Phil 251: Intro. to Philosophy (Daniel) Test Questions: Ethics True/False (True=A; False=B) Show 1. To the extent that ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics raise questions about judgments relating to value, they are concerned with axiology. 2. The philosophical attempt of ethics to provide a standard for evaluating laws, religions, customs, and individual preferences is itself based on each philosopher's personal values. 3. In the retributive notion of justice, the purpose of punishment is to change the person's character so that he or she does not commit such offenses again. 4. As a utilitarian justification for capital punishment, the reform theory recommends the reform of society at large through the elimination of threatening individuals in the community. 5. Because retribution serves a purpose--namely, giving someone what is due to him or her--it is generally considered a utilitarian justification for punishment. 6. According to the retributivist, the execution of criminals is a form of respect shown to them as beings capable of making free choices for which they should take responsibility. 7. According to Socrates and Plato, we should act virtuously for the sake of others, regardless of whether acting morally improves our ability to discern what is good or to control our passions. 8. According to Socrates and Plato, we can be truly happy only if we allow our reason or intellect to guide our emotions and appetites. 9. The point of Plato's story of the ring of Gyges is this: only a fool would act morally if he or she could get away with acting immorally. 10. In responding to the story of the ring of Gyges, Plato argues that immorality can never be in someone's ultimate self-interest because immoral people are never truly happy. 11. In Plato's theory of the state, justice is ultimately achieved when the ruling class is able to do away with social inequalities by driving the military and working classes out of society. 12. For Plato, the moral balance or harmony of the three parts of the soul is a parallel to the condition of political harmony one must seek in the state. 13. According to Plato, the soul achieves balance or harmony only when reason controls both the spirited (or courageous) part of the soul and the soul's appetites. 14. According to Plato, moral goodness is achieved by eliminating the activities of the lower parts of the soul and acting solely on the basis of reason. 15. In Epicurus' version of hedonism, all decisions about how to live should be based on whether or not one's actions will produce pleasure and avoid pain. 16. For Epicurus, since death is the end of sensation (and therefore the end of all pain), death is a positive good that we should look forward to. 17. Hedonism is a form of teleological ethical theory insofar as it recommends that we act so as to produce happiness (pleasure) as the consequence of our actions. 18. The egoistic hedonist says that, if producing the greatest amount of pleasure for ourselves means that we have to take into account the pleasure of others, then we are under a moral obligation to do so. 19. Stoics note that we accumulate power and wealth by restricting our desires to things over which we have control. 20. According to the Stoics, the only way to fulfill our duty to live in harmony with the universe is to yield to our passions, desires, and emotions. 21. For the Stoic, the reason one does one's duty is that it is the only way that a person can achieve true happiness. 22. According to Aristotle, because moral virtues are habits, they cannot be taught but only learned in living according to them. 23. According to Aristotle, in a good or happy life someone is able to fulfill himself or herself through behavior that combines moderation, good fortune, and wisdom. 24. According to Aristotle, because happiness is not only the goal of all human beings but also defined by anyone as he/she sees fit, there is no ultimate standard of ethics. 25. In Aristotle's virtue ethics, moral value is a purely private matter, unconnected to how people interact with others in the community. 26. Because hedonism is a consequentialist way of thinking, it is more properly identified as a form of ethical egoism rather than as a form of psychological egoism. 27. Teleological theories of ethics determine the moral value of actions in terms of their consequences. 28. Though both Epicurus and Bentham agree that we should do that which produces pleasure or happiness, they differ on whose pleasure or happiness should be taken into account. 29. If psychological egoism is true, then no ethical position (including ethical egoism) is possible. 30. Because ethical egoism claims that we are incapable of doing anything other than promoting our self-interests, it violates the moral dictum "ought implies can." 31. For the utilitarian, the whole purpose of ethics and virtuous behavior is the production and increase of happiness. 32. According to the utilitarian principle of morality, one should always act so as to produce the greatest overall and long-term amount of happiness for the greatest number of people. 33. Utilitarians claim that actions have value and thus are morally good insofar as they produce happiness (good consequences) for the greatest number of people. 34. Since utilitarianism is really a form of social hedonism, it cannot be considered as a consequentialist theory of morality. 35. Because Bentham's hedonistic calculus does not consider the pleasures or pains that other people experience as a result of a person's action, it is more egoistic than Mill's version of utilitarianism. 36. According to Mill, the proof that happiness is good (and thus desirable) is that human beings desire it. 37. Utilitarians argue that, because all moral values are relative to cultural or individual choice, no universally valid moral principles hold for all human beings. 