Links: Assignments and Study Guides
Sample Mid-Term Exam
SAMPLE FINAL EXAM
Phil. 160 Introduction to Ethics Fall 2009
Instructor: Dr.
Office Hours: 10-ll am TTH and by appointment.
Text: The Moral Domain (In UC and Bradley)
And, an English to English Dictionary (or English to L,
if L is your first Language).
Course Requirements:
!
Attend class and
participate, do the readings, do all written assignments, pass the exams. One
mini-exam, worth 60 pts. Two exams.
(multiple choice, T/F, see sample exams on web page). First exam worth 120 pts,
Final exam is comprehensive, worth 180 pts. Total, 360 pts.
!
Quizzes: there
will be frequent (once a week or more) unannounced quizzes. Missed quizzes cannot be made up. Each
quiz will be worth 6 – 12 points, and will consist of multiple choice and T/F
questions. Total, 90-120 pts. One half
of the quiz points are extra credit.
!
Study guides are due from time to
time. They must be turned in when
due. They are worth about 100 pts total (10-20 pts each) which is
nearly %20 of the grade, therefore it is essential that they be completed and
turned in on time.
!
One purpose of
the study guides is to prepare you for classes. Therefore late guides do not
serve one of the main purposes.
Consequently, guides turned in one class late can receive partial credit
only provided you have a legitimate excuse. No guide will be accepted at all,
for any reason, more than one class late.
!
Attendance. Regular attendance and informed participation
in class are essential since (a) not everything covered in class is included in
the text (b) you will need help with this material, and that is what class
sessions, and the instructor, are for. 40 points.
Extra Credit: There are three ways to earn extra credit: 1. Half the quiz points are extra credit. 2. Carefully prepared study questions can earn extra points. 3. Viewing of films outside of class with reports can earn some points.
Total points ca. 550.
Normally %90 of total points gets you an 'A', %80 a 'B' and so forth,
but significant adjustments for curve are made when necessary.
The purpose of the
study guides is threefold:
1.To ensure that you actually
read the assigned texts, and read them carefully;
2. To assist you in
developing capacities for close reading of difficult texts (development of
reading comprehension);
3. To help you determine what
parts of the texts give you the most difficulty.
#3 will be realized if you come to class prepared to ask about study guide questions which you could not figure out or are very unsure of, AFTER you have made a reasonable effort. Reading the text once does not generally constitute a reasonable effort if you find yourself "stopped" by a question. You may need to go over parts of a text several times, make notes on it, and THINK about it. If, having done that, you still do not "get it" then you should bring up that question in class.
Rules for Preparation
of the guide;
1. Guides must be prepared on 8.5 x 11 sheets, printed from a PC.
2. you must clearly indicate what chapter and what question you are answering. If you are answering question 2 in ch. 3, you MUST label it clearly, in bold, with ‘3.2’ i.e. chapter number, then question number.
3. Multiple
sheets must be stapled together or in a folder.
How the Study Guides are Graded The guides are
graded generously. If your answers indicate that you have indeed read the
material and made a genuine attempt to understand, you will generally get some
credit even if your answers are wrong!
Exceptions would be very simple questions, including many of the
fill-in-the-blank questions, which may be graded more strictly.
COURSE PAGE, ON-LINE HELP.
Access
the link for the Phil. 160 web page through the UTM page (click on faculty
staff, then on faculty web pages) or by using this address directly: www.utm.edu/~nlillega/lillegard.htm. There you will find a glossary, some sample
quiz and exam material, and links to other helpful sites. I do not use blackboard. Everything
you need will be on the 160 web page. If you use the internet on your own,
understand that it contains an enormous amount of trash and may mislead as much
as it may help.
Class Conduct,
Instructor's Role, etc. What I Expect of
Students.
Academic
Integrity: Any form of cheating, on study guides, quizzes, or
exams, will result in an ‘F’ for the
entire course. NO EXCEPTIONS. Policies regarding academic integrity are
further detailed in the student handbook. Cheating includes plagiarism. DO YOUR
OWN WORK.
Cell Phones: phones must be OFF during classes. You may not make ANY use of cell phones
during any exam or quiz.. Use of cell phones in such circumstances counts as
cheating and results in an F for that exam
.
Class
format: Classes will consist of a
mixture of lecture and discussion. Feel free to interrupt with questions. Always
do so by raising your hand. Acknowledgment may not always be immediate but
it will come. Try to keep your remarks relevant. Listen respectfully to other
students even if you think they are “way off.”
They might be doing better than you think!
THE
PURPOSE OF THIS COURSE is to help you develop the capacity to READ
difficult texts with COMPREHENSION, and to THINK CRITICALLY about ethical
concepts and issues which should be of concern to all thoughtful persons and
which have figured prominently in the history of ethical reflection up to the
present. The figures and texts we study will be your guides, but they are not
infallible oracles. Take seriously what careful thinkers say, but do your own
thinking too!!
You will be tested on critical reading and
critical thought, on your understanding of the issues raised by the figures you
study, your ability to respond relevantly to arguments, and to identify salient
historical/philosophical facts.
