P2030 - Final Exam (Fort Omaha) – 5/15/2014
1.
A Greek philosopher who stressed the nature of virtue in regard to ethics was:
a) Socrates
b) Plato
c) Aristotle
d) all of the above
2. For John Stuart Mill, higher pleasures are driven by:
(a) intellectual achievement or intellectual values
(b) the intensity of passion
(c) the nature of intrinsic pleasures
(d) the nature of instrumental pleasures
3. Plato and Aristotle would say that one should do what is good for you. Thus, they are both:
(a) Ethical Egoists.
(b) Psychological Egoists.
(c) Moral Relativists.
(d) None of the above.
4. If I see a homeless person and I decide to help him find a home because I personally feel that
everyone should have a home, Kant would say I am acting under:
(a) a categorical imperative and my act is one of good will
(b) a hypothetical imperative but my act is one of good will
(c) a hypothetical imperative and my act is not necessarily one of good will
(d) a categorical imperative but my act is not necessarily one of good will
5. Habeas corpus is the legal procedure that keeps the government from holding you indefinitely
without showing cause. It is generally considered:
(a) a positive right because it obligates others to act on your behalf.
(b) a negative right because it precludes others from acting against you.
(c) a negative right because it obligates others to act on your behalf.
(d) a positive right because it precludes others from acting against you.
6. Plato is history's first great philosopher because:
(a) He taught us how to engage our world philosophically
(b) He stressed the importance of our own experience
(c) He stressed the importance of reason and no other great philosopher has done so.
(d) No philosopher before him had tried a broad exploration of philosophical problems
7. If I say that the categorical imperative does not require that I tell the truth because I know that
others will lie to me, Kant would likely say:
(a) you do not understand the categorical imperative
(b) you are following the categorical imperative with a bad intention
(c) you are following the categorical imperative with a good intention
(d) You are following the categorical imperative but your intentions are not clear
8. The first philosopher to stress the important difference between factual and normative statements
and that one cannot think critically about ethics without keeping this difference clear was:
(a) John Stuart Mill
(b) Immanuel Kant
(c) Aristotle
(d) Plato
9. John Rawls suggested that:
(a) positive rights alone are important
(b) negative rights are fairly meaningless without positive rights
(c) positive rights are fairly meaningless without negative rights
(d) every positive right must be balanced by a negative right
10. In response to Bentham, John Stuart Mill claims that happiness is not merely pleasure. In saying
this, he seems to be echoing:
(a) Aristotle
(b) his father James Mill
(c) St. Paul
(d) no one. This is purely an original idea.
11.
Jeremy Bentham's view on social equality proposed that all pleasures were equal. John Stuart
Mill responded that social equality:
(a) is nonsense.
(b) must be created through education.
(c) would be good but is not possible.
(d) exists because everyone has an equal amount of higher pleasure.
12.
One might think that giving a waiter an order at a restaurant is an example of treating someone
as merely a means to an end and thus a violation of the categorical imperative. Actually, it
probably is not a good example because:
(a)
(b)
(c)
(d)
13.
the waiter agrees to be treated this way to achieve an objective for himself as a person
if you do, the waiter might treat you as a means
the waiter agrees to be treated as a waiter and thus has given up rights as a person
the waiter is treating you as a means only because he is going to get a tip from you
All versions of utilitarianism seek to promote:
(a) common ground in an argument
(b) the common good
(c) everyone's pleasure
(d) the best of intentions
14.
The view in ethics that suggests that the best standard of morality is the promotion of the
common good and that can be measured primarily in terms of immediate happiness and pleasure is:
a) Egoism
b) Ethical Relativism
c) Absolutism
d) Hedonistic Utilitarianism
15.
As compared to liberals, libertarians generally emphasize the value of:
a) negative rights
b) positive rights
c) negative rights that create positive rights
d) positive rights that create negative rights
16.
The version of Utilitarianism that clearly prohibits abusing individuals for the sake of the
common good is:
a) Act Utilitarianism
b) Rule Utilitarianism
c) Hedonistic Utilitarianism
d) Machiavellian Utilitarianism
17.
If a person has only one natural right as Hobbes suggested, where does other rights come from:
a) society
b) from just being a person
c) earned by being a person
d) from his ability to reason
18.
The question "Should an unmarried, young lady have an abortion if she has been raped?" would
be analyzed by a utilitarian partially in terms of:
a) the lady's virtue
b) the rapist's intentions
c) the feelings of the young lady
d) if the woman will have a better life if she does.
19.
A utilitarian such as John Stuart Mill is not an hedonistic utilitarian because he argues that:
a) utility is not always pleasure
b) utility is always pleasure
c) short-term pleasure is inconsistent with long-term pleasure
d) utility is not always good
20.
Mill proposes a test to determine which is the higher pleasure:
a) calculate the fecundity of both pleasures
b) ask those who have experienced both
c) determine the intensity of both pleasures
d) determine the rationality of both pleasures
21.
John Rawls proposed a concept of distributive justice that said the following about fairness:
a) it is not relevant
b) it cannot be attained
c) it requires equal access to goods and services
d) it requires equal ownership of goods and services
22.