38. According to J. S. Mill, the quantity (as opposed to the quality) of pleasures is determined by how well those pleasures enhance human fulfillment and well-being. 39. A deontological ethical theory is one that makes judgments about the morality of actions based on the ends, purposes, or consequences of the actions. 40. A person who has a moral obligation to do something is not physically able or free to do anything else. 41. Kant rejects all forms of hypothetical imperatives because (he claims) no rational agent can ever be obligated to act morally. 42. Kant's categorical imperative states that we should always act for the sake of doing our duty except when doing our duty conflicts with deeply held personal or religious values. 43. To act virtuously, Kant argues, means to act for the sake of doing one's duty�even if that means going against one's religious beliefs. 44. In Kantian ethics (following Hume), "ought implies can" refers to the claim that no one can be morally obligated to do something unless he or she is able to do it. 45. "Ought implies can" summarizes the moral principle that if someone is physically able to do an action, he or she is morally obligated to do it. 46. To say that a moral imperative is categorical means (for Kant) that the demand should be obeyed without exception, regardless of the negative consequences of acting on it. 47. Teleological ethical theories characterize moral obligation in terms of categorical rather than hypothetical imperatives. 48. From Kant's perspective, utilitarian consequentialism assumes that ethical reasoning is and should be based on a categorical (rather than a hypothetical) imperative. 49. According to Kant, I can be morally obligated to do an action only if everyone else in the same type of situation is likewise obligated. 50. A maxim is a subjective principle of action or working rule which, according to Kant, we are morally bound or obligated to obey. 51. According to Kant, we should treat people as ends-in-themselves (and never as means alone) because they produce good consequences through their actions. 52. According to Hume and Moore, ethical theories fall into a naturalistic fallacy when they derive moral obligations ("should" or "ought") from factual states ("is"). 53. Utilitarians commit a "naturalistic fallacy" by thinking that certain behavior is morally desirable because it has consequences that are desired. 54. According to emotivism (or "positivism") value judgments are simply expressions of positive or negative feelings about something and thus are neither true nor false. 55. For Sartre, belief in God permits individuals to depend on a standard of morality for which they are not responsible and for which they are not accountable. 56. According to Sartre, nothing that a human being does, not even acting in "bad faith," allows that person to transcend human subjectivity. 57. Moral systems�even those that value humility and passivity�are expressions (Nietzsche maintains) of the will to power, the will to overcome. 58. According to Nietzsche, moral systems are attempts by the masses of weak people to keep strong individuals from exercising their creativity and passion. 59. Nietzsche rejects utilitarianism because it gives equal value to all individuals, even those who do not deserve it. 60. Nietzsche rejects moral theories such as Christian, utilitarian, and Kantian ethics because they fail to treat all human beings as essentially equal. 61. Ethical relativists claim that cultures ultimately share the same basic ethical principles. 62. Ethical relativists claim that even though cultures seem to differ on ethical standards, they ultimately share the same basic ethical principle--namely, moral goodness is that which produces happiness. 63 Ethical relativists argue that, because all moral values are relative to cultural or individual choice, no universally valid moral principles hold for all human beings. 64. For the cultural relativist, if a moral code of a society says that a certain action is right, it is right (at least within that society). 65. If moral objectivism is true, then homosexuality must be morally wrong. 66. According to Kohlberg, the highest stage of moral development--the postconventional acceptance of rational, objective principles--is a stage in which people become slaves to rules, laws, or traditions. 67. According to Carol Gilligan, the ethic of care characteristic of feminist ways of thinking emphasizes the obligation not to interfere in the lives of others. 68. Feminine moral development, according to Carol Gilligan, occurs as a person moves from (1) caring only for herself, through (2) caring for others, to (3) adopting care as a universal moral principle. 69. Sarah Hoagland argues that male-dominated ethics emphasizes competing interests, sacrifice and compromise, and duty instead of caring. Multiple Choice 70. Ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics
are areas of philosophy that address topics that are likewise addressed in fields like psychology, political science, sociology, and anthropology. But instead of concentrating on what different people call the good life, moral duties, social obligations, or beauty, these areas of philosophy search for: 71. Ethics and law have sometimes been distinguished in the following way: the law attempts to resolve conflict in society by regulating behavior, whereas ethics is concerned with determining the rules for
resolving conflict both in belief and in the behavior or action based on those beliefs. Ethics thus emphasizes: 72. From a philosophical perspective, religious teachings or revelations cannot (by themselves) serve as standards of morality because: 73. According to Plato, no one would choose to act immorally if he/she knew how