The purpose of the study guides is
threefold:
1.To
ensure that you actually read the assigned texts, and read them carefully;
2. To
assist you in developing capacities for close reading of difficult texts
(development of reading comprehension);
3. To
help you determine what parts of the texts give you the most difficulty. #3 will be achieved if you come to class
prepared to ask about questions which you could not figure out or are very
unsure of, AFTER you have made a reasonable effort.. Reading the
text once does not generally constitute a reasonable effort if you find
yourself "stopped" by a question.
You may need to go over a text several times, make notes on it, and
THINK about it. If, having done that,
you still do not "get" a certain question or questions, bring it
(them) up in class.
What
the study guides are NOT for: The
study guides are not intended to serve as review material, though you
can use them for that purpose if you think it will be safe.
How the Study
Guide Questions that are Handed In are
Graded The questions are graded generously. If your
answers indicate that you have indeed read the material and made a genuine
attempt to understand, you will generally get full credit or almost full
credit even if your answers are not strictly correct.! Answers that are
irrelevant or “off the wall” will get no credit. Very simple questions, including many of the
fill-in-the-blank questions will be graded more strictly.
Course Outline: (subject to adjustments)
Week II Sept. 7. (the 7th
is Labor Day): Goodness, reason and tragedy, moral truth. NO CLASS
SEPT. 10.
Week III Sept. 14: Goodness,
reason, communal norms etc.
Week IV Sept. 21: The good life, reason and virtue (Aristotle) Mini exam, TH. Sept. 24.
Week V Sept. 28: Virtue
and happiness (Aristotle, cont. ) ICA 1.
Week VI Oct. 5: Religion
and Ethics. Natural law.
Week VII Oct. 12: Wisdom and Folly. The principle of double effect. Divine commands.
Review. MIDTERM EXAM, TH
Oct 15.
Week VIII Oct. 17-20: FALL BREAK. Oct. 22, Evil, a-moralism, vice.
Week IX. Oct. 26, Continue week VIII
Week X.Nov. 2:, Egoism,
Altruism. Sociobiology, etc.
Week XI Nov. 9: Feeling,
Reason, and Morality (Hume) Mini Exam II, TH Nov. 12
Week XII Nov. 16: Reason and
Duty (Kant)
Week XIII Nov. 23: Rightness, Reason and Consequences (Mill) ICA 2 (Thanksgiving break, Nov. 25-29).
Week XIV Nov. 30: Reviving
Virtue Ethics Virtues and tradition. ICA 3.
Week XV Dec. 7. Review. Dec. 11, last day of classes.
FINAL EXAM – Thursday, Dec. 17, 10-12 a.m, Hu 211.
CONTRACT
1. I have read and understand the rules for class conduct and
agree to abide by them.
2. I understand the purposes of the
Study Guides, and that Study Guides must be handed in
When due, that any Study Guide handed
in one class late for a legitimate reason
will be accepted,
but with a loss of %10 of the points,
and that no Study Guide will be accepted
more than one week
after the due date.
3. I understand that quizzes will be
unannounced, and cannot be made up, and
that most of them
will be based on material covered in part of a
study guide.
4. I am able to access the Phil. 110
web page, and will use it to keep track of assignments, and for study and
review purposes.
5. I own my own textbook and
dictionary and will bring them to every class.
6. I have read and understand the
list of requirements for this course, consider them fair, and will do my best
to fulfill them.
Signed
______________________________________________
Circle the number that corresponds to your class meeting time: 11:00, 1:00
Print your name
_________________________________________________
Note: all questions to be answered
are in ITALICS in this text.
Week I
Read Answer
p. 1-31 by Sept. 3, questions 1 (p.2)and 1(p.8) thru 17. (questions 4 and 5 overlap)
by Sept. 8, questions 18 thru 32
Week II
Read Answer
p. 32-59 by Sept. 10, questions 2:1 thru 2:24.
Week III
Read Answer
p. 58-59 by Sept. 17, ques. 2:25
64-66 (Taylor) ques. 2:37
Week IV
Read by
Sept. 22
p. 68-88 ques.
3:1-24
Week V
Read by
Sept. 29
p. 89-99 ques.
3.25-57
by
Oct. 1
p. 101-02 ques.
63,64
Week VI
Read by Oct.
6
107-27 ques.
1-24
By
Oct. 8
127-39 ques
25-36
144-48 ques
42-52.
Week VII
Continue Week VI
Week VIII
Read by Oct.
22
149-153 q. 1-4
160-63 q.
16-23
Week
IX
Read by
Oct. 27
Continue week VIII
By
Oct. 29
166-73 q.
29, 31-45
Week
X
Read By
Nov. 3
174-185, 188-195 ques. 1-5, 12-25
By
Nov. 5
196-199 ques.
26, 26-32
201-208 37-47
Week
XI
209-228 by
Nov. 10
Ques.
1-14
By
Nov. 12
Ques.
15-23
Week
XII
Continue week XI
By
Nov. 19
229-247 Ques.
1-30
I. Moral relativism –
two kinds.
a. Protagoras – man is
the measure. The individual?
b. Montaigne – “Custom”
is king.
1. Tolstoy’s
story and social “customs” or “standards”
c. the pattern of
argument implied in Montaigne and common among relativists:
i. people
have varying moral customs (beliefs, standards).
