lower pleasures).

Q: What is preference utilitarianism?
A: Preference utilitarianism defines the good as the satisfaction of people's preferences or interests, rather than maximizing pleasure. It is associated with philosophers like R.M. Hare and Peter Singer.

Q: What is a major criticism of utilitarianism regarding justice?
A: Utilitarianism can justify sacrificing the rights of a minority if doing so maximizes overall happiness, which conflicts with intuitions about individual rights and justice.

Q: What is the utility monster objection?
A: Proposed by Robert Nozick, the utility monster is a thought experiment where one being derives enormously more pleasure from resources than others, so utilitarianism demands giving it everything — exposing a flaw in the theory.

Q: What is deontology?
A: Deontology is an ethical theory that judges the morality of actions based on their adherence to rules, duties, or obligations, rather than their consequences.

Q: Who is the most prominent deontological philosopher?
A: Immanuel Kant is the most prominent deontological philosopher, known for his work Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (1785).

Q: What is the categorical imperative?
A: The categorical imperative is Kant's supreme moral principle: act only according to a maxim that you could will to become a universal law without contradiction.

Q: What is the first formulation of the categorical imperative?
A: The Formula of Universal Law: "Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law."

Q: What is the second formulation of the categorical imperative?
A: The Formula of Humanity: "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never merely as a means."

Q: What is the third formulation of the categorical imperative?
A: The Formula of the Kingdom of Ends: Act as if you were a legislating member of a kingdom in which all rational beings are both lawmakers and subjects.

Q: What is a hypothetical imperative versus a categorical imperative?
A: A hypothetical imperative is conditional ("If you want X, do Y"), while a categorical imperative is unconditional — it commands action regardless of personal desires.

Q: What does Kant mean by a good will?
A: For Kant, a good will is the only thing that is good without qualification; it is the will that acts from duty and in accordance with the moral law.

Q: What is the difference between acting from duty and acting in accordance with duty?
A: Acting from duty means being motivated by moral law itself, while acting in accordance with duty means performing the right action but possibly for self-interested or other non-moral reasons.

Q: What is virtue ethics?
A: Virtue ethics is an ethical theory that emphasizes the role of character and virtues in moral philosophy, focusing on what kind of person one should be rather than on rules or consequences.

Q: Who is the founding figure of virtue ethics?
A: Aristotle is the founding figure, who developed virtue ethics in his Nicomachean Ethics, centering on the concept of eudaimonia (flourishing).

Q: What is eudaimonia?
A: Eudaimonia is often translated as happiness or flourishing; for Aristotle it is the highest human good, achieved by living a life of virtue in accordance with reason.

Q: What is the doctrine of the mean in Aristotle's ethics?
A: The doctrine of the mean states that moral virtue is a mean between two extremes — one of excess and one of deficiency. For example, courage is the mean between recklessness and cowardice.

Q: What is phronesis?
A: Phronesis (practical wisdom) is the intellectual virtue that enables a person to discern the right course of action in particular circumstances, central to Aristotle's virtue ethics.

Q: Name three cardinal virtues identified by Aristotle.
A: Three cardinal virtues include courage (bravery in the face of fear), temperance (moderation in desires), and justice (giving others their due).

Q: How did Alasdair MacIntyre revive virtue ethics?
A: Alasdair MacIntyre revived virtue ethics in After Virtue (1981), arguing that modern moral philosophy had lost coherence and advocating a return to Aristotelian tradition embedded in social practices.

Q: What is moral relativism?
A: Moral relativism is the view that moral judgments are not universally valid but are relative to cultural, societal, or individual standards.

Q: What is the difference between descriptive and normative moral relativism?
A: Descriptive moral relativism observes that moral beliefs differ across cultures, while normative moral relativism claims that no culture's moral standards are objectively better than another's.

Q: What is cultural relativism?
A: Cultural relativism holds that moral standards are determined by cultural context, and that what is morally right or wrong varies from society to society with no universal standard.

Q: What is a major criticism of moral relativism?
A: A major criticism is that it leads to moral tolerance of atrocities: if all cultural practices are equally valid, one cannot condemn practices like slavery or genocide in other cultures.

Q: What is moral subjectivism?
A: Moral subjectivism holds that moral statements are true or false relative to the individual; moral claims express personal attitudes or preferences rather than objective facts.

Q: What is the trolley problem?
A: The trolley problem is a thought experiment: a runaway trolley will kill five people unless you divert it to a side track where it will kill one person. It tests intuitions about consequentialist vs. deontological reasoning.