acting immorally is really not in his/her self-interest. But it is apparent that evil people appear (at least on the surface) to benefit from their immorality. So how can acting morally really be in one's own self-interest? Plato's answer: 74. According to Plato, we never consciously
choose to do that which we know to be immoral, because to do so would be to act contrary to our own self-interests. Knowing what is in our own self-interest, however, requires that we recognize which things are truly in our best interests; and that requires that we recognize: 75. For most Greeks, the question "why be moral?" is much more important than the
question "what is moral?" Plato's parallel between the parts of the soul and the parts of society collapses the two questions into one by: 76. To say that Plato's question "Why be moral?" is not a moral, but rather a meta-ethical question means that it is a question about: 77. "Why be moral?" is a metaethical question rather than an ethical question insofar as it is concerned with: 78. Epicurus proposes that, even though decision-making should be based on the pursuit of pleasure, not all pleasures ought to be pursued equally, because: 79. Every time we
succeed in any endeavor, we experience pleasure in having accomplished our goals. But what if our goals involve causing harm to oneself or to others?--Wouldn't that indicate that the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure is wrong and should not be the basis of a moral system? To this a hedonist like Epicurus would reply: 80. Though Epicurean hedonism is similar in certain
respects to modern Western capitalism, it emphasizes a point that Marx says characterizes his position as well, namely, the belief that: 81. Critics have claimed that Hobbes' egoistic theory of human motivation (including his denial that anyone can ever act in a purely altruistic way) is not properly a scientific theory because it fails to fulfill Popper's falsifiability criterion for scientific theories. Specifically, in order for Hobbes' position to be considered a legitimate theory: 82. Though systems of belief such as fatalism, determinism, and egoism provide their supporters with ways of explaining experience, these ways of thinking cannot be considered acceptable theories of human behavior
because they violate the falsifiability criterion for legitimate theorizing. They cannot be proven false because: 83. According to Ayn Rand's version of ethical egoism, it is not only possible for us to act in ways that beefit others; it is important that we do so, but only to the extent that: 84. If psychological egoism is true, then no ethical system (including ethical egoism) is possible because: 85. Stoics like Epictetus and Marcus Aurelius describe the good life in terms of a rational understanding of the
law of nature, because insofar as we understand natural law: 86. For the Stoic a meaningful life is one in which she commits herself to do her duty, whatever it might be. Limiting herself to doing her duty
(regardless of what that entails) means: 87.
Epictetus' Stoic claim that we should be happy with whatever life offers us differs from Epicureanism in that: 88. Existentialism differs significantly from Stoicism concerning why we should care about the specifics of what we choose
as values. The Stoic says we should care about doing our duty; but what that duty might be is something, the Stoic claims, is ultimately due to nature. This is where the existentialist would object, claiming: 89. Moral virtue, for Aristotle, entails acting in accord with the dictates of reason as determined by: 90. According to Aristotle, a happy life is a life of virtue, one in which the individual contributes to the good of his or her community and is
respected for such contributions. At the heart of his description of the morally good life is one's honor in a society, because being an honorable individual means being someone who: 91. For Aristotle, "Moral states are the results of activities like the states themselves. It is our duty, therefore, to keep a certain character in our activities, since our moral states depend on the differences in our activities." This "certain character" is: 92. Bentham's utilitarianism is
different from J. S. Mill's version in virtue of Mill's emphasis on: 93. ``Nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign masters, pain and pleasure. It is for them alone to point out what we ought to do, as well as to determine what we shall do. On the one hand the standard of right and wrong, on the other the chain of causes and effects, are fastened to their throne. . . . The principle of utility recognizes this subjection, and assumes it for the foundation of that system, the object of which is to rear the fabric of felicity by
the hands of reason and law.'' This passage summarizes: 94. Though J. S. Mill agrees with
Bentham that happiness is the goal of ethical behavior, he points out that "it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied." By this remark he indicates how: 95. According to Mill, "Of two pleasures, if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience of both give a decided preference, that is the more desirable pleasure." The decision about which pleasures are qualitatively desirable should thus be made by those familiar with different kinds of pleasures based on: 96. In deciding how far we have to calculate the consequences of our actions, Mill says that the utilitarian recommends that we should realistically consider only: 97. One objection raised against utilitarianism is that we can never know what we are morally obliged to do since we can never know all the consequences of our actions. Mill and other
