Deck 1: What Is the Purpose of Morality

Question 1

Golding's Lord of the Flies suggests that morality is

A) unnecessary.
B) pointless.
C) necessary.
D) mystical.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Golding shows that human nature is

A) noble.
B) rule-oriented.
C) nonexistent.
D) depraved.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to Pojman, Lord of the Flies portrays a

A) Victorian utopia.
B) dystopia.
C) Christian Eden.
D) microcosm of civilization.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The title Lord of the Flies refers to

A) meat.
B) God.
C) the devil.
D) moral codes.

Question 5

Thomas Hobbes believed that human beings always act out of

A) altruism.
B) perceived self-interest.
C) pleasure.
D) rational calculation.

Question 6

Hobbes's theory of morality is

A) utilitarian.
B) Kantian.
C) Contractarian.
D) religious.

Question 7

According to Pojman, morality is a necessary condition for

A) the divine right of monarchs.
B) the state of nature.
C) evil.
D) happiness.

Question 8

Hobbes developed a moral and political theory based on

A) moral intuitionism.
B) humankind's essential goodness.
C) psychological altruism.
D) psychological egoism.

Question 9

In Lord of the Flies, the defects of society are traced back to defects in

A) laws.
B) human nature.
C) religion.
D) education.

Question 10

According to Hobbes, in physical and mental abilities, nature has made us basically

A) equal.
B) unequal.
C) powerless.
D) superior.

Question 11

Hobbes says that we exchange some of our liberty for

A) communal life.
B) democracy.
C) a social contract.
D) a parliament.

Question 12

During the English civil wars, Hobbes supported

A) Oliver Cromwell.
B) Parliament.
C) Spain.
D) The Royalists.

Question 13

Hobbes claimed all of the following except

A) life in a state of nature is brutish and short.
B) we need an enforceable set of rules.
C) a pure state of nature never existed.
D) we need a Leviathan.

Question 14

Hobbes found that a principal cause of conflict among people is

A) covenants.
B) competition.
C) empathy.
D) reason.

Question 15

For Pojman, a key purpose of morality is to promote

A) survival of the fittest.
B) utilitarian goals.
C) categorical imperatives.
D) human flourishing.

Question 16

According to Hobbes, whenever and wherever people live without a common power to keep them all in awe, there is

A) negotiation.
B) war.
C) democracy.
D) freedom.

Question 17

The form of government favored by Hobbes is

A) democratic.
B) Marxist.
C) divinely appointed.
D) authoritarian.

Question 18

Pojman writes that one of the purposes of morality is to ameliorate human suffering.

Question 19

Pojman believes that one of the purposes of morality is to provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number.

Question 20

Hobbes believed in the divine right of monarchs.

Question 21

Hobbes uses the term Leviathan to refer to democratic government.

Question 22

Hobbes writes that in a state of nature, life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.

Question 23

Hobbes declares that under the law of nature, people need not perform their covenants.

Question 24

Pojman agrees with Hobbes that people are self-interested egoists.

Question 25

Hobbes thought that only an absolute sovereign could establish or ensure peace and civil society.

Question 26

Golding suggests that only Christian morality can save people from deplorable behavior.

Question 27

Pojman thinks that morality may someday be unnecessary.

Question 28

Golding's allegory is a response to a Victorian British children's classic, The Coral Island.

Question 29

The Lord of the Flies recounts an actual event.

Question 30

Hobbes believes that morality is based on God's commandments.

Question 31

Hobbes's morality theory is based on natural affection.

Question 32

In the seventeenth century, philosophers like Hobbes defied tradition by defending social contract theory.

Question 33

Pojman believes in the divine right of monarchs.

Question 34

Hobbes contends that living without a social contract would be a horrific nightmare of existence.

Question 35

Hobbes said that "fear and I were born twins together."

Question 36

Pojman thinks we need a social contract to fulfill God's plan.

Question 37

Golding's story symbolizes the triumph of morality and civilization over brutish desires.

Question 38

What is the main idea about morality that you get out of the selection from Lord of the Flies?

Question 39

Piggy tells Ralph that he is going to Jack to order him to return his glasses. "I don't ask for my glasses back as a favor. . . but because what's right's right. Give me my glasses. . . You got to." What is Piggy presupposing about the situation and about the significance of morality? What is Jack's response? How does he further respond upon being called a thief? Why is he infuriated by that charge?

Question 40

Compare Ralph's understanding of morality with Piggy's and Jack's. How do they exhibit different moral positions?

Question 41

What, if anything, is the significance of the conch and how do you interpret its destruction?

Question 42

What, according to Pojman, is the main message of Lord of the Flies? Do you agree? Explain.

Question 43

How does Pojman relate Golding's novel to Hobbes's account of morality?

Question 44

Discuss Pojman's five purposes of morality. Do you agree morality has all of these purposes? If not, explain. Can you think of other purposes it has?

Question 45

Hobbes wrote, "The utility of morality and civil philosophy is to be estimated, not so much by the commodities we have by knowing these sciences, as by the calamities we receive from not knowing them." What does he mean by this, and does the selection illustrate it?

Question 46

Is Hobbes's view of human nature accurate? Do we always act out of the motivations of fear and distrust? Are people entirely self-interested egoists? Is psychological egoism, the view that we always do what we perceive to be in our best interest, too bleak and one-sided?

Question 47

Hobbes thought that only an absolute sovereign could establish or ensure peace and civil society. Is he correct? What would his estimation of democracy be? Could democratic society make use of his analysis? How would democrats modify Hobbes's theory?

Question 48

David Hume criticized the idea that contract theories provide a justification of political authority. First of all, there is no evidence of an original contract ever being made and, second, even if our ancestors did sign an original contract, why should that give us any reason for obeying the laws of the state? Even as we are not bound by the marriage or business contracts of our ancestors, why should we be obligated by their political contracts?