Class #10 Review

Thank you for actualizing my teacherly potential today.

REVIEW:

I. Deontological ethics
-I should do the act that is right, regardless of situation or consequence.
-Example: Immanuel Kant
-Kant's Criterion: "Categorical Imperative"... would I want every other person to act in such a way?

II. Teleological ethics
-I should do whatever will produce the best consequence in this particular situation.

A. Social Teleology
-Example: John Stuart Mill
-Mill's Criterion: "Utilitarianism"... what will produce the most pleasure and the least pain for the greatest number of people?

B. Individual Teleology
-Example: Aristotle
-Aristotle's Criterion: "Eudaimonian(ism)"... what will develop my virtue to its greatest excellence and therefore make me happy?
-Conflicting Example: Epicurus
-Epicurus's Criterion: "Hedonism"... what will bring me the most pleasure and the least pain?

More
-Note how Mill and Epicurus agree that the end of ethics is pleasure, but disagree about whose pleasure... utilitarianism has been called a "universal hedonism"
-Note how Aristotle's premise that the cultivation of virtue/excellence is equivalent to happiness seems to require further proof. Do you think it can be proven?
-Can you think of any other combinations of these methods and criteria for making ethical choices? Can you think of any wholesale alternatives?


REMINDERS:
-Final Draft #1, Sunday 9 p.m. here
-Read Theophrastus sketches in Course Guide pgs. 4-5