If you ask to borrow money from me with no intention of paying it back but you tell me you will,
you are:
a) likely treating me as an end
b) likely treating me as a means
c) violating the first formulation of the categorical imperative, but not the second
d) violating the second formulation of the categorical imperative, but not the first
23.
For Mill, social equality is achieved by providing:
a) everybody with what they want
b) everybody with what they need
c) everyone the choice of what are the higher pleasures for them
d) opportunity to acquire the higher tastes
24.
John Rawls proposed a thought experiment similar to the following: Mary is allowed to dictate
all the laws and economic rules of our society. To make sure that Mary is fair, we have to guarantee:
a) That Mary does not know what place she will fit into society
b) Only that Mary is a reasonable person
c) That Mary already has everything she needs so that she won't tilt things in her favor
d) Only that Mary’s intention is to be fair.
25.
For Immanuel Kant, acting under a hypothetical imperative:
a) is never a good thing to do
b) could be the right thing to do assuming a conditional desire
c) could be the moral thing to do
d) is an act of egoism
26. An example of an instrumental pleasure would be:
a) Seth enjoying driving just because he likes to drive.
b) Mitch driving only because it is a way to get where he enjoys being.
c) Jasmine trying to enjoy Ethics class when she actually hates it!
d) Aaron enjoying the benefits of his degree after he gets it.
27.
Someone suggests to us that to determine what is the best thing for us to do, we should sit
down and write down the pros and cons and assign numeric values to each. A calculating approach like
this was first suggested by:
a) Jeremy Bentham
b) John Stuart Mill
c) Immanuel Kant
d) Thomas Hobbes
28.
If a man intends to shoot his wife but misses and shoots a suicide bomber just before he is to
detonate his bombs, thus saving the lives of hundreds of people, who would say that the man who shot
the terrorist did the moral thing?
a) Consequentialists
b) Aristotle
c) Immanuel Kant
d) Immanuel Kant and Utilitarians
29.
The study of normative ethics attempts to:
a) study where ethical ideas came from and what they mean
b) search for principles to regulate human conduct
c) tell us whether justice is the same thing as fairness
d) distinguish between virtue and good character.
30.
A logical argument for Moral relativism (though not necessarily a good one) is:
a) it leads to greater tolerance between cultures
b) it discourages bigotry and ethnocentrism
c) One should not judge others by what is only one’s own preferences and many moral
beliefs are often surprisingly diverse among different cultures.
d) It fails to recognize that moral judgments are frequently universal
31.
Bentham insisted that whom should decide what provides the most pleasure?
a) each individual himself
b) each individual himself after having both experiences
c) the majority of persons
d) by consensus of all persons having all relevant experiences
32.
Who said “It is better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, better to be Socrates
dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”
a) Aristotle
b) Plato
c) Immanuel Kant
d) John Stuart Mill
33.
In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato suggests that the essence of Goodness is like:
a) the sun
b) the air outside the cave
c) the walls of the cave
d) the ground on which the men might walk
34.
Forcing someone to attend a poetry reading who wants to watch a football game is probably a
violation of:
a) the golden rule
b) the categorical imperative
c) the harm principle
d) all three of these guidelines
35.
In response to psychological egoism, a utilitarian:
a) would always argue that psychological egoism is wrong.
b) would always argue that psychological egoism is right.
c) may accept the view that we often act from psychological egoism.
d) would argue that acts which promote our own self-interest are always wrong.
36.
Mill was politically very “liberal.” However, he proposed views that might be called libertarian or
even conservative today in that he argued for:
a) abolishing government
b) limiting government's role
c) favoring private education
d) opposing national health care
37.
20th century Utilitarians have suggested that John Stuart Mill's position can be clarified by
describing his position as inclining to:
a) Act utilitarianism
b) Rule utilitarianism
c) Positivist utilitarianism
d) Hedonistic utilitarianism
38.
The study of Meta-ethics attempts to:
a) study where ethical ideas came from and what they mean
b) search for principles to regulate human conduct
c) distinguish ethics from metaphysics
d) distinguish ethics from epistemology
39. In the movie High Noon, Marshall Will Kane was best understood most generally to be following
the principles of:
a)
b)
c)
d)
40.
Relativism
Utilitarianism
Deontology
Divine Commandment Theory
In the movie 42: The Jackie Robinson Story, Branch Rickey followed the principles of:
a)
b)
c)
d)
Consequentalism
Deontology
Ethical Egoism
Most likely all three, to various degrees, and even Divine
Commandment Theory.
41-45.
&
46-50. Answer TWO (2) of the following questions in 200-250 words. Each question is worth 5 points.
1. Propose a valid argument either for or against ethical egoism. Employ the principles of critical
thinking that we have discussed as needed and appropriately.
2. Explain Aristotle’s theory of virtue in detail, using at least three examples. At least two of the
examples must be ones used by Aristotle himself.
3. Write a one-page “play” or “Socratic dialogue” with two characters discussing their views on the
dispute between universalism and moral relativism. Have each character state her view clearly
and that without doubt contradicts the other. Then have each character give an “exception” to
the other’s view and make each character change her view accordingly so that although they
may still not fully agree, they have found some common ground.
4. What argument might you suppose Jeremy Bentham could give against public funding of the
arts, e.g. using taxpayer money to fund poetry readings? What contrary argument might John
Stuart Mill give in favor of it?