Deck 2: Moral Theory Selections

Question 1

Timmons suggests that many people believe in moral relativism because

A) They believe in tolerating differences.
B) They are sensitive to the descriptive fact of widespread moral disagreement.
C) They realize that some ethical claims seem true in some contexts but not in others.
D) All of the above.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

If moral relativism is true, one troubling implication is that

A) Everyone has to agree about morality.
B) Linguistic communication would be impossible, since everyone means different things even when they use the same words.
C) Many seeming genuine moral disagreements are not in fact so. People are just talking past each other.
D) There are no troubling implications of moral relativism.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

According to Mill, the value of a particular pleasure depends on

A) its quantity alone.
B) its quality alone.
C) both its quantity and its quality.
D) neither its quantity nor its quality.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

According to Mill, the only things desirable as ends are

A) virtuous character traits.
B) satisfactions of prima facie duties.
C) pleasure and freedom from pain.
D) satisfactions of the categorical imperative.

Question 5

One common objection to utilitarianism is that the principle of utility is

A) too complicated.
B) too demanding.
C) too easy to satisfy.
D) none of the above

Question 6

According to Mill, the only evidence it is possible to produce that anything is desirable is that

A) God has deemed it desirable.
B) experts on desirability have deemed it desirable.
C) people do actually desire it.
D) rational insight reveals it to be desirable.

Question 7

Mill thinks that each person desires

A) to do his or her duty.
B) to be virtuous.
C) his or her own happiness.
D) none of the above

Question 8

Mill thinks that if something is desirable, but not desirable as an end, then it must be

A) desirable as a rule.
B) desirable in theory.
C) desirable as a means.
D) none of the above

Question 9

Aquinas's moral theory is a version of

A) consequentialism.
B) natural law theory.
C) rights-based theory.
D) virtue ethics.

Question 10

According to Aquinas, the first precept of natural law is

A) "good is to be done, evil to be avoided."
B) "one ought to do what one will."
C) "one ought to do only what can be done without contradiction."
D) "pleasure is to be sought, pain to be avoided."

Question 11

According to Aquinas, every law is ordained to

A) the truth.
B) human perfection.
C) the common good.
D) individual happiness.

Question 12

According to Aquinas's moral theory, morality is ultimately grounded in

A) agreements made between individuals.
B) pleasure and the absence of pain.
C) facts about human nature.
D) virtue.

Question 13

Which of the following is not an example Aquinas gives of a self-evident proposition?

A) "Every whole is greater than its part."
B) "The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is signed upon us."
C) "Things equal to one and the same are equal to one another."
D) "Man is a rational being."

Question 14

Kant's moral theory is a version of

A) consequentialism.
B) virtue ethics.
C) utilitarianism.
D) none of the above

Question 15

According to Kant, an imperative that represents an action as a necessary means to something that is willed is what kind of imperative?

A) categorical
B) universalizable
C) hypothetical
D) noumenal

Question 16

According to Kant, all imperatives are expressed by the word

A) "want."
B) "ought."
C) "will."
D) "may."

Question 17

Locke can be thought of as accepting a

A) natural law conception of morality.
B) Kantian theory.
C) version of utilitarianism.
D) version of virtue ethics.

Question 18

According to Locke, our natural rights are bestowed on us by

A) nature.
B) God.
C) human psychology.
D) society.

Question 19

Which of the following is not an example of a natural right that Locke uses?

A) the right to life
B) the right to liberty
C) the right to citizenship
D) the right to property

Question 20

Ross's moral theory is a version of

A) consequentialism.
B) the ethics of prime facie duty.
C) Kantian theory.
D) virtue ethics.

Question 21

According to Ross, when our duties conflict with each other we should

A) not do anything because duties cannot actually conflict with each other.
B) use moral judgment to determine which duty should be obeyed.
C) consult authorities instead of relying on our own judgment.
D) wait until the conflict ceases on its own.

Question 22

Ross claims that the essential defect of utilitarianism is that it ignores

A) the value of pleasure.
B) autonomy.
C) epistemological responsibility.
D) the personal character of duty.

Question 23

Which of the following is not a prima facie duty that Ross discusses?

A) the duty to keep promises
B) the duty not to harm others
C) the duty to protect our natural environment
D) the duty of nonmaleficence

Question 24

Ross argues that the existing body of moral convictions of the best people is the cumulative product of

A) the moral reflection of many generations.
B) generations of bias and self-confirmation.
C) ignorance.
D) political discourse.

Question 25

An unjust society, according to John Rawls, can be roughly characterized as any society where

A) some have more goods (e.g., happiness) than others.
B) political power is mostly given to the wealthy and upper class.
C) there are inequalities that are not to the benefit of all.
D) liberty is restricted to those who have not earned it.

Question 26

What information is available to occupants within Rawls's original position?

A) knowledge of how one is talented compared to others
B) knowledge of one's social status
C) knowledge of one's abilities, such as intelligence, strength, and so on
D) none of the above

Question 27

The main purpose of the veil of ignorance in Rawls's theory of justice is to

A) prevent people in the original position from making rational decisions about guiding social principles.
B) prevent people in the original position from selecting principles that favor their particular positions .
C) guarantee that people in the original position do not form alliances with others.
D) ensure that everyone in the original position is aware of his or her own conception of the good.

Question 28

Aristotle's moral theory is a version of

A) virtue ethics.
B) consequentialism.
C) rights-based theory.
D) utilitarianism.

Question 29

Aristotle defines virtue as

A) the ability to control one's anger.
B) a disposition to avoid extremes in feeling and action.
C) intellectual knowledge.
D) the capacity to ascertain what God would desire.