THEREFORE
ii. there
are no objectively right moral customs
(beliefs, standards).
Question: Does ii follow from i?
d. ii does not follow deductively from i. But i might give
inductive support to ii.
1. Moral disagreements are not like disagreements in the sciences, for
example. In what way?
II. Against
Relativism (Rachels)
a.
relativist ideas are expressed in a variety of ways: (add your own)
b. the “cultural
differences argument” is unsound. An
argument from analogy: state it!
c. Some
(bad)consequences of taking cultural relativism (CR) seriously.
1. If CR
is true, we could never condemn the practices of a different society. So, is that so bad?
Examples:
2. If CR is true, we
can determine what is right or wrong just by consulting our social rules.
Examples:
So what?
3. If CR is true,
there can be no such thing as moral progress. Why not?
So what?
d. Cultural relativists overestimate the moral differences between
cultures. Examples;
e. All cultures (societies) have some moral beliefs in common.
Examples:
How come?
MIDGLEY
But surely it is always wrong to
make moral judgments? (how come?)
1. What do the stories show?
a. false universality
b. moral immoralist
reformers
2. The concern for freedom and
privacy
3. Problems with knowledge, in
general, and in ethics particularly.
a. can’t know
therefore can’t judge
b. relation of 2 to 3.
Entangled.
Since no knowledge, no
grounds for infringing on freedom.
p. 18 It is not possible
to be so detached.
DISCUSSION
1. do q. 27.
2. Accepting differences –
Postive:
Negative:
Tolerance-
What does the word mean?
Multiculturalism –
Positive:
Negative:
Thick Ethical
Concepts.
The possibility of
real moral disagreement.
Chinese cat-skinners
GLENDON: THE UN
DECLARATION
Cf. the
1. similarities
2. differences
One (or more) way(s) of
grounding ethical claims.
SOPHOCLES, SOCRATES,
PLATO
What is THE question?
Focus on discrete actions
Focus on character
Antigone –
1. When duties conflict, then what?
a. Duty to family, brother
b. to larger community
c. Duty to “God” or some higher source of obligation?
Antigone associates duty to family with a higher duty, the requirements of the Gods.
Such duties override all others. But, there is also the emotional attachment.
Notes
Socrates/Plato
Trying to come to grips with
a. tragic dilemmas
b. sophistic relativism
1. The Euthyphro
a. what sorts of disagreements provoke fighting? How come?
b. could morality be rooted in the will of God?
2. The Protagoras
a. getting rid of tragic dilemmas by denying that there are moral incommensurabilities.
i. how do that? Find a single metric
ii. “pleasure” will work. All pleasures are “commensurable” Explain.
a. to act rightly is to act so as to maximize pleasure. E.g.
b. to act wrongly is to miscalculate pleasures. E.g.
c. miscalculating is a kind of stupidity or ignorance. So acting wrongly is simply a kind of ignorance.
Virtue=knowledge. Vice=ignorance.
3. The Republic
1. Moral truth exceeds everything this worldly, including pleasure.
Problem: what motivates anyone to do what is good, if goodness is beyond this world? Why be just, for example, if it gives no advantage in THIS world?
2. Why be moral? The ring of Gyges.
Body Heat.
ARISTOTLE
Asking THE question:
Whatever the answer, it must take account of “what people aim at.” For surely people aim at the good (as they, rightly or wrongly, conceive it).
1. The aim is something desired for its own sake. Otherwise?
Examples of things desired as means and of things desired for their own sake.
2. Common views on the “aim” or goal.
A. Happiness (eudaimonia)
i. Desired for its own sake. Not a means to anything.
ii. Problem: what IS it?
Common views
3. Happiness and
proper and excellent functioning.
a. A “good” x is one that performs
its proper function well. Examples.
b. Do human beings (‘mankind’) have
a proper function? If so we could figure out what a ‘good’ human being (life)
is.
i. how to answer this
Fill in the summary
of ch. I, on p. 80
4. The concept of a
virtue:
a. a disposition
i. to feel, act, choose
a. feeling
and pleasure
ii. the mean
b. what the “mean” means (and
doesn’t mean)
c. perceptiveness, salience etc.
5. How you get virtue
Cf. questions
6. Choice
a. the voluntary – actions that
originate in the agent. Cf. modern determinism. See 89
i. involuntary acts
involve regret
a. in
between cases – dumping cargo.
ii. what about actions
done
in ignorance-e.g.
when drunk
through
ignorance-particular circumstances
b. choice and deliberation
choice=df
cf. 45
a. choice and character
-
7. examples (joking
etc.)
a. the sheer size of
morality
8. Practical wisdom
a. a master virtue
b. opposed to
technicians. Cf. modern technicians. 93
c. the wise persons
pursuit of happiness 93-94
i. no method
d. facts and values
i. reason as
instrument
e. reason and teleology
9. Incontinence - ???
97
10. Friendship –
kinds
a. the best kind 97-98
b. its importance for
the good life, its ties to community (politics)
c. friendship and
virtue - 97-99
11. Aristotle on
ethical “science” (Nussbaum)
a. vulnerability
12. Moral education
and autonomy
13. Friendship
a. self knowledge
b. vulnerability
RELIGIOUS ETHICS
Orienting Questions
1. Aquinas – natural
law.
a. The idea of “law” not prominent
in Plato/Aristotle. Law presupposes a law-maker.
b. Theistic views have a “lawmaker”
in God.
