1. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory Jeremy Bentham, “The Principle of Utility” – Consequentialism: the rightness or wrongness of an action depends entirely on its consequences – Utilitarianism: a version of consequentialism. The rightness or wrongness of an action depends entirely on the utility of its consequences. – Utility: the net balance of pleasure vs. pain that would be produced by the action, taking into account all creatures affected by the action

2. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory Jeremy Bentham, “The Principle of Utility” – Bentham's principle of utility: “that principle which approves or disapproves of every action whatsoever, according to the tendency which it appears to have to augment or diminish the happiness of the party whose interest is in question.” – How to measure utility: Bentham's felicific calculus The seven features of Bentham's calculus: intensity, duration, (un)certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity.

3. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory St. Thomas Aquinas, “Treatise on Law” – Aquinas presents a classical version of the natural law theory of morality. – Natural law: that part of God's eternal law that concerns how human beings ought to conduct themselves – All moral obligations follow from a first precept which is the core of natural law. – This first precept is self-evident and thus known by all.

4. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory St. Thomas Aquinas, “Treatise on Law” – The first precept of natural law: “good is to be done, evil is to be avoided.” – The natural inclinations of human beings indicate which ends are intrinsically valuable. – These inclinations are a part of human nature. Thus, morality is ultimately grounded in facts about human nature.

5. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory Immanual Kant, “The Moral Law” – Kant's fundamental principle of morality: the Categorical Imperative – The Categorical Imperative is formulated in three ways: In terms of universal law In terms of humanity as an end to itself In terms of the kingdom of ends – Kant applies the first formulation to four issues: suicide, false promises, allowing one's talents to rust, helping others in need

6. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory Immanual Kant, “The Moral Law” – First formulation: “Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.” – Second formulation: “Act as to treat humanity, whither in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end withal, never as means only.” – Third formulation: appeals to “a systematic union of rational beings by objective laws, i.e., a kingdom which may be called a kingdom of ends”

7. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory John Locke, “Natural Rights” – Locke accepts a natural law conception of morality, but in the textbook selections he focuses on “natural” rights. – Examples of our natural rights: The right to life The right to health The right to liberty The right to possession – “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone...”

8. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory John Locke, “Natural Rights” – Locke allows for situations where the natural rights of an individual may be justifiably violated. The right to punish transgressors of the natural law may justify harming another. The right to taking reparations may justify taking another’s property. – “And thus it is that every man in the state of nature has the right to kill a murderer, both to deter others from doing the like injury, which no reparation can compensate.”

9. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory Aristotle, “Virtue and Character” – Characteristics of the good The good is the end of action. The good is complete. – Criteria of completeness “[A]n end that is always [choiceworthy, and also] choiceworthy in itself, never because of something else, is unconditionally complete” Happiness meets this criterion. Happiness is also self-sufficient, according to Aristotle.

10. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory Aristotle, “Virtue and Character” – The best good of a human being is determined by the function of a human being. – This function is to live a life that involves activity in accordance with virtue. – Thus, the good life is essentially involves this kind of activity. – How virtue is acquired “Virtue of thought arises and grows mostly from teaching, and hence needs experience and time.” In other words, virtue is acquired through habituation, rather than from “a process of nature”

11. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory W.D. Ross, “What Makes Right Actions Right?” – Ross is a moral pluralist—i.e., he holds that there is a plurality of irreducible moral rules that are basic in moral thought. – These moral rules are distinct from one another and may conflict at times. – Contrast this with Bentham's principle of utility and Aquinas' first precept of natural law, each of which is supposed to be a single moral principle which produces all other obligations.

12. Chapter 2: Readings in Moral Theory W.D. Ross, “What Makes Right Actions Right?” – Ross endorses a form of the ethics of prima facie duty. – We have a prima facie duty to do something when there is some moral rule which gives us a moral reason to do that thing. – In cases where we have conflicting prima facie duties, morality requires that we use our moral judgment to determine which duty overrides which. – What we ought to do (after all prima facie duties are weighed appropriately) is a proper duty.