Deck 2: Good and Evil

Question 1

The central question raised by Ivan Karamazov is:

A) Why is there something rather than nothing?
B) What is evil?
C) How could a good God permit evil?
D) What is religion for?

Answer 1

C

Question 2

One of the three premises involved in the traditional formulation of the problem of evil is

A) God is evil.
B) God is finite.
C) evil does not exist.
D) God is perfectly good.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

One of the three premises involved in the traditional formulation of the problem of evil is

A) God is not evil.
B) God is finite.
C) God is all-knowing.
D) God is not perfect.

Answer 3

God is all-knowing.

Question 4

Sophie's predicament in which she must choose among evils is an example of

A) utilitarian calculation.
B) a classic moral dilemma.
C) a simple choice.
D) game theory.

Question 5

Hallie believes that institutionalized cruelty is

A) not as bad as personal cruelty.
B) unintentional.
C) the worst kind of cruelty.
D) excusable.

Question 6

One of the three premises involved in the traditional formulation of the problem of evil is

A) God is evil.
B) God is all-powerful.
C) God is not good.
D) God is not perfect.

Question 7

According to Foot, moral values are derived from

A) selfishness.
B) the nature of things.
C) utilitarian considerations.
D) love.

Question 8

According to Foot, the way things naturally are tells us

A) nothing about morality.
B) that the world is essentially evil.
C) the way things should be.
D) humans are unnatural.

Question 9

Ivan Karamazov believes that the problem of evil

A) is resolved in an afterlife.
B) cannot be articulated.
C) is easily solved.
D) has no solution.

Question 10

According to Taylor, _______ rules and practices either promote cooperation toward meeting our desires or resolve interpersonal conflict.

A) deontological
B) transcendent
C) bad
D) right

Question 11

Ivan Karamazov explains that he cannot accept God because of

A) lack of evidence for the resurrection.
B) his brother's beliefs.
C) the problem of other minds.
D) the problem of evil.

Question 12

Philip Hallie writes that cruelty

A) cannot be defeated.
B) can be defeated.
C) can be defeated by evil.
D) is personal, not institutional.

Question 13

Hallie believes that institutional cruelty is

A) not really cruelty.
B) a thing of the past.
C) the subtlest kind of cruelty.
D) the kindest kind of cruelty.

Question 14

Hallie says that kindness could be the ultimate

A) good.
B) victim.
C) love.
D) cruelty.

Question 15

For Hallie, the ultimate embodiment of goodness in opposition to cruelty is the people of

A) Warsaw
B) Massachusetts
C) Le Chambon
D) Paris

Question 16

For Hallie,

A) there is only cruelty in the world.
B) cruelty is a pathway to goodness.
C) there is goodness in the world.
D) there is no fact of the matter regarding evil.

Question 17

Hallie states that one of the reasons institutional cruelty exists and persists is because people believe that

A) individuals count.
B) individuals can do nothing.
C) love conquers all.
D) victims are real people.

Question 18

Claggart hates Billy Budd because Billy is

A) hypocritical.
B) evil.
C) powerful.
D) noble.

Question 19

Plato and religious theories have a common thesis about the notion of good: that good is

A) transcendent.
B) concrete.
C) nonexistent.
D) rare.

Question 20

To say that good is transcendent is to say that it has a source beyond the

A) theoretical.
B) supernatural.
C) divine.
D) empirical.

Question 21

For transcendentalists, evil is

A) preternatural.
B) ordinary.
C) common.
D) to be expected.

Question 22

The third-century Manicheans and Zoroastrians believed that good and evil were

A) to be expected.
B) always in conflict.
C) harmonizing.
D) in balance.

Question 23

The hedonist tradition identifies the good with pleasure and evil with

A) the devil.
B) pain and suffering.
C) god.
D) conflict.

Question 24

Foot says that goodness is derived from God's commands.

Question 25

In Billy Budd, Billy is a symbol of evil.

Question 26

Foot believes that evil does not exist.

Question 27

Richard Taylor argues that good and evil are transcendental realities.

Question 28

Taylor thinks that if we had no desires, good and evil would not exist.

Question 29

Taylor claims that humans are basically rational beings.

Question 30

Billy Budd intended to kill Claggart

Question 31

Ivan Karamazov is almost as religious as his brother.

Question 32

Ivan Karamazov believes there is no problem of evil.

Question 33

The three premises in the argument regarding the problem of evil are mutually incompatible.

Question 34

In Sophie's Choice, Sophie is a symbol of evil.

Question 35

The people of Le Chambon saved thousands of Jews.

Question 36

Richard Taylor believes that humans are basically conative beings.

Question 37

The third-century Manicheans and Zoroastrians believed that good and evil were always in conflict.

Question 38

For many people, the hedonist account of good and evil lacks sufficient explanatory power.

Question 39

For transcendentalists, evil is easy to explain.

Question 40

In the hedonist account, evil is merely a problem of socializing human beings to take others into due consideration.

Question 41

Normally, we think that one must intend to kill a victim before they can be guilty of murder, as opposed to involuntary manslaughter. But Billy Budd never intended to kill Claggart. Should he have been charged with murder?

Question 42

Why did Captain Vere take the stance he did against Billy? Was he concerned with the deterrent effect an execution would have at a time when mutiny was a serious problem, or did he think he was bound to carry out the letter of the law? What should he have done? Why?

Question 43

Perhaps the most interesting thing about Billy Budd is the stark contrast between Claggart and Billy. What are some of the moral lessons we may learn from this contrast and how the two characters encounter one another?

Question 44

Do you think that the existence of enormous evil, such as Ivan portrays in Why Is There Evil?, counts against the existence of God? Explain why or why not.

Question 45

Sophie's Choice presents a classic moral dilemma in which both options are bad: either actively condemn one of your children to death, or, by refusing to choose, have both killed. What should Sophie have done? What would you do? Why?

Question 46

What does Hallie mean when he says that "philosophy is personal; it is closer to literature and history than it is to the exact sciences?"

Question 47

How does Hallie characterize cruelty? Why does he think that institutionalized cruelty is the worst kind of cruelty?

Question 48

Explain Hallie's notion of power relations and how they bear on the reality of cruelty.

Question 49

Reflect on the story of the people of Le Chambon. What were their motives? What lessons can we learn from them?

Question 50

How does Hallie use this story to illustrate the antidote to cruelty? Compare the letter from Massachusetts with the statement of the woman in Minneapolis: "The Holocaust was storm, lightning, thunder, wind, rain, yes. And Le Chambon was the rainbow."

Question 51

What is Foot's central point about the source of morality?

Question 52

In Foot's view, what does nature have to do with morality?

Question 53

What do you make of the parable of God's death? What is its significance for ethics?

Question 54

Examine Taylor's theory of good and evil and right and wrong. First, note that he claims that humans are basically conative beings-moved by will and desire-rather than rational beings. Do you agree with this? What role does he think reason plays in life?

Question 55

Outline the four stages in Taylor's thought process, from a universe without conscious beings to his final stage. Where do good and evil enter in? Where do right and wrong enter in? How are the two categories related to each other? Do you agree with Taylor's analysis? Explain your answer.

Question 56

What, according to Taylor, is the purpose of rules? Give an example of a rule to illustrate his point. Do you find his analysis convincing? Explain your answer.

Question 57

Are some rules better than others?

Question 58

Discuss the differences between hedonist and transcendentalist accounts of evil. Which do you find more convincing? Explain.