Q: Who introduced the trolley problem?
A: The trolley problem was introduced by philosopher Philippa Foot in 1967 and later expanded by Judith Jarvis Thomson.

Q: What is the footbridge variant of the trolley problem?
A: In the footbridge variant, you must push a large person off a bridge to stop the trolley and save five people. Most people find this less permissible than flipping a switch, highlighting the moral difference between doing and allowing.

Q: What does the trolley problem reveal about utilitarian ethics?
A: A utilitarian would typically divert the trolley to save five at the cost of one, since it maximizes net lives saved, showing how consequentialist logic can conflict with intuitions about directly harming someone.

Q: What is the doctrine of double effect?
A: The doctrine of double effect holds that it can be morally permissible to cause a harmful effect (like one death) as a foreseen side effect of a good action, but not as a direct means to that good end.

Q: What is social contract theory?
A: Social contract theory holds that moral and political rules are justified by an agreement (real or hypothetical) among individuals to form a society and accept certain obligations in exchange for social benefits.

Q: What is Thomas Hobbes's view of the social contract?
A: Hobbes argued that in the state of nature, life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short," so people agree to surrender some freedoms to a sovereign authority for security and order.

Q: What is John Locke's version of the social contract?
A: Locke argued that individuals have natural rights (life, liberty, property) and consent to government to protect those rights. If government fails, people have the right to revolt.

Q: How does Rousseau's social contract differ from Hobbes's?
A: Rousseau believed humans are naturally good but corrupted by society. His social contract aims to create a community governed by the general will, preserving freedom through collective self-governance.

Q: What is the original position in Rawls's theory of justice?
A: The original position is a hypothetical scenario in which rational agents choose principles of justice from behind a veil of ignorance, not knowing their own social position, talents, or values.

Q: What is the veil of ignorance?
A: The veil of ignorance is a thought experiment by John Rawls in which decision-makers are ignorant of their personal circumstances, ensuring the chosen principles of justice are fair and impartial.

Q: What are Rawls's two principles of justice?
A: Rawls's two principles are: (1) the Equal Liberty Principle — each person has equal right to basic liberties; (2) the Difference Principle — social and economic inequalities are permissible only if they benefit the least advantaged members of society.

Q: What is the difference principle?
A: The difference principle states that social and economic inequalities are justified only if they result in compensating benefits for the least advantaged members of society.

Q: What is Nozick's entitlement theory of justice?
A: Robert Nozick's entitlement theory holds that a distribution of resources is just if it arises from just acquisitions and voluntary transfers, opposing redistributive taxation as a violation of individual rights.

Q: How does Nozick criticize Rawls?
A: Nozick argues that Rawls's difference principle violates individual liberty by redistributing justly acquired holdings; he uses the Wilt Chamberlain argument to show that free choices naturally disrupt patterned distributions.

Q: What is communitarianism as a response to liberal justice theories?
A: Communitarianism (e.g., Michael Sandel, Charles Taylor) criticizes liberal justice for assuming an unencumbered self and argues that moral identity and justice are rooted in community and shared values.

Q: What is distributive justice?
A: Distributive justice concerns the fair allocation of resources, opportunities, and burdens among members of a society, addressing questions of wealth, income, and social goods distribution.

Q: What is retributive justice?
A: Retributive justice holds that wrongdoers deserve punishment proportional to their offense, as a matter of moral balance rather than deterrence or rehabilitation.

Q: What is restorative justice?
A: Restorative justice focuses on repairing harm caused by criminal behavior through reconciliation between offenders, victims, and the community, rather than on punishment alone.

Q: What is applied ethics?
A: Applied ethics is the branch of ethics that addresses specific, practical moral issues in areas such as medicine, business, technology, and the environment.

Q: What is bioethics?
A: Bioethics is the study of ethical issues arising from advances in biology, medicine, and biotechnology, including topics like euthanasia, genetic engineering, and organ transplantation.

Q: What are the four principles of biomedical ethics (Beauchamp and Childress)?
A: The four principles are: autonomy (respect for patient self-determination), beneficence (doing good), non-maleficence (avoiding harm), and justice (fair distribution of resources).

Q: What is the principle of autonomy in bioethics?
A: The principle of autonomy requires that healthcare professionals respect patients' rights to make informed decisions about their own medical treatment.

Q: What is informed consent?
A: Informed consent is the process by which a patient voluntarily agrees to a medical procedure after being provided with adequate information about risks, benefits, and alternatives.