2. Reason/Law –
connection between Aquinas and Aristotle
a. it belongs to reason to command
i. reason is superior in
a human, by nature (think of Aristotle), therefore fit to command.
ii. only the commands of
reason make real law, as opposed to
conventions (which may be bad, wrong etc).
1. consider
all the bad laws. Are they all unreasonable?
iii. that is because
reason, as in Aristotle, orders activity towards a proper end. The commands of reason “direct to the
(proper, real) end” (teleology) (149) so they CAN’T be bad.
3. Law is directed to
the COMMON good. This also fits with Aristotle.
a. the proper end is
life-in-community.
4. Promulgation – law
requires it. This fits to the theistic conception.
Def. of law =
The obvious question: where (when, by
whom) was it promulgated? See reply to Obj. 1
5. Kinds of law
Eternal law
Natural law
Human law
Divine law
a. eternal law-God is “ruler of the
entire universe”
i. the “community” of
the universe?
b. natural law – notice
i. notice the “strict
notion” of law as requiring reason for “participating in”
c. human law – why do we need it?
Because natural law
provides only general principles. For the actual conduct of daily communal
life, we need lots of detail.
i. human law consists of
inferences from, and specifications of, natural law.
e.g. Do good avoid evil
Be sociable
ii. again, relation of human law to
“custom”
d. Divine law – why do we need IT?
Four reasons
q. 9
e. The natural law is the same for all
(anti relativist; note reply to obj. 3 in art. 4)
i. both with respect to
rectitude and knowledge =
ii. particular
inferences vary e.g.
iii. the various origins
of differences in custom or belief
a.
permissible differences in details
b.
circumstances
c.
corruption
f. How it can change.
Note esp. Art 5, Obj. 2
and the reply!!!
Slavery?
6. The principle of
double effect.
a. is it ever permissible to kill a
person?
i. the three conditions
(do q. 22)
7. Wisdom and folly:
a. wisdom is a “gift” (therefore not available to unbelievers?)
b. you can better see what wisdom is by considering folly
i. dullness, unresponsiveness to justified criticism (Turner, the death camp doctors)
DIVINE COMMAND MORALITY
Commands and obligations
1. cf. the Euthyphro dilemma
2. Duns Scotus
a. God can will anything except contradictions
b. compare the Abraham story to ps. 1.
c. will vs. intellect (Scotus vs. Aquinas)
3. Voluntarism –
a. Scotus and Luther
b. how do you get rid of the arbitrariness problem?
i. maybe by stipulating that only the commands of a GOOD God obligate.
a. the social nature of obligation
b. the relationship and social bonds to God.
4. Rachel’s objections
a. a good person never does something simply because he was commanded. A true moral agent is always AUTONOMOUS
b. religious worshippers are never autonomous, therefore they cannot be moral.
c.
EGOISM, REASON AND
ETHICS
1. Is Lord of the Flies a parable of “how it really is with people?” If
so, how is it, really?
a. The dominant motives
are . . .
b. the only way to
prevent chaos is thru the imposition of law by force . . .Cf.
Glaucon/Thrasymachus in Plato’s Republic.
i.
think about Ralph and Jack
ii. think about Piggy
iii. what about the
conch?
iv. what about the naval
officer?
2. Hobbes: the “Laws
of Nature”
a. The state of nature – a state of
war
in such a state life is ____, _____, ___.
No one can “win” because?
Facts that prove we could be in such
a state.
b. three factors that cause
“quarrel”
i.
ii.
iii.
b. What does “justice” amount to in
such a state? Cf. Piggy
c. There is thus a motive for
replacing it with law. “Reason” suggests
convenient articles of peace. Such as
They are “laws of
nature” Such as
i. seek peace
ii. be willing to lay
down the state-of – nature “rights” when others do also
i.e. enter a “SOCIAL
CONTRACT”
iii. KEEP the contract
But . . .how can I
trust others to do the same? I can ONLY WHEN there is a
COERCIVE POWER. Prior
to that, there is no right, wrong, just, unjust.
“Injustice” = violating the contract
Justice= a rule of reason. Reason
tells me what is necessary for peace, survival.
Reason is concerned only with MEANS.
e. The WHOLE OF MORALITY consists in
these laws.
Compare to Plato, Aristotle,
Aquinas, Scotus.
Summing up: Egoism
and altruism
a. Hobbes – egoism
1. Pity –
rooted in?
2. Charity –
rooted in?
3.
Tautological egoism
4.
Psychological egoism
Ques. How should one
respond to a.3? a.4?
3.
a. self love
is a “general affection” – a desire for ?
b. love of
others (altruism) is a particular affection
a.
examples of particular affections.
c. the
“hedonistic paradox”
d.
confusions about the relations between self love and happiness, egoism,
selfishness.
i.
“benevolence” (love of others) may actually increase happiness in benevolent
person.
4.
