PHIL 1300 Chapter Three Worksheet

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Worksheet, Chapters 2 and 3 June 18, 2021 PHIL 1300 Chapter Three Worksheet After you have read chapter three in the Rachels text, and the accompanying instructor commentary, read through and then answer the questions in this worksheet. If you paraphrase or directly quote from the text, the commentary, or any other outside source, you must cite and reference the source. Failure to do so will constitute plagiarism. I have a “starter” reference section for you at the end of the worksheet with the references for the text and my commentaries on it already. Chapter Three 1. Give an example of a time when people have made moral decisions based just on feelings and it went wrong. How did it go wrong? What does this imply about subjectivism in general? A general idea that comes to mind has to deal with drinking and driving. Say a teenager, we’ll call him bob, is at a party with his group of friends, those friends then begin to drink. Bob knows that his friends drinking is really bad. But because these are Bob’s friends, he does not report them because he does not want them getting in trouble. Now let’s say his group of friends get into a car and start driving, which results into a car crash. The car is wrecked, people are hurt and there are potentially some causalities in result of the crash. Bob is now blaming himself for what happened because he could’ve prevented it, Bob knew deep down that he should have reported his friends. Yet he didn’t and something terrible happened. In the idea of subjectivism, the theory that our moral opinions are based on feelings and nothing more, Bob’s feelings towards his friends got in the way. 2. While subjectivists are mistaken when they claim that all moral reasoning is based on emotion and nothing more, there is a positive place in moral decision-making for emotional input. How does emotion help us in making good moral decisions? Emotions are helpful in making good moral decisions due to the heavy impact that these emotions cause. Such emotions like guilt, love, and compassion can get in the way of our

Worksheet, Chapters 2 and 3 June 18, 2021 moral decisions but can also help guide such decisions. The fear of feeling guilty based on a potential action can stop an individual from partaking in such activity. 3. On page six of the instructor commentary for chapter three, there are quotations from Charles L. Stevenson in which he tries to account for how it is that people keep using reasons to base their moral decisions on, even when he claims that moral decisions are just based on emotion. His explanations fail and seem to explode any chance of emotivism being a good moral theory. Why? Charles L. Stevenson’s explanations fail and implode any chance of emotivism on being a good moral theory because “good moral judgements are not merely arbitrary, or based on feelings, but are based on facts.” (Zbikowski, K.L, 2010, p. 6) Moral theories should be based upon logical claims and claims that can be supported with facts. We all have reasons, based on emotions, as to why we think a certain way. Our emotions, the way we were raised, and the culture we grew up in all partake in influencing such thoughts. We can say something is “right” or something is “meant to be done a certain way” however, without any logical reasoning that claim becomes unreliable. Yet, people are and can be easily influenced by a claim or judgment someone makes. As stated in the instructor commentary, “any statement about any fact which and speaker considers likely to alter attitudes may be adduced as a reason for or against an ethical judgement.” (Rachels, 2010, p. 40) Both Chapters Two and Three 4. Which thinker is associated with relativism? Sociologist William Graham Sumner (1840-1910) 5. Which thinker is associated with emotivism? Charles L. Stevenson (1908-1979) 6. Which theory would the following passages reflect? a. When you don’t know which course to take, always listen to your heart! b. Yes, the neighbors do seem to be serial killers, but they aren’t from around here. I guess they do things differently where they come from. 7. How are you doing with this material?

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