Actg Ethics- Chapter 2

The examination and test of propositions of any kind which are offered for acceptance, in order to find out whether they correspond to reality or not.

It is our only guarantee against delusion, deception, superstition, and misapprehension of ourselves and our earthly circumstances

• 1. Through observation of empirical evidence
• 2. Because it is logical to do so

• 1. All dogs have four legs
• 2. Flash is a dog

• Result
• 3 Flash has four legs

• 1. A logical fallacy occurs when one or all of the premises of an argument are either wrong or at least questionable
• 2. The second kind of logical fallacy occurs when he conclusion does not follow from the premises

example: using celebrities to endorse products

When someone tries to divert an argument or a question to an arguably related or even totally unrelated issue. (changing the subject)

when someone evades the issue at hand by attacking an opponent personally rather than his or her contentions

False dichotomies presents only two absolute choices as the only two viable options in a given situation (ex. you're either for me or against me)

ex. Have you stopped beating your dog?

The question implies that you began beating your dog at some point so whether you answer yes or no, you will seem to have at some point beaten your dog.

• Occurs when a person allows a separate and distinct event to influence his beliefs regarding the outcome of a separate and distinct future event.
• ex. believing a flipped coin has a higher chance of landing on tails after it has been flipped and landed on heads twice

threatening people with violence in order to persuade them to your point of view

• The Bible says that God exists
• God wrote the Bible
• Therefore, God exists

When we observe something that is sometimes true and then claim that it is always true.

Believe what you observe (see) to be true

• Employees of a sweatshop having the "free choice" to quit anytime they want.
• Is the choice between a dangerous job with extremely low wages and the possibility of starving to death without that job really a "voluntary" choice?

The fact that something is legal does not make it moral and the fact that something is illegal does not make it immoral

ex. most alcoholics first drink was a beer, therefore, beer causes alcoholism

Statistical samples may be far too small to provide any meaningful conclusions

Ex. Murderers explaining their terrible childhood and drug addiction as justification of a murder

Attempts to arouse the emotions of its audience in order to gain acceptance of its conclusion

• The problem comes in when two things we are comparing are really not the same
• ex. If we can land a man on the moon we should be able to cure cancer

Just because a person has the right to say he/she believes 1+1=3 does not mean it's true

"Smooth over the numbers" rather than "cook the books"

Selling a 16 year old with a fake ID liquor because "if i don't sell it to him, someone else will"

self-explanatory

Attempting to absolve oneself by shifting blame to another

Saying a company is to blame for a person's theft because of poor internal controls

"yes i know this is wrong, but hey, i'm not perfect"

Stealing a million dollars without the chance of being caught when you wouldn't steal ten dollars without the chance of being caught.

There is no such thing as a victimless crime

"There are no bad people, just bad actions"

"Compared to a lot of other people, I could be doing a lot worse"

When we shouldn't do something we're thinking of doing we conclude that we haven't done anything like it before, and will never do it again

Used as justification for actions that most ethical people would never engage in if they were dealing with their own personal affairs.