Deck 7: Consequentialism Act Utilitarianism

Question 1

Consequentialism argues that the moral good and right are defined by

A) nothing but the effects of something.
B) what various moral principles tell us we should do.
C) an individual's intention in acting a certain way.
D) God.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In a hedonistic utilitarianism, pain and suffering count as

A) having utility.
B) having disutility.
C) having both utility and disutility.
D) nothing-hedonists only consider pleasure and happiness.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Mill thought that the "lower" pleasures tended to have to do with

A) sensual pleasures.
B) more intellectual pleasures.
C) pleasures that are morally bad.
D) None of the above

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Mill suggested that we factor in _______ to best determine an act's overall utility.

A) duration
B) probability
C) quality
D) scope

Question 5

Mill proposed that we assign weights to different kinds of experiences based on what _______ prefer.

A) all members of society
B) people who could appreciate both higher and lower pleasures
C) people only able to appreciate lower pleasures
D) people only able to appreciate higher pleasures

Question 6

Act utilitarianism says that one should only do what will benefit _______ the most.

A) that person
B) others
C) all, including oneself and others
D) one's country

Question 7

Which of the following has to do with how many persons are affected by an action?

A) Duration
B) Probability
C) Quality
D) Scope

Question 8

In assessing duration for act utilitarianism, we look at how

A) long it takes to act a certain way.
B) long an effect lasts.
C) strong or forceful an effect is.
D) long one has been planning the act.

Question 9

The objection of moral perfectionism-that act utilitarianism makes everything a moral issue and insists that it is our duty to always to maximize utility-falls primarily under which criterion?

A) Completeness
B) Explanatory power
C) Moral confirmation
D) Practicability

Question 10

The problem with _______ argues that determining the act with the greatest overall utility can sometimes be very difficult.

A) promises, justice, and rights
B) rules of thumb
C) moral perfectionism
D) calculations

Question 11

It seems unavoidable that act utilitarianism will run into a serious problem with justice and rights as long as it

A) allows majority interests to outweigh minority interests.
B) includes intensity and duration in its calculations.
C) weighs effects in terms of their probabilities.
D) uses rules of thumb to make complicated decisions more easily.

Question 12

The involuntary organ donation story illustrates how act utilitarianism can approve of something that violates peoples' rights. This reveals that act utilitarianism has a problem with

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

Question 13

Act utilitarians often extend scope to include nonhumans, such that

A) any nonhuman belongs within scope.
B) humans and nonhumans are equally relevant to utilitarian calculations.
C) nonhumans experience pain to the same degree (duration and intensity) as humans under the same conditions.
D) nonhumans can adopt act utilitarianism in their own decision-making.

Question 14

One alternative to classical utilitarianism is preference utilitarianism, which

A) is essentially the same as egoism.
B) makes the right act in each case whatever a person prefers to do at the time.
C) only calculates utility for those with whom one has a relationship.
D) treats utility in terms of what people most value.

Question 15

We can make the calculations of act utilitarianism easier by switching from actual to expected utility, which

A) reflects what really happens.
B) reflects what one believes is likely to happen as a result of their action.
C) always reflect different outcomes.
D) takes the burden of calculations off of us completely.

Question 16

Given that that we usually desire pleasure, does it follow that we ought to promote pleasure?

A) Yes, it follows directly.
B) No, it does not follow.
C) In certain cases, depending on the circumstances.
D) There is no way to be sure.

Question 17

Hedonists maintain that values other than pleasure are all

A) instrumental values leading to pleasure.
B) foundational values.
C) foundational values that are less important than pleasure.
D) irrelevant.

Question 18

Which of the following is true regarding the difference between happiness and pleasure?

A) Experiencing pleasure does not ensure or equate to happiness.
B) Pleasure is usually a long-term experience that relates to fulfillment.
C) Happiness is "fleeting"-usually a fairly brief experience.
D) Happiness mainly depends on the senses while pleasure is more a state of mind.

Question 19

_______ has to do with the likelihood of a particular effect resulting from an action.

A) Duration
B) Probability
C) Quality
D) Scope

Question 20

According to Mill, "higher" pleasures

A) should count more than "lower" pleasures.
B) can be experienced universally.
C) are the only valuable pleasures in life.
D) None of the above

Question 21

Act utilitarians argue that the calculation problem can largely be sidestepped. This is because

A) doing calculations are good for everyone.
B) doing calculations results in a "higher" pleasure.
C) we can simply do what we are told is right.
D) we can do what experience shows will usually produce greater overall utility.

Question 22

Act utilitarianism may be correctly labelled

A) objectivist.
B) relativist
C) subjectivist.
D) hedonist.

Question 23

Which of act utilitarianism's difficulties primarily fails moral confirmation?

A) Calculations
B) The quality objection
C) Defining utility
D) Promises, justice and rights

Question 24

Act utilitarians often treat "scope" as including

A) only autonomous humans.
B) only human adults.
C) any being that can experience pain (e.g., is sentient).
D) any living being.

Question 25

Since pleasure does not look very promising as a basis for morality, some consequentialists have tried other utility concepts, such as happiness.

Question 26

If a particular act will affect more individuals than any other act, then utilitarianism says that act is necessarily the right thing to do.

Question 27

For a concept of utility, we need something that is fairly predictable, observable, and measurable.

Question 28

According to act utilitarianism, lying can be wrong in some cases but morally right in other cases.

Question 29

Act utilitarianism defines the morally right act for any situation as the act that produces the greatest overall utility for the person doing the act.

Question 30

Preference utilitarianism is questionable as an ethical theory, since it is possible for people to prefer or want just about anything.