5. Baier – reason ala Hobbes
a. notice that morals is
based in reason or fact. So it is not all subjective.
b. what is the response
to someone with the ring of Gyges who protests that they have good reason to
violate moral rules?
i. the
rational person allows moral reasons to trump reasons of self interest BECAUSE.
. .
6. Self interest, cooperation, and
the Prisoner’s dilemma. See the chart,
p.239.
a. one cannot maximize
self interest without cooperation.
b. looking out for #1
gets in the way of looking out for #1!!
c. in fact people do
cooperate. Are they “irrational.”?
i.
the problem of free riders
and suckers.
ii.
Once again, rationality is pitted against the common good. Compare to
Aristotle, Aquinas.
d. saving cooperation
thru repeated PDs.
7. A biological version of the PD.
Does nature select cooperators, or
egoists?
a. natural selection
operates on genes, and only individuals have genes.
i.
individual fitness
i. inclusive
fitness
b. how free riders get
dumped: inclusive fitness and tit for tat.
Repeated PD.
7. Broadie on an Aristotelian view
of egoism , reason and justice.
a. consider what it
takes to raise a child.
Ch. VII Reason,
Feeling, and Morality
1. Huck Finn
a. What Huck KNOWS
What Huck
FEELS p. 251
b. It appears that some
of his feelings are natural, i.e. not the result of training.
i. what
might BE the basis for his feelings towards Jim?
ii.
Conscience, thought, feeling
2. Hume: there has been a
controversy
a. what exactly IS
it? Compare aesthetic and moral
responses.
b. Evidences of a role
for reason
c. evidences of feeling
as necc and suff.
i. reason is
“cool”254
ii. what is
not unreasonable 254!
d. utility and reason -
i. knowing
what to do to get a useful result
ii. feeling
that is IS useful
e. reason cannot
motivate to action.
f. projectivism – 257
g. Is – Ought q.11
3. Emotivism and prescriptivism
a. hurrah x
do x
b. non statemental uses
of language
c. objections to emotivism
– 261
4. Morality and Sentimentality
Bennet on Himmler, Edwards, Huck.
Types - 263
a. who is worse, Himmler
or Edwards, the Walrus or the carpenter?
5. Projectivism –
6. Is-ought and institutional facts.
a. examples of IFs.
b. how to deriver ought
from is.
DUTY, REASON, DIGNITY
1. Duty and the”must” (deontology)
2. Immanuel Kant
a. opposition to
Aristotle
b. to Aquinas etc.
c. to Hobbes
d. to Hume
The main issue – duty vs.
“inclination.”
3. The categorical imperative
version 1.
a. The golden rule
b. “law” and
impartiality
c. law and consistency
i.
consistency and contradiction
d. what about
conflicting duties
4. Categorical imperative version 2
a. using people (cf. q.17)
b. making objects of
people
5. The notions of
freedom=dignity=law=consistency=
autonomy
Further Discussion
1. Prima Facie duties and conflicts of duties (Ross)
2. Sex, using people, objectifying
people. The freedom-dignity-autonomy
issue.
i. marriage as the
solution (?)
3. natural goodness – what ARE our
intuitions? What DO we admire MORALLY?
i. cf. Aristotle’s great
souled man
ii. Hume’s kindly
peasant
4. Moral education and principles
(Kohlberg).
i. if education follows
natural development, there will be not violation of “autonomy.”
ii. what is the natural
development?
5. Gilligan-male bias in Kohlberg.
Cf. Aristotle.
UTILITARIANISM
Reason, Consequences, Social
Engineering
1. Raskolnikov as social engineer
a. “arithmetic”
b. problem; what are we
adding up?
c. problem; contingency
i.
foreseeable consequences
2. Mill –
a. actions are right in
proportion as they tend to promote ----?
i. “consequentialism”
ii. kinds of pleasures
(pains)
b. “higher
pleasures” How decide which are higher?
i. the
Hyacinth problem
c. rejection of virtue
theory – what ultimately matters is actions
i. nobleness
of character and individual vs. overall happiness (q. 12)
ii. good
character producing bad actions - examples
d. rule utilitarianism
3. Criticism-q.17
Williams
a. Jim case – how should
I regard it (not just, what should I DO). Q. 18
b. George case- q.19
4. Defense – Hare
a. contrived and
unrealistic examples
b. relying on situations
where training, rather than calculating, comes into play.
i. how would
a good utilitarian train up a child?
Virtues and
traditions (MacIntyre).
a. Virtues and the good for a whole
life (the nature of a virtue).
b. human action embedded in story or narrative q. 85
1. learning to live
virtuously through learning stories.
c. “quests” as searches for the good
of a “whole life.”
d. virtues, communal stories, and
community.
e. virtues, “practices” and
traditions.
f. illustration: the people of Le
Chambon. Notice the adjectives used to
describe these people. Notice how they describe themselves.
Relevant concepts:
1. virtue
2. a “whole life”
3. a whole life and
narrative
4. learning to live
(well or badly, virtuously or viciously) from examples, including those given
in communally shared stories, traditions.
Notice:
2 and 1 are “made for each other.” 3 is made for 2. 4 for 3. All are to be
understood in relation to one another.
