PHIL 224
Fall 2015
Study Guide/Exam 2
I You should be able to identify or define the following terms:
Consequentialism
Utilitarianism
Perfectionist Consequentialism
Rule Consequentialism
Utility
Principle of Utility
Value Perfectionism
Act Consequentialism
Natural Law Theory
Doctrine of Double Effect
Humanity Formulation
Universal Law Formulation
Substance (for Aristotle)
The Nichomachean Ethics
Philosophical Materialism
Corpuscularism
The Right of Nature
First Law of Nature
Second Law of Nature
Benevolence (for Butler)
II You should be able to answer multiple choice, true/false or matching questions about the
following topics:
Consequentialism: The Basics
The Hightest Good
Implications
Three (or Four) Lives
Utilitarianism
The Human Good: Happiness
Perfectionist Consequentialsim
The Human Good: Virtue
Playing by the Rules
Leviathan
Natural Law Theory
Philosophical Materialism
Aquinas on Intrinsic Value
The Human Machine
Basic Principle of Natural Law Theory
Naturally Egoistic
The Doctrine of Double Effect
Surprising Implications
Kantian Moral Theory
Natural Rights?
Ci: Humanity Formulation
Natural Laws
CI: Universal Law Formulation
Parts and Wholes
Knowing a Substance
Peace Not War
Ends and Goods
What did Hobbes Miss?
III You should be able to write a 2-3 paragraph essay in response to one of the following
questions.
Choose one of the moral theories we’ve discussed and provide a complete summary and
explanation of the theory. Then evaluate it as a moral theory. What are its strengths and it’s
weakness. Finish your essay by arguing for or against its adoption as a basis for moral decision
making.
Criticize of defend Aristotle’s identification of the highest good for human beings as happiness
(eudaimonia). Make sure to make clear what it is about our nature as humans that leads Aristotle
to this conclusion. If he’s right, do you agree with his account of human nature? If he’s wrong,
do you think his account of human nature is also wrong?
Present either Hobbes’s or Butler’s account of human nature and defend it from the actual or
possible criticisms of the other’s account. When presenting the theory you choose, make sure to
specify all 4 of the elements of the theory (metaphysics/ontology, crisis, diagnosis, prescription)
and explain why they conclude what they do about our natures. Make sure to fully consider the
objections posed by the alternative view point before explaining why the one you chose is
correct.