Key Concepts in Ethics and Philosophy

Posted on Feb 15, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Aristotelian Virtue Ethics

  • Doctrine of the Mean: Virtue lies between extremes of excess and deficiency.
  • Types of Virtue:
    • Intellectual: Rational activity.
    • Moral: Character training through habits.
  • Flourishing (Eudaimonia): Achieving happiness through rational activity and virtuous habits.

Audre Lorde on the Value of Anger

  • Anger: Righteous response to injustice; motivates change.
  • Anger vs. Guilt:
    • Anger drives action; guilt paralyzes.
  • Key Idea: Anger asserts violated rights, demanding accountability.

Kantian Deontology

  • Moral Law: Universal, immutable, reason-based.
  • Categorical Imperative:
    • Act only on maxims that can be universal laws.
    • Treat humanity as an end, not a means.
  • Good Will: Acting from duty, not inclination.

Simone de Beauvoir: Existentialist Ethics

  • Radical Freedom: We create our own meaning.
  • Ambiguity: Human existence is inherently contradictory.
  • Ethics: Respect others’ freedom while defining personal values.

Utilitarianism

  • Greatest Happiness Principle: Actions are right if they maximize overall happiness.
  • Higher vs. Lower Pleasures:
    • Higher: Intellectual/moral.
    • Lower: Physical.
  • Mill’s View: Quality of happiness matters more than quantity.

The Trolley Problem

  • Scenario: Divert a trolley to save five lives at the cost of one.
  • Ethical Theories:
    • Utilitarian: Save the most lives.
    • Deontology: Reject active harm.
    • Virtue Ethics: Emphasize intent and character.

The Nature of Knowledge

  • Knowledge as Justified True Belief (JTB):
    • Justification, truth, belief.
    • Challenge: Gettier problems.
  • Cartesian Skepticism:
    • Radical doubt; only certainty: “I think, therefore I am.”
  • Mills’ Critique: Philosophy must address real-world oppression.

The Allegory of the Cave

  • Symbolism:
    • Cave: Ignorance.
    • Sun: Truth.
    • Escape: Enlightenment.
  • Key Lesson: Education transforms understanding but faces resistance.

Epistemic Bubbles and Echo Chambers

  • Epistemic Bubble: Lack of exposure to dissenting views; fixable with new information.
  • Echo Chamber: Active distrust of outside views; requires rebuilding trust.

“Bullshit” and “Assholes”

  • Bullshit: Indifferent to truth, manipulates perception.
  • Assholes:
    • Exploit rules for personal gain.
    • Immunity to complaints.
  • Moral Harm: Undermines mutual respect.

The Turing Test

  • Purpose: Assess machine intelligence via indistinguishable human-like interaction.
  • Significance:
    • Behavior, not consciousness, defines intelligence.
    • Challenges human-centric views of thinking.

Arguments for/Against Machine Thinking

  • For: Machines acting human-like justify ascribing intelligence.
  • Against: Lack consciousness, creativity, and originality.

Creativity

  • Three Conditions: Novelty, value, agency.
  • AI: Can produce novel and valuable outputs but lacks curiosity and agency.

Transhumanism

  • Goal: Enhance human capabilities through technology.
  • Critiques:
    • Equity concerns.
    • Risks to identity and humanity.
  • Question: How much enhancement redefines being human?

The Attention Economy

  • Concept: Competes for human focus, often undermining well-being.
  • Human Flourishing: Requires balancing technology with meaningful engagement.