Friday, May 03, 2013

STUDY GUIDE .. posting notes from study session..




EMP – Egoism & Famine/Poverty / “Singer Solution to World Poverty” AND/or “Famine, Affluence and Morality” .. where the pond/fountain case came from
THERE WAS A POWERPOINT ON THIS; YOU HAD A HANDOUT; THE ARGUMENT WAS STATED PRETTY CAREFULLY, SO I’D LIKE  YOU TO RESTATE IT CAREFULLY:
-        What’s the theory called ethical egoism? *OUGHT*
-        What’s psychological egoism? * IS * /
-        How are ethical egoism and psychological egoism different?

Singer’s argument:

What is “absolute poverty”? …
What is Singer’s conclusion?  What are some conclusions that we might reasonable believe Singer argues for, on the basis of what we read?

What conclusion did we consider in this class? That is, what conclusion did we think regarding whether YOU might be obligated to do this action? $10 a month..

What premises did Singer give in favor of that conclusion?

THIS IS CLOSE, BUT NOT EXACTLY what he said.. :
If your needs are met and you have excess resources, then you are obligated to give those extra resources to others in need.
Your needs are met .
You have excess resources.
Therefore, you are obligated to give those extra resources to others in need.
        Conclusions:

Raised and responded to a good bunch of objections, all in logically valid form.
We thought about whether these objections would be sound arguments or whether at least one premise would be false.

What’s a counterexample? What kind of premises can you use a counterexample to try to show it to be false? They really only apply to premises like these:
n  All A’s are B’s.
n  If x is an A, then X is a B.
n  Any A is a B.
H is unnatural.
All unnatural actions are wrong.
Therefore, H is wrong.


Sometimes you can save someone’s life for less than $10.
Meat dishes are more common than non-meat dishes. T? F?


o   EMP Utilitarianism – 2 chapters
§  Euthananasia / mercy killing : argument from James Rachels in “Active and passive euthanasia”
Passive E? Active? Voluntary? Involuntary? Non-voluntary?

§  Drugs .. Michael Huemer’s arguments (RTD and online). .. Michelle Alexander
When would SOME drug use be immoral and should be illegal, according to Huemer?
Why, according to Huemer, is most drug use not immoral and should be legal?
n  Either nobody is harmed.
n  Or anyone harmed is harmed no more than when they are harmed by activities that are legal.
n  AND people have a natural right to their bodies and so a natural right to use drugs.

§  Animals .. Singer’s “All animals are equal,” Animal Liberation
·        Principle of equality .. equal consideration of similar interests..
·        Speciesists ; Species-ism..
§   
§   
§  John Simmon’s “Reasonable Humans and Animals”: WHAT'S HIS ARGUMENT? 

o   EMP  2 chapters on Kant’s ethics and capital punishment: we did not discuss anything from these; thus, fairness suggests that you / ya’ll should not be quizzed on them. Fairness would allow some bonus question(s) from these chapters.

METHODS QUESTION – WHAT HAVE WE BEEN DOING? HOW HAVE WE BEEN DOING IT?

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