Q: What is the ethical debate around euthanasia?
A: The debate centers on whether individuals have a right to die with dignity. Supporters cite autonomy and compassion; opponents argue it violates the sanctity of life and risks abuse.

Q: What is the difference between active and passive euthanasia?
A: Active euthanasia involves deliberately causing death (e.g., lethal injection), while passive euthanasia involves withdrawing or withholding life-sustaining treatment and allowing death to occur.

Q: What ethical issues arise from genetic engineering?
A: Key issues include designer babies, consent of future persons, equity of access, biodiversity risks, and the moral status of gene editing technologies like CRISPR.

Q: What is the ethics of cloning?
A: Cloning raises concerns about human dignity, the commodification of life, potential for exploitation, psychological impact on cloned individuals, and challenges to genetic diversity.

Q: What is the principle of non-maleficence?
A: Non-maleficence (from the Latin primum non nocere — "first, do no harm") requires that healthcare providers avoid actions that cause unnecessary harm to patients.

Q: What is the principle of beneficence?
A: Beneficence requires healthcare providers to act in ways that promote the well-being of patients, actively contributing to their health and welfare.

Q: What ethical issues surround organ transplantation?
A: Key issues include consent (opt-in vs. opt-out systems), fair allocation of scarce organs, the definition of death, and the ethics of organ markets or living donation.

Q: What is environmental ethics?
A: Environmental ethics is the branch of philosophy that examines the moral relationship between humans and the natural environment, including duties toward ecosystems, species, and future generations.

Q: What is anthropocentrism in environmental ethics?
A: Anthropocentrism is the view that human beings are the central or most important entities in the world, and that the environment has value only insofar as it serves human interests.

Q: What is biocentrism?
A: Biocentrism holds that all living beings have inherent moral value, not just humans. It was articulated by Paul Taylor in Respect for Nature (1986).

Q: What is ecocentrism?
A: Ecocentrism extends moral consideration to entire ecosystems, species, and ecological processes, valuing the health and integrity of the biotic community as a whole.

Q: What is Aldo Leopold's land ethic?
A: Aldo Leopold's land ethic states: "A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."

Q: What is deep ecology?
A: Deep ecology, founded by Arne Næss, advocates for the intrinsic value of all living beings regardless of their utility to humans, and calls for fundamental changes in how humans relate to nature.

Q: What is the distinction between intrinsic and instrumental value in environmental ethics?
A: Intrinsic value means something is valuable in itself, regardless of its usefulness; instrumental value means something is valuable only as a means to some other end.

Q: What is the precautionary principle?
A: The precautionary principle states that if an action has a suspected risk of causing harm to the public or environment, the burden of proof falls on those taking the action, even in the absence of full scientific certainty.

Q: What are the ethics of climate change?
A: Climate change ethics addresses questions of intergenerational justice, responsibility of developed vs. developing nations, the moral obligation to reduce emissions, and fair distribution of burdens and benefits.

Q: What is the tragedy of the commons?
A: The tragedy of the commons, described by Garrett Hardin (1968), occurs when individuals acting in self-interest overexploit a shared resource, leading to its depletion for everyone.

Q: What is animal rights ethics?
A: Animal rights ethics holds that animals have inherent moral rights and should not be treated merely as means to human ends. Tom Regan argued that animals are "subjects-of-a-life" with inherent value.

Q: What is Peter Singer's argument for animal liberation?
A: Peter Singer argues in Animal Liberation (1975) that the capacity to suffer is the morally relevant criterion, and that ignoring animal suffering constitutes speciesism — a prejudice analogous to racism.

Q: What is speciesism?
A: Speciesism is the unjustified preferential treatment of members of one's own species over others, a term coined by Richard Ryder and popularized by Peter Singer.

Q: What is moral absolutism?
A: Moral absolutism holds that certain actions are intrinsically right or wrong, regardless of context, consequences, or cultural norms — moral truths are universal and unchanging.

Q: What is moral nihilism?
A: Moral nihilism (or ethical nihilism) is the meta-ethical view that nothing is morally right or wrong; moral statements do not express truths and there are no objective moral facts.

Q: What is emotivism?
A: Emotivism is a meta-ethical theory (associated with A.J. Ayer and C.L. Stevenson) holding that moral statements do not express propositions but rather emotional attitudes — e.g., "Stealing is wrong" means "Boo to stealing!"

Q: What is moral realism?
A: Moral realism is the meta-ethical view that there are objective moral facts that exist independently of human beliefs, attitudes, or conventions.