Planned Parenthood
vs. Casey 1992
These matters
involving the most intimate and personal choices a person may make in a
lifetime, choices central to personal dignity and autonomy, are central to the
liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. At the heart of liberty is the
right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe,
and of the mystery of human life. Beliefs about these matters could not define
the attributes of personhood were they formed under compulsion of the state.
---------------------------------
T or F
1. It follows logically that if two cultures, A and B,
have different standards of right and wrong, then there can be no universal
(cross-cultural) standards of right and wrong.
#I
In one place, men feed upon human flesh.
In another, it is reputed a holy duty for a man to kill his father at a certain
age. Elsewhere, the fathers dispose of their children while yet in their
mothers’ wombs, some to be preserved and carefully brought up, and others to be
abandoned or made away. Elsewhere the old husbands lend their wives to young
men . . .
2. #I is
a. a
quote from Montaigne
b.
supposed to support cultural relativism
c.
supposed to support the idea that moral principles are the same for all people
d.
none of these
e. a
and b.
Quiz 1 (9/8)
1. Differences in moral beliefs prove relativism.
2. People who are immoralists (deny any need to follow
moral rules) are often people who want to stress individual freedom, according
to Midgeley.
Multiple choice:
3. Some apparent moral differences are in fact
differences in
a.
religious beliefs
b.
scientific beliefs (beliefs about how the world works)
c.
particular circumstances
d.
all of these separately or in combination.
Qz II 9/15
1. The UN Declaration of Universal Rights obviously
involves a relativist view of morality.
2. The following are “thick” moral concepts:
a.
right
b.
wrong
c.
immoral
d.
none of these
e. a
and b.
3. The “extraterrestrial position” is
a.
the attempt to avoid morality altogether
b.
the moral position of extraterrestrials
c.
may involve “false universality”
d. a
and c
Quiz III (9/22)
1. In Sophocle’s Antigone
a conflict arises between duties to God and duties to the state.
2. Plato’s notion in the Protagoras is that ethical disputes
a.
could be resolved by a kind of calculating
b.
arise due to the fact that some people are ignorant or stupid
c.
could never be resolved
d. a
and b.
3. The ‘ring of Gyges’ is a famous wedding ring.
QZ IV 9/29
1. Aristotle treats ethics as discussion of the
highest good for humans.
2. Aristotle thinks that a human being is functioning
in the way proper to a human when he/she is
a.
following the best desires
b.
using reason to guide all desire, feeling and activity
c. in
good bodily health
d.
none of these
3. A virtue, in Aristotle, is a kind of power or
strength or excellence.
Qz V (10/6)
1. Aristotle thinks of practical wisdom as being like
a.
what Plato thought it was in his dialogue Protagoras
b. an
exact system for calculating how to act
c.
something that is acquired largely through contact with good examples
d.
none of these.
2. Both Aristotle and Aquinas claim that good
community is essential to human fulfillment.
3. According to Aristotle, a virtue is a disposition
to choose the mean relative to oneself, therefore Aristotle is a relativist.
Qz VI (10/13)
1. Natural law is that part of eternal law that can be known apart from revelation,
through conscience.
2. Aristotle and Aquinas both think about the good
teleologically, i.e. in terms of what would fulfill a person’s human nature.
3. The following would be morally permissible, on some
version of the principle of double effect:
a.
bombing a munitions factory and unintentionally killing some civilians living
nearby
b.
executing an innocent person with the intention of saving the lives of
thousands of other people
c.
removing a uterine cancer and killing a fetus in the process
d. a
and c.
Qz. VII (10/22)
1. According to
Scotus, what makes an action right is simply that God has commanded it.
2. The death camp
doctors came to believe that what they were doing was right, by
a. being stupid
b. paying attention to certain facts
and completely ignoring others
c. taking a path that fit with their
ambitions
d. b and c.
3. The Bhagavad Gita
is part of the scriptures of Hinduism.
Qz VIII (10/27)
1. Dostoevsky’s Ivan (in The
Brothers) seems to think that evil deeds fit into God’s ultimate harmonious
plan for the universe.
2. Camus claims that in the long run there must be political solutions
to human evil.
3. Camus seems to hold
a. that there are no
values common to all people
b. a position Montaigne
also held
c. that there are
truths of general moral significance
d. all of these
Qz IX (11/3)
1. According to
Hobbes,
a. reason tells us that justice is
valuable in itself
b. reason can help us to figure out
how to get what we instinctively want
c. reason can tell us what is the
best way to survive
d. b and c.
2. The relationships
between the boys in Lord of the Flies comes
to resemble what Hobbes calls ‘the state of nature.’
3. In Hobbes’ account,
there would be no industry, arts, or science in the ‘state of nature.’
QZ X (11/10)
1. Butler argues that
a. selfishness should be
distinguished from self-love
b. self love could include love of
others
c. self love is not a “particular
affection”
d. all of these.
2. A society
consisting of human beings with no rules against lying would not be a viable
society.
3. The prisoner’s
dilemma shows that in many situations a society of rational egoists cannot
maximize their own interests.
