PHIL 220
Spring 2014
Study Guide/Exam 2
I You should be able to identify or define the following terms:
Euthanasia
Active/Passive Euthanasia
Voluntary/Nonvoluntary/In
voluntary Euthanasia
Suicide
Assisted Suicide
Virtue
Vice
Prima Facie
Reproductive Cloning
Theraputic Cloning
Genetic Manipulation
Somatic Cell Nuclear
Transfer
Stem Cells
Eugenics
Procreative Freedom
II You should be able to answer multiple choice, true/false or matching questions about the
following topics:
Reviewing the Theories (Euthanasia)
Setting The Terms
The Argument from Nature
The Argument from Self-Interest
The Argument from Practical Effects
Rachels “Active and Passive Euthanasia”
Active, Rather than Passive
A Possible Disanalogy
Rachels’s Mistake
Withdrawl does not equal Euthanasia
A Better Distinction
Two Moral Values
What about Physicians?
Doerflinger, “Assisted Suicide: Pro-Choice or Anti-Life?”
A Constitutional (but not moral) Contradiction
Back to the Slope
Watts & Howell, “Assisted Suicide is Not Voluntary Active Euthanasia”
3 Levels of Assistance
Conclusion
Virtue Ethics
A TRA for Virtue Ethics
The Main Idea
Strengths and Weaknesses
The Issue
The Theories
Robertson, “Human Cloning”
Reproductive and Theraputic Cloning
The Boys (or Girls) from Brazil?
What about that slope?
Kass, “Preventing”
Human Cloning Constitutes Unethical Experimentation
Human Cloning Threatens Identity and Individuality
Human Cloning Turns Procreation into Manufacture
The Argument from Autonomy
The Argument from Fairness
Self-Defeating Paradox
The Desire for Perfection
The Argument from Virtue
III You should be able to write a 2-3 paragraph essay in response to one of the following
questions.
Argue for or against the moral permissibility of one or all of the forms of euthanasia. Make sure
to specify what form, if any, you find morally permissible. Include in your argument
consideration of the arguments of either Gay-Williams or Rachels.
Defend or criticize the self-determination argument in favor of assisted suicide, making sure to
reference the arguments of either Brock or Doerflinger.
Argue for or against the moral permissibility of reproductive cloning. Include in your discussion
consideration of the arguments of either Robertson or Kass.
Explain and evaluate Sandel’s argument against genetic enhancement. Make sure to include a
discussion of why it’s a virtue ethical approach as well as the central role played by the concept
of giftedness.