PHI 240 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS FINAL EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Kingdom of Ends - Answers - No person shall be used as a means to an end
Deontology - Answers - Duty based ethics
Consequetialism - Answers - The view is that the value of an action derives entirely
from the value of its consequences.
Non-consequentialism - Answers - The view that the value of an action derives none of
its value from its consequences.
Optimific social rule - Answers - A rule whose general acceptance within a society
would yield better results than any other such rule.
Act Consequentialism - Answers - The normative ethical theory that says that an act is
morally right just because it produces the best actual or expected results.
Principle of Utility - Answers - The ultimate utilitarian moral standard, which says that an
action is morally right if and only if it does more to improve overall well-being than any
other action you could have performed in the circumstances.
Rule Consequentialism - Answers - The normative ethical theory that says that actions
are morally right just because they would be required by an optimific social rule
moral community - Answers - The set of those beings whose interests are intrinsically
important. Membership signifies that you are owed respect, that you have moral rights,
that others owe you moral duties for your own sake.
standard of rightness - Answers - A rule that gives conditions that are both necessary
and sufficient for determining whether actions (or other things) are morally right.
decision procedure - Answers - Any method designed to guide us in successfully
deliberating about what to do
Kant's Deontology - Answers - theory bases moral right and wrong on self-derived,
universal, moral duties determined through reason and intuition
Psychological egoism - Answers - the view that the motive for all our actions is self-
interest
STUDY GUIDE
Kingdom of Ends - Answers - No person shall be used as a means to an end
Deontology - Answers - Duty based ethics
Consequetialism - Answers - The view is that the value of an action derives entirely
from the value of its consequences.
Non-consequentialism - Answers - The view that the value of an action derives none of
its value from its consequences.
Optimific social rule - Answers - A rule whose general acceptance within a society
would yield better results than any other such rule.
Act Consequentialism - Answers - The normative ethical theory that says that an act is
morally right just because it produces the best actual or expected results.
Principle of Utility - Answers - The ultimate utilitarian moral standard, which says that an
action is morally right if and only if it does more to improve overall well-being than any
other action you could have performed in the circumstances.
Rule Consequentialism - Answers - The normative ethical theory that says that actions
are morally right just because they would be required by an optimific social rule
moral community - Answers - The set of those beings whose interests are intrinsically
important. Membership signifies that you are owed respect, that you have moral rights,
that others owe you moral duties for your own sake.
standard of rightness - Answers - A rule that gives conditions that are both necessary
and sufficient for determining whether actions (or other things) are morally right.
decision procedure - Answers - Any method designed to guide us in successfully
deliberating about what to do
Kant's Deontology - Answers - theory bases moral right and wrong on self-derived,
universal, moral duties determined through reason and intuition
Psychological egoism - Answers - the view that the motive for all our actions is self-
interest
