| absolutism | the claim that not only are moral principles objective but also they cannot be overridden and there cannot be any exceptions to them
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| actual duty | a duty that we are morally obligated to perform in a particular situation after we have taken all the circumstances into account
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| altruism | the claim that we should be unselfishly concerned for the welfare of others and should act for the sake of other people's interests and needs
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| categorical imperative | in Kant's theory, a moral law that tells us what we ought to do but does not depend on any prior conditions or subjective wants and wishes, and contains no qualifications
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| consequentialism | any ethical theory that judges the moral rightness or wrongness of an act according to the desirability or undesirability of the action's consequences; also called teleological ethics
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| conventional ethical relativism | the claim that what is really right or wrong is relative to each particular society; also called ethical conventionalism
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| deontological ethics | any ethical theory that judges the moral rightness or wrongness of an act in terms of the intrinsic moral value of the act itself
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| divine command theory | the theory that the rightness or wrongness of an action is intrinsically related to the fact that God either commands it or forbids it
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| ethical egoism | the theory that people ought always to do only what is in their own self-interest
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| ethical hedonism | the theory that the moral rightness or wrongness of an action is a function of the amount of pleasure or pain it produces
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| ethical objectivism | the view that there are universal and objectively valid moral principles that are relative neither to the individual nor to society
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| ethical relativism | the position that there are no objective or universally valid moral principles, for all moral judgments are simply a matter of human opinion
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| feminist ethics | the attempt to correct male biases in traditional ethical theory by emphasizing relationships over abstract principles and compassion over analytical reason
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| hedonism | the position that pleasure is the only thing that has value
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| hypothetical imperative | a rule that tells us only what means to use to achieve a desired end
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| instrumental value | value or desirability judged in terms of achievement of other ends
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| intrinsic value | value that is good or desirable in itself
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| Kantian ethics | the theory that we have absolute moral duties that are determined by reason and that are not affected by the consequences
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| prima facie duty | a duty that is morally binding unless it conflicts with a more important duty
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| psychological egoism | the theory that people always act so as to serve their own interests, or at least what they believe to be their interests
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| psychological hedonism | the claim that the only causes operating in human behavior are the desires to obtain pleasure and avoid pain
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| subjective ethical relativism | the doctrine that what is right or wrong is solely a matter of each individual's personal opinion
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| utilitarianism | the theory that the right action is the one that produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people
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| virtue | a trait of character that is to be admired and desired because it is a constituent of human excellence
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| virtue ethics | any theory that sees the primary focus of ethics to be the character of the person rather than that person's actions or duties
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education