Camille Ann Domingo
ITETHIC
WIKIPEDIA ASSIGNMENT
Research the following terms and what it means - cite ONLY Wikipedia articles:
1. Consequentialism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Consequentialism
Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of
one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct. Thus,
from a consequentialist standpoint, a morally right act (or omission) is one that will produce a
good outcome, or consequence.
2. Contractaranism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contractarianism
The social contract is an intellectual device intended to explain the appropriate relationship
between individuals and their governments. Social contract arguments assert that individuals
unite into political societies by a process of mutual consent, agreeing to abide by common rules
and accept corresponding duties to protect themselves and one another from violence and other
kinds of harm.
3. Culture Critique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_Critique
A cultural critic is a critic of a given culture, usually as a whole and typically on a radical basis.
There is significant overlap with social and cultural theory.
4. Deontological Ethics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deontological_Ethics
Deontological ethics or deontology (from Greek deon, "obligation, duty"; and -logia) is the
normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the action's adherence
to a rule or rules. It is sometimes described as "duty" or "obligation" or "rule" -based ethics,
because rules "bind you to your duty". Deontological ethics is commonly contrasted with
consequentialist ethical theories, according to which the rightness of an action is determined by
its consequences. Deontological ethics is also contrasted from pragmatic ethics.
5. Discourse Ethics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_Ethics
Discourse ethics, sometimes called argumentation ethics, refers to a type of argument that
attempts to establish normative or ethical truths by examining the presuppositions of discourse.
Variations of this argument have been used in the establishment of egalitarian ethics, as well as
libertarian ethics.
6. Divine Command http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Command
Divine command theory is the meta-ethical view about the semantics or meaning of ethical
sentences, which claims that ethical sentences express propositions, some of which are true,
about the attitudes of God. That is, it claims that sentences such as "charity is good" mean the
same thing as sentences such as "God commands charity".
7. Egoism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethical_Egoism
Ethical egoism (also called simply egoism) is the normative ethical position that moral agents
ought to do what is in their own self-interest. It differs from psychological egoism, which claims
that people can only act in their self-interest. Ethical egoism also differs from rational egoism,
which holds merely that it is rational to act in one's self-interest. Contractual egoism
acknowledges the interdependence of self-interests through voluntary, freely chosen
exchanges. These doctrines may, though, be combined with ethical egoism.
Ethical egoism is sometimes the philosophical basis for support of libertarianism or individualist
anarchism, although these can also be based on altruistic motivations. These are political
positions based partly on a belief that individuals should not coercively prevent others from
exercising freedom of action.
8. Hedonism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonism
Hedonism is a school of thought which argues that pleasure is the only intrinsic good. In very
simple terms, a hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus pain).
9. Naturalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naturalism
Naturalism commonly refers to the philosophical viewpoint that the natural universe and its
natural laws and forces (as opposed to supernatural ones) operate in the universe, and that
nothing exists beyond the natural universe or, if it does, it does not affect the natural universe
that we know. Followers of naturalism (naturalists) assert that natural laws are the rules that
govern the structure and behavior of the natural universe, that the universe is a product of these
laws and that the goal of science is to discover and publish them systematically.
10. Particularism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particularism
Moral particularism is the view that there are no moral principles and that moral judgement can
be found only as one decides particular cases, either real or imagined. This stands in stark
contrast to other prominent moral theories, such as deontology or utilitarianism. In the former, it
is asserted that people have a set of duties (that are to be considered or respected); in the
latter, people are to respect the happiness or the preferences of others in their actions.
Particularism, to the contrary, asserts that there are no overriding principles that are applicable
in every case, or that can be abstracted to apply to every case.
11. Perfectionism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfectionism_(philosophy)
In ethics and value theory, perfectionism is the persistence of will in obtaining the optimal quality
of spiritual, mental, physical, and material being. The neo-Aristotelean Thomas Hurka describes
perfectionism as follows:
This moral theory starts from an account of the good life, or the intrinsically desirable life. And it
characterizes this life in a distinctive way. Certain properties, it says, constitute human nature or
are definitive of humanity—they make humans human. The good life, it then says, develops
these properties to a high degree or realizes what is central to human nature. Different versions
of the theory may disagree about what the relevant properties are and so disagree about the
content of the good life. But they share the foundational idea that what is good, ultimately, is the
development of human nature.
The perfectionist does not believe that one can attain a perfect life or state of living. Rather, a
perfectionist practices steadfast perseverance in obtaining the best possible life or state of
living.
12. Pragmatism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition centered on the linking of practice and theory. It
describes a process where theory is extracted from practice, and applied back to practice to
form what is called intelligent practice.[citation needed] Important positions characteristic of
pragmatism include instrumentalism, radical empiricism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a
denial of the fact-value distinction, a high regard for science, and fallibilism.
13. Rationalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a
source of knowledge or justification" (Lacey 286). In more technical terms, it is a method or a
theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive" (Bourke
263). Different degrees of emphasis on this method or theory lead to a range of rationalist
standpoints, from the moderate position "that reason has precedence over other ways of
acquiring knowledge" to the more extreme position that reason is "the unique path to
knowledge" (Audi 771). Given a pre-modern understanding of reason, "rationalism" is identical
to philosophy, the Socratic life of inquiry, or the zetetic (skeptical) clear interpretation of authority
(open to the underlying or essential cause of things as they appear to our sense of certainty). In
recent decades, Leo Strauss sought to revive Classical Political Rationalism as a discipline that
understands the task of reasoning, not as foundational, but as maieutic. Rationalism should not
be confused with rationality, nor with rationalization.
In politics, rationalism is a development of the Enlightenment that emphasizes a "politics of
reason" centred upon support of the concepts of rational choice and utilitarianism; this has
especially been promoted by liberalism.
14. Relativism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativism
Relativism is the concept that points of view have no absolute truth or validity, having only
relative, subjective value according to differences in perception and consideration. The term is
often used to refer to the context of moral principle, where in a relativistic mode of thought,
principles and ethics are regarded as applicable in only limited context. There are many forms of
relativism which vary in their degree of controversy. The term often refers to truth relativism,
which is the doctrine that there are no absolute truths, i.e., that truth is always relative to some
particular frame of reference, such as a language or a culture (cf. cultural relativism). Another
widespread and contentious form is moral relativism.
15. Subjectivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subjectivism
Subjectivism is a philosophical tenet that accords primacy to subjective experience as
fundamental of all measure and law. In extreme forms like Solipsism, it may hold that the nature
and existence of every object depends solely on someone's subjective awareness of it. For
example, Wittgenstein wrote in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus: "The subject doesn't belong to
the world, but it is a limit of the world" (proposition 5.632). One may also consider the qualified
empiricism of George Berkeley in this context, given his reliance on God as the prime mover of
human perception.
16. Virtue Ethics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_ethics
Virtue ethics describes the character of a moral agent as a driving force for ethical behavior,
rather than rules (deontology), consequentialism (which derives rightness or wrongness from
the outcome of the act itself rather than character), or social context (pragmatic ethics).
N.B.
All term definitions came from Wikipedia.org