The Idea of a Social Contract
1) What is the origin of moral rules according to Hobbes?
2) What is the state of nature? How does the state of nature fit into Hobbes’ view of
morality?
3) What is the social contract? How does it relate to the state of nature? How does
it relate the existence of morality?
4) What does it mean to say ‘morality is the product of rational self-interest’?
5) What is the Prisoner’s Dilemma? How is this situation similar to the state of
nature?
6) What are the advantages of the Social Contract Theory?
7) Are there any moral rules that we normal accept that the Social Contract Theory
would reject? Why?
8) How can one justify punishment using the Social Contract Theory?
9) What are the objections to the Social Contract Theory?
Feminism and the Ethics of Care
1) What are Kohlberg’s Stages of Moral Development?
2) What is Gilligan’s objection to Kohlberg?
3) How might an ethics of care conflict with other ethical theories? For example,
what is the difference between an ethics of care and Utilitarianism on the issue of
impartiality? What about the issue of charity?
4) What is the fundamental difference between an “Ethics of Principle” and an
“Ethics of Care”?
5) What are some of the advantages of an ethics of care?
6) What are some of the disadvantages of an ethics of care?