Deck 24: Rights, Obligations, and World Hunger Onora Oneill

Question 1

O'Neill's preferred approach to the problem of world hunger is inspired by

A) the human rights movement.
B) Aristotle.
C) Kant.
D) utilitarianism.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Utilitarianism takes _______ as the ultimate moral standard for assessing actions.

A) human needs
B) justice
C) impartiality
D) human happiness

Answer 2

D

Question 3

O'Neill argues that the main difficulty facing utilitarianism as an approach to world hunger is that utilitarianism

A) is too demanding.
B) lacks precise methods for predicting and calculating happiness.
C) leads to unjust outcomes.
D) violates human rights.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

According to O'Neill, the human rights approach interprets the central issues of world hunger as a matter of

A) justice.
B) charity.
C) beneficence.
D) economics.

Question 5

Rights to food or basic health care are examples of _______ rights.

A) liberty
B) welfare
C) civil
D) political

Question 6

Liberty rights create corresponding obligations of

A) beneficence.
B) noninterference.
C) assistance.
D) All of the above

Question 7

O'Neill argues that the main difficulty for the human rights approach to world hunger is that

A) it is not demanding enough.
B) it lacks precise methods.
C) there is disagreement about the rights that justice comprises.
D) it is too demanding.

Question 8

According to Kant's moral philosophy, the fundamental principles of action must be

A) shareable.
B) based on human needs.
C) happiness maximizing.
D) All of the above

Question 9

O'Neill argues that we have a(n) _______ to the world's poor that requires us to avoid making "offers they cannot refuse."

A) imperfect obligation
B) duty of charity
C) obligation of noncoercion
D) duty of benevolence

Question 10

In Kant's moral philosophy, _______ obligations are not universal and have no corresponding rights.

A) imperfect
B) contingent
C) conditional
D) relative

Question 11

According to O'Neill, utilitarianism assigns no special importance to human needs.

Question 12

According to O'Neill, justice accounts for the whole of morality.

Question 13

Because we cannot help everyone, O'Neill argues that we have no moral obligation to help anyone.

Question 14

According to Kant, human obligations are obligations never to act in ways in which others cannot in principle also act.

Question 15

According to O'Neill, the rights perspective undercuts the moral status of charity by treating it as a matter of supererogation rather than obligation.

Question 16

Why does O'Neill object to the utilitarian approach to world hunger? Is her objection compelling? Why or why not?

Question 17

What is the difference between a "liberty" and "welfare" conception of rights? What impact does each conception have on our duties to the poor? Which conception is right in your view?

Question 18

What obligations does O'Neill think we have to the poor? Do you think these obligations are sufficient for addressing the problem of world hunger? Why or why not?