utilitarians reply to this by: 98. Some theorists argue that the utilitarian claim that we are morally obligated to contribute to famine relief ignores one central fact about human nature, namely, that we are more inclined to help members of our own family or culture than others, and therefore should not be expected to do what we are not inclined to do in the first place. To this the utilitarian responds: 99. One consequentialist argument against famine relief notes that feeding
famine victims is not our moral responsibility, because it causes more harm than good insofar as it wastes our own resources, makes the starving more dependent on us, and creates conditions for more famine in the future. Which of the following IS NOT a response utilitarian supporters of famine relief would typically give in return? 100. Some critics of utilitarianism have argued that injustices against minorities would be permitted under utilitarian principles, since the violation of the rights of a few might produce more overall happiness than respecting those rights. Utilitarians respond that, on the contrary, injustices against minorities would not be encouraged under their principles, because: 101. Act utilitarians point out that sometimes violating a moral rule causes
more happiness than following the rule. In such cases, they argue, violating the rule is permitted: 102. Act utilitarians say that we should
always do that specific action that produces the greatest happiness, even if this means violating moral rules. Rule utilitarians challenge this, arguing that we should follow moral rules even if we think that violating them would yield better results, because: 103. Critics sometimes claim that, for utilitarianism, motive seems to have nothing to do with the morality of an action. Mill responds to this by pointing out that: 104. In reply to those who object that utilitarianism permits
lying if it produces happiness, J. S. Mill responds in what is now called a rule utilitarian way: "Any, even unintentional deviation from truth weakens the trustworthiness of human assertion, which is the principal support of all social well-being, civilization, virtue, and everything on which human happiness on the largest scale depends." Mill's basic point is that: 105. Rule utilitarians have argued that injustices against minorities would be permitted under
act utilitarian principles, since the violation of the rights of a few might produce more overall happiness in certain situations than respecting those rights. They argue that, by contrast, under rule utilitarianism injustices against minorities would not be encouraged because: 106. The deontological theory of ethics called divine law theory is sometimes confused with natural law theory because both often refer to God. But unlike in natural law theory, a person is, in fact,
morally obligated to act in a certain way under divine law theory: 107. Which of the following IS NOT an objection Kant raises against consequentialism? 108. According to Kant, virtuous actions are those that are done for the sake of doing one's duty--which means acting for the right reason or with the right motive or intention. Kant limits the discussion of the moral character of actions to motives or intentions and does not consider consequences crucial, because: 109. According to Kant, morality presumes that I, as a rational being, am able to do what is morally right because it is morally right. So, unless doing
my duty is my motive in acting, my action is not morally good, because: 110. According to Kant, an action which has a motive or intention that cannot be successfully universalized: 111. Kant claims that I can determine whether all other rational beings are obligated to do what I am obligated to do by trying to see whether: 112. According to Kant, acting morally means acting on an intention that a reasonable person could will all persons to adopt as the motive for their actions. Critics claim that this makes Kant a consequentialist, insofar as universalizability considers
the consequences of everyone acting that way. Kant rejects this by pointing out that: 113. Kant suggests that the maxim upon which an action is based, and not the individual action itself, is the key for determining whether an action is morally good, because: 114. Kant argues that acting in accordance with duty does not make an action morally worthwhile; rather it is acting for the sake of or because it is one's duty that makes the act morally worthy. He makes this
distinction to indicate how: 115. According to existentialist ethics, there is no absolute
foundation upon which moral judgments are based; we are free to adopt any moral system we choose. As Sartre notes, however, we are responsible for choosing that set of values. Any system of moral values that is established by some means other than human choice, then: 116. When Sartre says that "there is no human nature," what he means is that: 117. Sartre claims that, for human beings, "existence precedes essence"; in other words: 118. If, as Sartre's existentialism claims, "man is responsible for his passion," then no matter what we as human beings do, we do it: 119. Nietzsche argues that the task of true morality is to indicate how human beings, as part of
nature, can move "beyond good and evil" by means of the attempt to: 120. According to Nietzsche,
members of the herd endorse the slave values of sympathy, kindness, and the "common" good because: 121. Critics of morality (e.g., Callicles or Nietzsche) argue that recommending that people act morally (that is, with self-restraint, moderation, or concern for others) is itself an attempt by "common" people to impose their will on their superiors. They conclude, therefore, that doing something because it is moral
makes no sense, since: 122. The