Question 30

Which of the following is an example of a virtue?

A) pleasure
B) hunger
C) desire
D) courage

Question 31

According to Aristotle, if something has a function, then its good depends on

A) its function.
B) its substance.
C) our beliefs about it.
D) cultural practices.

Question 32

Aristotle claims that a state of character arises from the repetition of similar

A) beliefs.
B) relationships.
C) activities.
D) opinions.

Question 33

According to Collins, one key claim of care ethics is that

A) Deliberation should include sympathy and direct attendance to concrete particulars.
B) Deliberation should only include sympathy and direct attendance to concrete particulars.
C) Deliberation should only include general principles and exclude considerations of sympathy.
D) Deliberation should include sympathy but not consider concrete particulars.

Question 34

One objection to care ethics is that it seems to imply that we are responsible for our attitudes, even though they seem not to be under our voluntary control. Collins responds by arguing that

A) caring attitudes are not moral attitudes at all.
B) we can often bring ourselves to have attitudes of care indirectly
C) when we fail to have attitudes of care this means that no caring attitudes were required of us towards some person
D) Collins agrees with the objection.

Question 35

Collins suggests that the moral value of caring actions comes from

A) the intrinsic value of caring attitudes which motivate caring actions.
B) how well any caring actions fulfills the recipient's interests and the strength of one's intention to fulfill the recipient's interest.
C) the degree to which those actions produces the greatest amount of happiness in the recipient of care.
D) the non-instrumental value of caring actions as manifestations of intrinsic goods for person like love and forgiveness.

Question 36

Timmons argues in favor of cultural moral relativism.

Question 37

According to Timmons, it is perfectly alright to argue against moral relativism on the basis of certain moral convictions.

Question 38

Mill believes that utilitarianism is a doctrine worthy only of swine.

Question 39

According to Mill, it's compatible with the principle of utility that some kinds of pleasure are more desirable than others.

Question 40

Mill thinks that the rightness of an act depends on the motive from which it's done.

Question 41

According to Mill, if happiness were not acknowledged to be an end, then nothing could ever convince any person that it was so.

Question 42

Aquinas argues that all the precepts of the natural law follow from a first precept.

Question 43

Aquinas denies that the first precept of the natural law is known by all.

Question 44

Aquinas denies that the conclusions that follow from the first common principles of natural law are known by all.

Question 45

According to Kant, breaking a promise is not wrong so long as no one is harmed by breaking that promise.

Question 46

Kant argues that only a good will can be conceived of as good without qualification.

Question 47

Kant maintains that the value of a good will is determined entirely by its effects on others.

Question 48

Kant argues that all imperatives command either hypothetically or categorically.

Question 49

Locke's view is best understood as a form of utilitarianism.

Question 50

Ross argues that there is a single moral principle that can be used to derive all specific moral obligations.

Question 51

According to Ross, if we have a prima facie duty to do something, then we necessarily ought to do it (i.e., we necessarily have an actual or proper duty to do it).

Question 52

Ross argues that our duties are highly impersonal in nature; that is, they do not depend on our relationships to others.

Question 53

John Rawls argues that a just society must be one in which there are no inequalities.

Question 54

Rawls proposes a consequentialist theory of justice.

Question 55

According to Rawls, the principles of justice would be chosen by free, rational, and altruistic persons who seek to advance the interests of others for their own sake.

Question 56

Aristotle claims that the good for human beings is friendship.

Question 57

According to Aristotle, happiness is complete.

Question 58

Aristotle argues that virtue is a feeling.

Question 59

Care ethics is a complete normative ethical theory.

Question 60

Collins argues that only some caring attitudes are not morally valuable.

Question 61

If moral relativism is true, then any time someone disagrees with the moral norms of her culture, she must be making a_________.

Question 62

Timmons claims that moral relativism is often confused with the _________, the idea that the rightness or wrongness of an action partially depends on non-moral facts about a specific context.

Question 63

Timmons argues that if there are objective moral norms, then _________ is one of them. This undercuts the idea that only relativism "all the way down" can respect difference.

Question 64

A common objection to the view that life has no higher end than pleasure (i.e., Mill's utilitarianism) is that it's a doctrine worthy only of _________.

Question 65

The Greatest Happiness principle says that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote _________.

Question 66

For Mill, _________ and freedom from pain are the only things desirable as ends.

Question 67

For Mill, bodily pleasures are inferior to (i.e., less valuable than) _________ pleasures.

Question 68

According to Aquinas, _________ law is that part of God's eternal law that concerns how human beings ought to conduct themselves.

Question 69

According to Aquinas, a(n) _________ proposition is one in which its subject contains the notion of its predicate.

Question 70

Aquinas claims that law is nothing else but a dictate of _________ reason.

Question 71

According to Aquinas, the first indemonstrable principle is that the same thing cannot be affirmed and _________ at the same time.

Question 72

Kant's fundamental principle of morality is known as the _________.

Question 73

One of Kant's formulations of his fundamental principle of morality presents appeals to the principle: "Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a _________ law."

Question 74

One of Kant's formulations of his fundamental principle of morality states that rational nature exists as a(n) _________ in itself.

Question 75

According to Locke, all men are subject to the _________ of nature.

Question 76

Locke maintains that "in the state of nature everyone has the _________ power of the law of nature."

Question 77

According to Locke, all men are naturally in a state of perfect _________.

Question 78

The view that there is a plurality of irreducible moral rules that are basic in moral thought is known as moral _________.

Question 79

Ross claims that the moral convictions of thoughtful and well-educated people are the _________ of ethics.

Question 80

According to John Rawls, the difference principle expresses a conception of _________ because it is a principle of mutual benefit.