Q: What is the naturalistic fallacy?
A: The naturalistic fallacy, identified by G.E. Moore, is the error of defining moral properties (like "good") in terms of natural properties (like pleasure), conflating what is with what ought to be.

Q: What is the is-ought problem?
A: The is-ought problem, raised by David Hume, states that one cannot derive moral conclusions (ought statements) solely from factual premises (is statements) without an additional moral premise.

Q: What is care ethics?
A: Care ethics (or ethics of care) emphasizes the importance of interpersonal relationships and care as a moral virtue. Developed by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings, it challenges justice-based approaches.

Q: What is moral luck?
A: Moral luck (discussed by Thomas Nagel and Bernard Williams) refers to the way factors beyond a person's control influence moral judgments about them, challenging the idea that morality depends only on will.

Q: What is the difference between consequentialism and deontology?
A: Consequentialism judges actions by their outcomes (the ends justify the means), while deontology judges actions by their adherence to rules or duties, regardless of the consequences.

Q: What is moral particularism?
A: Moral particularism (associated with Jonathan Dancy) holds that moral judgments should be made on a case-by-case basis, denying that general moral principles can be applied to all situations.

Q: What is divine command theory?
A: Divine command theory holds that moral obligations are determined by God's commands; an action is morally right if and only if it is commanded by God.

Q: What is the Euthyphro dilemma?
A: The Euthyphro dilemma (from Plato) asks: Is an action good because God commands it, or does God command it because it is good? Either answer creates problems for divine command theory.

Q: What is contractualism?
A: Contractualism (associated with T.M. Scanlon) holds that an action is wrong if it violates principles that no one could reasonably reject as a basis for general agreement.

Q: What is Kant's concept of duty (Pflicht)?
A: For Kant, duty (Pflicht) is the necessity of acting from respect for the moral law. An action has moral worth only when performed from duty, not merely in conformity with it.

Q: What is supererogation?
A: Supererogation refers to actions that go beyond the call of duty — morally praiseworthy but not morally required, such as heroic self-sacrifice.

Q: What is moral responsibility?
A: Moral responsibility is the status of being deserving of praise or blame for one's actions, typically requiring that the agent acted freely and with knowledge of relevant circumstances.

Q: What is the problem of dirty hands?
A: The problem of dirty hands arises when a political leader must perform a morally wrong act (e.g., torture) in order to achieve a greater good, raising the question of whether moral compromise is justified in politics.

Q: What is feminist ethics?
A: Feminist ethics examines how traditional ethical theories have marginalized women's moral experiences and advocates for theories that address gender inequality, power dynamics, and diverse perspectives.

Q: What is the capabilities approach?
A: The capabilities approach (developed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum) evaluates well-being by the real freedoms (capabilities) people have to achieve things they value, used in development and justice theory.

Q: What is moral courage?
A: Moral courage is the willingness to stand up for what is ethically right despite facing personal risk, opposition, or punishment — a virtue closely related to integrity.

Q: What ethical issues surround artificial intelligence?
A: AI ethics addresses algorithmic bias, privacy, accountability for autonomous decisions, job displacement, the moral status of AI entities, and ensuring transparency in AI systems.

Q: What is the difference between rights-based ethics and duty-based ethics?
A: Rights-based ethics focuses on the entitlements of individuals (e.g., right to life, liberty), while duty-based ethics focuses on the obligations of moral agents to act or refrain from acting in certain ways.

Q: What is the harm principle?
A: The harm principle, articulated by John Stuart Mill, states that the only legitimate reason for restricting individual liberty is to prevent harm to others.

Q: What is moral development according to Kohlberg?
A: Lawrence Kohlberg proposed six stages of moral development across three levels: pre-conventional (self-interest), conventional (social conformity), and post-conventional (universal ethical principles).

Q: What is the separateness of persons objection to utilitarianism?
A: The objection (raised by Rawls and others) argues that utilitarianism ignores the separateness of persons by aggregating welfare, treating individuals as mere vessels for utility rather than as distinct moral agents.

Q: What is moral pluralism?
A: Moral pluralism holds that there are multiple, irreducible moral values or principles (e.g., justice, care, liberty) that may sometimes conflict, and no single principle can always take priority.

Q: What is ethical egoism?
A: Ethical egoism is the normative theory that moral agents ought to act in their own self-interest, even at the expense of others — distinct from psychological egoism, which is a descriptive claim.