"first principle" of Nietzsche's version of humanism is this: "The weak and the failures shall perish. They ought even to be helped to perish. What is more harmful than vice?--Practical sympathy and pity for all the failures and all the weak: Christianity." In Nietzsche's trans-valuation of humanism, Christianity is: 123. Nietzsche claims that "because life is precisely Will to Power," the attempt to bend all wills to a common good, avoiding violence and exploitation in order to achieve peace in society, is: 124. Nietzsche's critique of "slave morality" includes an attack on the belief in the existence of God, because as long as God exists: 125. Ethical judgments are usually distinguished from judgments of personal preference, taste, or prejudice by means of showing that ethical judgments: 126. Because absolutists argue that the quality or value of something is independent of being designated or recognized as such, they treat ethical judgments: 127. Which of the following characterizations is FALSE? 128. Critics claim that subjective relativism is practically
unacceptable and theoretically contradictory. It is practically unacceptable in that no society could survive unless its members shared the values needed to maintain the society. Subjective relativism is theoretically contradictory insofar as it: 129. According to the cultural relativist Ruth Benedict, "The very eyes with which we see a problem are conditioned by the long traditional habits of our own society." Because of this, she concludes: 130. According to the cultural relativist, the attempt to evaluate the moral beliefs of one's own culture is bound to fail because: 131. Suppose that human well-being is the correct
standard for evaluating ethical theories and judgments. Would this mean that we have to reject the cultural relativist's claim that each culture has a right to decide its own values? 132. "We do not any longer make the mistake of deriving the morality of our own locality and decade directly from the inevitable constitution of human nature. We do not elevate it to the dignity of
a first principle. We recognize that morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits.'' This passage summarizes: 133. "Even if people have similar
needs, sentiments, emotions, and attitudes, there is still the question of whether these should or should not be satisfied or accepted as legitimate." How is such a claim intended as a criticism of personal or cultural relativism? 134. According to the cultural or subjective relativist, the fact that moral values vary from culture to culture or from individual to individual implies that no absolute or objective moral standards should be applied to all people in all times or cultures. The problem with this
line of argument is that: 135. Relativists think that if we recognize how moral values differ from individual to individual or culture to culture, we will see that there is no neutral, objective, or universal moral standard. From this they conclude that we should tolerate the value systems of others. But this
conclusion seems to contradict their fundamental belief because it: 136. Critics of ethical relativism (e.g., Rachels) often note that cultures seldom differ on certain basic values: only their belief systems differ. In other words: 137. In his critique of ethical relativism, Rachels concludes that we cannot say that merely because customs differ among societies that values differ as well. Instead, he argues: 138. ``My thesis about
traditional ethics is this: (1) The focus and direction of traditional ethics, indeed its function, has not been individual integrity and agency (ability to make choices and act) but rather social organization and control. (2) The values around which traditional ethics revolves are antagonistic, the values of dominance and subordination. As a result, (3) traditional ethics undermines rather than promotes individual moral ability and agency. And (4) these aspects of traditional
ethics combine to legitimize oppression by redefining it as social organization. Appeal to rules and principles is at the heart of this endeavor.'' In this passage: 139. According to Carol Gilligan, feminine ways of thinking about moral decisions are based on an "ethics of care" rather than on (male) impersonal, abstract principles. That is, women think of ethical situations:
140. According to the (feminine) ethics of care, emotional involvement and sensitivity to the differing needs of other people in different situations are necessary elements in making objective moral judgments because: 141. Critics of feminist ethics point out that, while an ethics of care might sound nice, it is
less useful than an ethics of justice for addressing problems generated in modern Western societies. To this criticism, feminists reply that:
What are the two measurable components of happiness?The components are referred to as 'hedonic level of affect' (affective component) and 'contentment' (cognitive component).
What is the best predictor of happiness quizlet?a person's past score on a self-report measure of happiness is the best predictor of their current happiness.
Which of the following effects of money might interfere with happiness quizlet?Which of the following effects of money might interfere with happiness? Pursuing money can lead us to give up social relations, spirituality, or interests. What standards do researchers measure life satisfaction by? Having sufficient social resources helps support individuals' subjective well-being.
What type of coping regulates the negative emotions associated with stressful events?Emotion-focused coping focuses on regulating negative emotional reactions to stress such as anxiety, fear, sadness, and anger. This type of coping may be useful when a stressor is something that you cannot change. Many people think mainly of solution-focused coping strategies as the best way to manage stress.
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