Deck 1: Moral Norms

Question 1

The set of universal norms shared by all persons committed to morality is called

A) Metaethics
B) Descriptive ethics
C) Common morality
D) General normative ethics

Answer 1

C

Question 2

According to Beauchamp and Childress, the implementation of moral principles and rules into public policy must take account of all of the following except:

A) Cultural pluralism
B) Feasibility
C) Pertinent legal requirements
D) Profitability for professionals

Answer 2

D

Question 3

The term "_____________" refers to norms about right and wrong human conduct that are so widely shared that they form a stable social compact.

A) Opinions
B) Ethics
C) Morality
D) Virtue

Answer 3

C

Question 4

The following statement is an example of which type of ethics: "When conducting nontherapeutic experimental research, it is of the utmost importance that voluntary informed consent is obtained."

A) Metaethics
B) Virtue ethics
C) Practical ethics
D) Descriptive ethics

Question 5

The following statement is an example of which type of ethics: "Over the last half-century, more relative weight has increasingly been given to the moral norm of respect for patient autonomy."

A) Metaethics
B) Virtue ethics
C) Practical ethics
D) Descriptive ethics

Question 6

A conflict between moral requirements and nonmoral factors, such as self-interest, can be described as a:

A) Moral dilemma
B) Practical dilemma
C) Prisoner's dilemma
D) Euthypro's dilemma

Question 7

Circumstances in which moral obligations demand or appear to demand that a person adopt each of two (or more) alternative but incompatible actions are referred to as:

A) Moral dilemma
B) Practical dilemma
C) Prisoner's dilemma
D) Gridlock

Question 8

Which of the following is not a moral principle named by Beauchamp and Childress?

A) Beneficence
B) Respect for autonomy
C) Justice
D) Efficiency

Question 9

The moral principle concerned with avoiding the causation of harm is called:

A) Justice
B) Nonmaleficence
C) Beneficence
D) Avoidance

Question 10

The moral principle concerned with the fair distribution of benefits, risks, and costs is called:

A) Justice
B) Autonomy
C) Beneficence
D) Nonmaleficence

Question 11

In arguing that the physician's primary obligations are determined by a consideration of nonmaleficence and beneficence, Thomas Percival understated the importance of:

A) The virtues of the physician
B) Specifying moral norms
C) Public policy
D) The principles of respect for autonomy and distributive justice

Question 12

According to Beauchamp and Childress, the once-honorific sense of profession is now better reflected in the term:

A) Career
B) Learned profession
C) Job
D) Discipline

Question 13

A(n) _______________ obligation must be fulfilled unless it conflicts with an equal or stronger obligation.

A) Absolute
B) Actual
C) Fiduciary
D) Prima facie

Question 14

When moral norms conflict, according to Beauchamp and Childress, which of the following norms should take priority?

A) Justice
B) Nonmaleficence
C) Respect for autonomy
D) None of the above

Question 15

The process of deliberation and judgment about relative weights and strengths of moral norms in order to determine which moral norms should prevail in a particular situation is called:

A) Balancing
B) Specification
C) Codification
D) Policymaking

Question 16

Which of the following is an example, offered by Beauchamp and Childress, of a moral norm that is virtually absolute and in need of no further specification?

A) Put patients first.
B) Nonmaleficence
C) Prohibition of cruelty that involves unnecessary pain and suffering
D) Respect for autonomy

Question 17

Agents who are unable to fulfill all prima facie moral norms in a given situation may experience _________________, indicating the existence of a continued obligation.

A) Euphoria
B) Angst
C) Moral regret or residue
D) Confusion

Question 18

Which of the following is not a condition that must be met to justify infringing one prima facie norm in order to adhere to another?

A) All negative effects of the infringement must be minimized.
B) All affected parties must be treated impartially.
C) The lowest level of infringement has been selected.
D) The patient must believe the infringement to be necessary.

Question 19

The ethical approach outlined in Chapter 1 is commonly referred to as _____________.

A) the Childress method
B) Principlism
C) Bioethical realism
D) Casuistry

Question 20

When moral disagreements arise, a moral agent can-and usually should:

A) Persuade others at all costs
B) Not attempt to persuade others
C) Defend his or her decision without disparaging or reproaching others who reach different decisions
D) Abandon previously held beliefs

Question 21

The Hippocratic tradition has been sufficient to meet the ethical challenges of biological and health sciences in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

Question 22

According to B&C's theory of common morality, all moral norms are universally shared or universally valid.

Question 23

Descriptive ethics is concerned with what ethically ought to be the case.

Question 24

Moral ideals, such as charitable beneficence, are morally praiseworthy but not required of all persons in all cases.

Question 25

Special roles and relationships in medicine require moral rules that other professions may not need.

Question 26

All laws constitute public policies, but not all public policies are laws.

Question 27

If an act is morally right (or wrong), the corresponding law or policy must be morally right (or wrong).

Question 28

In a practical dilemma, moral reasons should always outweigh nonmoral (or personal) reasons.

Question 29

Conflicts between moral principles can sometimes produce irresolvable moral dilemmas.

Question 30

All moral rules are, in principle, subject to specification.

Question 31

According to Beauchamp and Childress, balancing moral norms is essentially the same thing as specification of moral norms.

Question 32

Balancing is a matter of spontaneous, unreflective intuition without reasons.

Question 33

If the proper conditions are met, prima facie moral norms may be justifiably overridden.

Question 34

Morally conscientious persons can justifiably disagree over moral priorities in circumstances of a contingent conflict of norms.

Question 35

___________ is a generic term covering several different ways of understanding and examining the moral life.

Question 36

_____________ ethics, in contrast to theoretical ethics, employs general concepts and norms to address particular problems.

Question 37

The nonnormative, factual investigation of moral beliefs and conduct (i.e., how people reason and act) is called _____________ ethics.

Question 38

____________ is the type of nonnormative ethics that involves analysis of the language, concepts, and methods of reasoning in normative ethics.

Question 39

The term "________ __________" refers to a set of normative, enforceable guidelines accepted by an official public body, such as an agency of government or a legislature, to govern a particular area of conduct.

Question 40

A member of a ______________ is often expected to adhere to informal moral guidelines or codes of ethics.

Question 41

A ___________ ____________ is a circumstance in which moral obligations demand or appear to demand that a person adopt each of two (or more) alternative but incompatible actions, such that the person cannot perform all the required actions.
b. dilemma

Question 42

The ____________ ____________ is a set of universal norms shared by all persons committed to morality.
b. morality

Question 43

The principle of __________ is the moral norm of avoiding the causation of harm.

Question 44

The principle of __________ refers to a group of moral norms for fair distribution of benefits, risks, and costs.

Question 45

Principles and rules are both norms of obligation, but (of the two) ________ are more specific in content and restricted in scope.

Question 46

In genuine moral dilemmas, __________ _________ occurs because a prima facie obligation does not simply disappear when overridden.

Question 47

______________ is concerned primarily with the relative weights and strengths of different moral norms, whereas ________________ is concerned primarily with reducing the indeterminacy of abstract norms and generating rules with action-guiding content by narrowing the scope of moral norms.

Question 48

The ethical approach outlined in this chapter is now commonly called ____________.