1. If someone believes in relativism then they cannot consistently believe in moral progress.
2. Plato pursued a “science” of ethics.
3. Midgeley thinks it is OK to make moral judgments.
4. Aristotle is more interested in the morality of particular acts than in character.
5. Aquinas and divine command moralists agree that what is right is right simply because God wills it.
6. Thick ethical concepts have a lot of descriptive content.
7. Although the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights does not mention God as the source of rights, many of the rights enumerated have been emphasized by political movements with religious roots.
8. Aristotle argues that young people are not likely to have highly developed virtues.
9. The ring of Gyges was a ring that made it possible to move at great speeds.
10. Sophocles obviously believes that all values are commensurable.
Multiple Choice
11. The following would be examples of “thick” ethical concepts
a. wrong
b. cruel
c. morally right
d. none of these
12. The following are conclusive reasons for believing relativism is correct:
a. different cultures have conflicting views on right and wrong
b. moral judgments are impossible
c. no one can give anyone else moral advice
d. none of these.
13. Aquinas thinks that “real” law
a. is directed to the common good
b. ultimately emanates from the supreme ruler of the entire universe
c. includes natural law
d. all of these.
14. “Teleological” is an adjective used to describe
a. explanations in terms of aims or goals
b. Aristotle’s account of goodness in terms of flourishing or fulfillment
c. mechanistic explanations
d. a and b.
15. Tolstoy’s After the Ball is a story that supports
a. relativism
b. the view that the dominant moral conventions of a society are usually morally good
c. the view that people can discern cruelty, hypocrisy etc. on their own
d. all of these.
Study the following numbered quotes, and answer the questions about each of them
'Oh
yes, we know all about how you're no good for anything,' said one of us. 'But
tell us: how many men would be no good for anything if it weren't for the likes
of you?'
16. This quote is from
a. a story by Tolstoy
b. a story that expresses the idea that morality is all relative
c. a story that makes plausible the idea that moral beliefs are merely a product of local cultures
d. all of these.
17. The main character, who is the ‘I’ in this quote
a. is unable to “fit in” to societal norms and ideas of right and wrong
b. has himself been changed for the better by his own experience
c. has a good moral influence on others
d. all of these.
#II In one place, men feed upon human flesh. In
another, it is reputed a holy duty for a man to kill his father at a certain age.
Elsewhere, the fathers dispose of their children, while yet in their mothers’
wombs, some to be preserved and carefully brought up, and others to be
abandoned or made away. Elsewhere the old husbands lend their wives to young
men; and in another place they are in common, without offence.
18. this quote from Montaigne is supposed to support
a. ethical/cultural relativism
b. the claim that infanticide is considered right in all societies
c. the idea that old husbands are very generous
d. none of these.
19. This quote is the beginning of an argument
a. that concludes that morality is relative to certain cultures
b. that is deductively valid (the conclusion is established with certainty by the truth of the premises)
c. that is commonly used by anti-relativists
d. all of these.
#III Consider the following: its [the UN
Declaration of Rights] pervasive emphasis on the "inherent dignity"
and "Worth of the human person"; the affirmation that the human
person is "endowed with reason and conscience"; the right to form
trade unions; the worker's right to just remuneration for himself and his
family; the recognition of the family as the "natural and fundamental
group unit of society" entitled as such to "protection by society and the state"; the prior right of parents
to choose the education of their children; and a provision that motherhood and
childhood are entitled to "special care and assistance."
. . .where did the politicians get
their ideas about the family, work, civil society, and the dignity of the
person? The answer is: mainly from the social encyclicals Rerum novarum (1891)
and Quadragesimo anno (1931) [documents of the Roman Catholic Church]. And
where did the church get them? The short answer is that those encyclicals were
part of the process through which the church had begun to reflect on the
Enlightenment, the I8th-century revolutions, socialism, and the labor question
in the light of Scripture, tradition, and her own experience as an "expert
in humanity."
20. This quote suggests that
a. there are no universal rights
b. the rights mentioned are based on atheist assumptions
c. there is no answer to the question ‘where do these rights come from?”
d. none of these.
21. The suggestion here is that many of the things considered to be “rights”
a. actually have a religious basis
b. have come to be matters of concern largely due to Christian teachings
c. are of concern to everyone even though they are based on religious teachings
d. all of these.
#IV Suppose now that there were two such magic
rings, and the just put on one of them and the unjust the other; no man can be
imagined to be of such an iron nature that he would stand fast in justice. No
man would keep his hands off what was not his own when he could safely take
what he liked out of the market, or go into houses and lie with any one at his
pleasure, or kill or release from prison whom he would, and in all respects be
like a God among Then the actions of the just would be as the actions of the unjust;
they would both come at last to the same point. And this we may truly affirm to
be a great proof that a man is just, not willingly or because he thinks that
justice is any good to him individually, but of necessity, for wherever any one
thinks that he can safely be unjust, there he is unjust. For all men believe in
their hearts that injustice is far more profitable to the individual than
justice, and he who argues as I have been supposing, will say that they are
right. If you could imagine any one obtaining this power of becoming invisible,
and never doing any wrong or touching what was another’s, he would be thought
by the on-lookers to be a most wretched idiot.
