Deck 22: Kierkegaard and Marx: Two Ways to Correct Hegel

Question 1

An ethical hedonist will

A) favor the pleasures of others over his or her own.
B) think that we all, always, pursue pleasure over anything else.
C) disdain pleasure in favor of ethical correctness.
D) count the pleasures of all as equally important.

Answer 1

count the pleasures of all as equally important.

Question 2

Bentham's calculus of utility

A) was designed to help legislators write good laws.
B) relies on Newton's calculus for its structure.
C) regards the intensity of a pain as more important than the duration of a pleasure.
D) includes considerations of the quality of pleasures, as determined by the majority of those who have experienced them.

Answer 2

was designed to help legislators write good laws.

Question 3

The basic idea of consequentialism is that

A) all consequences of a given act are equally important in trying to decide whether to do that act or not.
B) we should look to the consequences when judging the moral rightness of an act.
C) we all have our own ideas about the consequences of our acts, so morality will be different for everyone.
D) happiness doesn't count as much as consequences.

Answer 3

we should look to the consequences when judging the moral rightness of an act.

Question 4

In replying to objections that have been raised to utilitarianism, Mill states that

A) it is better to be a fool satisfied than a Socrates dissatisfied, for the fool experiences the most pleasure.
B) happiness for all is a good goal, since striving for it is the way to get the most happiness for yourself.
C) it is not impractical, since we don't need to calculate the consequences of every act at the time of doing it.
D) everything should be done from the motive of happiness for all.

Question 5

Regarding justice, Mill says that

A) rules of justice have particular importance because they deal with something very important to us: Our security.
B) it is always possible that the consequences of an act can be so beneficial that they will outweigh considerations of justice.
C) justice is of such a pleasurable quality as to outweigh any quantitative considerations about pleasure.
D) justice is godly, and so utilitarianism is not opposed to it.

Question 6

Wollstonecraft thinks that women in her day

A) deserve what they have gotten.
B) have deliberately been treated in such a way as to make them weak, meddlesome, and cunning.
C) are superior to men in virtue.
D) should engage in armed rebellion, if necessary, to attain their rights.

Question 7

Explain the principle of utility. What makes this a moral principle, rather than just a piece of prudential or self-interested advice?

Question 8

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that to take pleasure as a standard for morality is to espouse a morality for pigs?

Question 9

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that it makes it impossible to understand admiration for people who act self-sacrificially?

Question 10

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that the general happiness is too high a standard?

Question 11

What problem is justice thought to raise for the utilitarians? How does Mill argue that there is, in the last analysis, no conflict between justice and utility?

Question 12

What general features of an action determine whether it is morally right or wrong? Contrast this utilitarian view with Kant's account of what makes actions right or wrong.

Question 13

What bad consequences do Wollstonecraft and Mill see flowing from the differential treatment of women?

Question 14

Compare Kantian ethics with the ethics of utilitarianism, pointing out both similarities and differences.

Question 15

Would a Kantian or a utilitarian be the best friend of women's rights? Explain your answer in some detail.