Deck 12: Virtue Ethics

Question 1

_______ might say that someone who usually obeys moral principles is virtuous.

A) Virtue theory
B) Principle-based theories
C) Character theories
D) None of the above

Answer 1

B

Question 2

_______ suggests that a virtuous person will normally find it easier to act virtuously.

A) Eudaimonia
B) Principle-based ethics
C) Character motivation
D) Character development

Answer 2

B

Question 3

According to Aristotle, human beings are unique because only human beings achieve

A) sensation.
B) consciousness.
C) emotion.
D) rationality.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following is not required for a person to be virtuous, according to Aristotle?

A) Knowing the right thing to do
B) Choosing to do the right thing because it benefits oneself personally
C) Doing the right thing
D) Making a choice that arises from one's inner character

Question 5

If I act very courageously in one situation, then I

A) have acted virtuously in that case.
B) must have the virtue of courage.
C) am an entirely virtuous person.
D) am a moral saint.

Question 6

According to Aristotle, one's virtue or vice is

A) entirely the result of one's choices.
B) entirely the result of social influences.
C) a result of our choices and influenced by our social environment.
D) determined at birth.

Question 7

According to Aristotle, virtue always falls between two extremes:

A) swine and civilization.
B) actions and passions.
C) right and wrong.
D) excess and deficiency.

Question 8

According to Aristotle, what is inborn or innate for all of us?

A) Virtue
B) Vice
C) Potential to develop virtue
D) Knowledge of right and wrong

Question 9

Which of the following does Aristotle not argue?

A) Becoming virtuous can be harder if society has poor laws and poor leaders.
B) People need practice to develop virtue, even in a society with good laws and virtuous leaders.
C) Each person becomes virtuous or vicious exclusively because of their own choices.
D) There can be virtuous people even in a society with poor laws and poor leaders.

Question 10

People sometimes say that they did not have enough willpower to do the right thing. A virtue theorist would reply that

A) they should try harder.
B) they need to practice and develop virtuous habits.
C) if they have that much trouble, they should resort to viciousness.
D) perhaps they were not born with the potential to become virtuous.

Question 11

A virtue theorist would say that the impartiality of principle-based theories

A) ignores the importance of our feelings and inclinations.
B) is important for every ethical theory.
C) is something that virtue theory itself aims to achieve.
D) makes them subjectivist.

Question 12

The incompleteness problem with virtue theory argues that it

A) does not adequately explain why the most basic virtues are good.
B) is doubtful that anyone will ever have enough moral knowledge to be considered virtuous.
C) offers less help than other theories for becoming morally better persons.
D) seems ill-equipped to address certain moral problems, such as those that are carried out by states.

Question 13

One objection to virtue theory is that

A) not everyone agrees on what is considered a virtue.
B) it is overly rigid and cannot take into consideration special circumstances.
C) there are reasons to wonder if it is even possible to develop virtue.
D) it easily collapses into other moral theories.

Question 14

The problem of virtue's attainability is raised by

A) the need for people to have all correct moral beliefs to be virtuous.
B) types of moral questions that do not normally apply to individuals.
C) virtue theory's inability to address all moral situations that may apply to individuals.
D) limiting virtues.

Question 15

Suppose that a virtue theory is based upon a few foundational moral virtues, which it takes to be morally good in themselves without providing any further account. This could be considered a weakness in virtue theory's

A) completeness.
B) practicability.
C) explanatory power.
D) moral confirmation.

Question 16

_______ refers to the idea that one's becoming moral is more basic and more important than keeping a set of rules.

A) Several right choices
B) Character motivation
C) Primacy of character
D) Eudaimonia

Question 17

Given virtue theory, if you want to know how you should act, you should

A) find a moral principle that applies and obey that.
B) act like a virtuous person typically acts.
C) do whatever most people typically do.
D) take an Ethics course.

Question 18

The several right choices aspect of virtue theory says that

A) anything at all can be morally acceptable.
B) a limited range of acts may be morally acceptable.
C) only two possible acts can ever be morally acceptable.
D) while several choices may be "right," only one is virtuous.

Question 19

According to Aristotle, every activity humans engage in is aimed towards just one overall and ultimate good:

A) pleasure.
B) reason.
C) happiness.
D) fame.

Question 20

The mean or "golden mean" for virtue

A) always falls exactly halfway between deficiency and excess.
B) always falls slightly towards the excess, since people are initially not virtuous enough.
C) can fall in different places relative to excess and deficiency depending on the virtue.
D) measures the morality of one's character based on an average of their virtuous and vicious acts.

Question 21

Slote points out that the moral beliefs of people in other societies and times have been less than entirely accurate. He goes on to argue that

A) we may be the only people who will ever count as being genuinely virtuous.
B) it may not be possible to ever determine if an ethical theory is fully correct.
C) it may not be possible for people from any group or time to attain virtue.
D) the most virtuous people will likely live one thousand years from now.

Question 22

Which of the following would best capture Aristotle's essential idea about developing virtue in children?

A) They should memorize basic moral rules like "Do not steal."
B) They should read about great people who clearly were virtuous.
C) We should provide them opportunities to act virtuously in real life settings.
D) We should educate them regarding the typical consequences of right and wrong behavior.

Question 23

Limiting virtues like courage are required by

A) deontological theories.
B) consequentialist theories.
C) nearly all ethical theories.
D) virtue theory.

Question 24

Aristotle believes that living a virtuous life is necessary to attaining happiness (eudaimonia).

Question 25

Aristotle says that people start out differently at birth, but each must follow the same path to achieve virtue.

Question 26

It does not seem that actual people would want to be Kantian moral saints, who appear to be too driven by duty and find little motivating help from duty alone.

Question 27

If I act kindly in some situation, then that proves that I have the virtue of kindness.

Question 28

Aristotle claims that there are differences between people regarding the virtues. For example, to develop the virtue of courage, one person might have to practice taking greater risks, while another person might have to learn to hold back a bit.

Question 29

The motivation problem for principle-based theories refers to the fact that their determinations of what one ought to do are largely imposed from outside rather than arising from within.

Question 30

Virtue-based ethics suggests that it is probably impossible to provide universal moral principles that can tell us what we should do in every situation; morality is just too complicated for such a cookie-cutter approach.