22. In this quote the speaker is arguing that
a. virtue is its own reward
b. people are all self seeking; they put themselves first and moral considerations are ignored or given second place
c. a reasonable or rational person will ignore the rules of justice when he thinks he can get away with it
d. b and c.
23. This argument
a. makes reference to “the ring of Gyges”
b. represents a view presented by some sophists
c. denies any intrinsic value to such rules as ‘do not steal’
d. all of these.
#V _[Euthyphro:] Yes, I should say
that what all the gods love is pious and holy, and the opposite which they all
hate, impious.
[Socrates:] Ought we to enquire into the truth of this,
Euthyphro, or simply to accept the mere statement on our own authority and that
of others? What do you say?
[Euthyphro:] We should enquire; and I believe that the
statement will stand the test of enquiry.
[Socrates:] We shall know better, my good friend, in a
little while. The point which I should first wish to understand is this:
Is the pious or holy beloved by the
gods because it is holy, or,
Is it holy because it is beloved of
the gods?
24. Socrates presents a dilemma which
a. might be restated as “either what is right is commanded by the Gods because it is right, or what is right is right because the Gods command it”
b. may upset the attempt to base ethical beliefs on the will of God
c. has become famous in the history of philosophy
d. all of these.
25. This dilemma IS a dilemma because most people
a. would be uncomfortable or could not accept the idea that there is a standard higher than God that God must consult in determining what is right or wrong
b. would be uncomfortable or could not accept the idea that merely because God (or anyone else) commands something, that automatically makes it right
c. there is no third alternative between that mentioned in a and b
d. all of these.
#VI Dwellers by the house of Cadmus and of
Amphion, there is no estate of mortal life that I would ever praise or blame as
settled. Fortune raises and Fortune humbles the lucky or unlucky
26. The stress on “fortune” or “luck” in this remark
a. would offend Plato
b. is typical of the tragic poets
c. is not compatible with the idea that anyone who is virtuous can have the best kind of life
d. all of these.
27. This quote stresses
a. the vulnerability of human life
b.
something that Aristotle tried to acknowledge in his Ethics]
c. something that Plato stressed
in the Republic\
d. a and b.
#VII It is therefore evident that, as regards the
general principles whether of speculative or of practical reason, truth or
rectitude is the same for all, and is equally known by all. As to the proper
conclusions of the speculative reason, the truth is the same for all, but is
not equally known to all: thus it is true for all that the three angles of a
triangle are together equal to two right angles, although it is not known to
all. But as to the proper conclusions of the practical reason, neither is the
truth or rectitude the same for all, nor, where it is the same, is it equally known
by all. Thus it is right and true for all to act according to reason: and from
this principle it follows as a proper conclusion, that goods entrusted to
another should be restored to their owner. Now this is true for the majority of
cases: but it may happen in a particular case that it would be injurious, and
therefore unreasonable, to restore goods held in trust; for instance, if they
are claimed for the purpose of fighting against one’s country. And this
principle will be found to fail the more, according as we descend further into
detail, e.g. if one were to say that goods held in trust should be restored
with such and such a guarantee, or in such and such a way; because the greater
the number of conditions added, the greater the number of ways in which the
principle may fail, so that it be not right to restore or not to restore.
Consequently
we must say that the natural law, as to general principles, is the same for
all, both as to rectitude and as to knowledge. But as to certain matters of
detail, which are conclusions, as it were, of those general principles, it is
the same for all in the majority of cases, both as to rectitude and as to
knowledge; and yet in some few cases it may fail, both as to rectitude, by
reason of certain obstacles (just as natures subject to generation and
corruption fail in some few cases on account of some obstacle), and as to
knowledge, since in some the reason is perverted by passion, or evil habit, or
an evil disposition of nature; thus formerly, theft, although it is expressly
contrary to the natural law, was not considered wrong among the Germans, as
Julius Caesar relates (De Bello Gall. vi).
28. Aquinas is arguing here that
a. there is a single natural law that applies to all people
b. there may be variations in what is right that arise from particular circumstances
c. even though there is a single natural law for all people, it is not always known
by all people
d. all of these.
29. Aquinas’ position here
a. shows how to avoid relativism while admitting the existence of moral diversity
b. includes the idea that some moral diversity may be due simply to the fact that
some people (some cultures) are immoral or have immoral practices
c. allows that there are exceptions to the general principles of natural law
d. a and b .
Qz 1.
1. F
2.T
3. D
QZ 2
1. F
2. D
3. D
QZ. 3
1. T
2. D
3. F
QZ 4
1. T
2. B
3. T
QZ 5
1. C
2. T
3. F
Qz 6.
1. T
2. T
3. D
QZ 7
1. T
2. D
3. T
QZ 8
1. F
2. F
3. D
QZ 9
1. D
2. T
3. T
QZ 10
1. D
2. T
3. T
Key exam I
|
1. T |
16. A |
|
2. T |
17. D |
|
3. T |
18. A |
|
4. F |
19. A |
|
5. F |
20. D |
|
6. T |
21. D |
|
7. T |
22. D |
|
8. T |
23. D |
|
9. F |
24. D |
|
10.F |
25. D |
|
11. B |
26. D |
|
12. D |
27. D |
|
13. D |
28. D |
|
14. D |
29. D |
|
15. C |
|