Deck 13: Applied Ethics: A Sampler

Question 1

According to you, which are the two strongest arguments in favor of abortion rights and the two strongest pro-life arguments?

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

Explain the categories of euthanasia: voluntary, involuntary, nonvoluntary, active, and passive. Why would euthanasia be considered a negative right? How might it be considered a positive right?

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

Would you approve of media censorship under certain circumstances?

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

Outline the criteria for capital punishment in the United States.

Question 5

Discuss some retentionist arguments related to deterrence. How do abolitionists counter these arguments?

Question 6

Why does Richard T. de George think we experience outrage when we learn that a businessman has acted immorally? Can you think of an alternative reason for why we might feel outrage?

Question 7

Explain John Locke's view on property rights, and contrast it with Karl Marx's view. Which viewpoint do you think has more relevance in the twenty-first century?

Question 8

Examine the doctrine of just war. Are its points clear and unambiguous?

Question 9

Explain the term "patriotism" by taking into account the events that occurred on September 11, 2001.

Question 10

Explain the view that if a being can suffer, then it has interests, and if it has interests, then it should have at least some moral standing. Apply this to the issue of rights for the great apes and discuss whether the suggestion of rights for the nonhuman great apes has merit.

Question 11

Discuss the case of Kanzi, a chimpanzee who communicates with the help of a lexigram.

Question 12

Identify your viewpoint on animal rights and present your argument in a way that responds to at least one popular opposing view.

Question 13

Define retentionism and abolitionism.

Question 14

How has the advent of twenty-four-hour cable news, the Internet, and YouTube changed how news is portrayed today?

Question 15

Explain why Gottlieb does not believe that adding manpower to the FDA would properly address its shortcomings. What does he see as a more promising action?

Question 16

Discuss the debates surrounding climate change. How is "flight shaming" related to this?

Question 17

Should we take Niven's story "The Jigsaw Man" seriously?

Question 18

Identify what you think is the strongest argument in opposition to your own view on the death penalty. How would you respond in defense of your position?

Question 19

Comment on the following statement: The character of David Gale ( The Life of David Gale) might be called a liberal hypocrite guilty of sexual harassment and other crimes, but at least, he is authentic.

Question 20

Undertake the project of telling your own story as you would tell it (1) in a job interview, (2) to a journalist interviewing you, (3) to a love interest, and (4) as a fairy tale. Notice the different styles you employ. Does the "moral of your story" change as you tell it to a different audience?

Question 21

Does creating a narrative of a person's life story shed light on the reasons behind the choices he or she has made? Provide reasons for your answer.

Question 22

Explain what narrative time is with an example.

Question 23

According to Saint Augustine, at what stage of development does the human soul first become present to us?

A) language/thought
B) birth
C) conception
D) feeling/sensation

Question 24

What does the term "homunculus" stand for?

A) It means a tiny person.
B) It means children raised by their mother's brother.
C) It is a philosophical term that means personhood.
D) It is an older term for humongous.

Question 25

Mary Ann Warren listed five criteria for personhood. Identify the one that is NOT on the list.

A) consciousness and the ability to feel pain
B) capacity for reason
C) emotional bonding with other beings of its own kind
D) self-awareness

Question 26

There are four major distinctions within the concept of euthanasia. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) voluntary
B) involuntary
C) active
D) inactive

Question 27

There are four major arguments in favor of euthanasia. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) It should be the right of a person to decide the manner and time of his or her own death.
B) It should be a person's right to avoid otherwise inevitable suffering.
C) We help our pets when their lives are at an end and they are facing severe pain, and it should be allowed for our human loved ones as well.
D) Financial pressures might be brought to bear on a terminally ill family member whose insurance is about to run out.

Question 28

If a terminally ill patient refuses nourishment/medicine and dies of starvation/dehydration, it is called

A) assisted suicide.
B) passive voluntary euthanasia.
C) involuntary mercy killing.
D) managed care.

Question 29

How did the landmark decision by the Supreme Court in 1972 make abortion on demand a possibility for American women?

A) It made the technology needed to carry out abortions economical and easily accessible to every woman.
B) It made the decision to seek abortion within the first trimester a matter of privacy for pregnant women.
C) It made it mandatory for state governments to open abortion clinics in every county.
D) It made abortions legal for the first time in the history of the United States.

Question 30

Who among the following proposed Entitlement Theory in business ethics?

A) John Rawls
B) Robert Nozick
C) Deborah Tannen
D) Karl Marx

Question 31

Just war theory outlines several rules that have to be in place to call a war just. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) Going to war has to be the last resort.
B) There has to be a just cause.
C) The intention must be to defend rights, not for other reasons.
D) The person who declares war must have God on his side.

Question 32

The term "discrimination" in just war theory means

A) that one must distinguish between soldiers and civilians.
B) that it is not immoral to discriminate against the enemy.
C) that only men can be soldiers, not women.
D) that one must distinguish between enemy's soldiers and one's own soldiers.

Question 33

Which of the following individuals is a proponent of contractarianism?

A) Joel Feinberg
B) Peter Singer
C) Carl Cohen
D) Christopher Stone

Question 34

What is Christopher Stone's argument?

A) that the death penalty should be abolished
B) that animals should have rights only if they can understand duties
C) that trees and other environmental features should have the possibility of moral standing
D) that apes should be protected and given rights

Question 35

There are three possible answers to a slippery slope argument. Which of the following is NOT one of them?

A) You must abandon your original idea because of its ludicrous consequences.
B) You must agree that the consequences should be taken seriously.
C) You must draw the line between one part of the slope and another.
D) You must walk away from an argument you cannot win.

Question 36

Which of the following approaches cannot support retentionism?

A) rehabilitation
B) incapacitation
C) deterrence
D) retribution

Question 37

Which of the following is a retentionist argument?

A) The death penalty is an uncivilized and cruel form of punishment.
B) Executions are nothing but state-sanctioned murder.
C) According to lex talionis, the only proper penalty for murder is retribution.
D) You cannot compensate a wrongly convicted person if he or she has been executed.

Question 38

According to Immanuel Kant, if a society decides to disband but still has people waiting on death row, then the last action of that society should be to

A) execute the convicts.
B) free the convicts.
C) keep the convicts in prison without the possibility of parole.
D) make the convicts undergo DNA tests.

Question 39

Which of the following is true of telling our own story?

A) We forgo narrative identity.
B) We assume causality.
C) We tend to remember only the beginning.
D) We always know how it ends.

Question 40

According to Belsey and Chadwick, which of the following is true of a virtuous journalist?

A) The term "virtuous journalist" is an oxymoron.
B) A virtuous journalist will display a commitment to many virtues, including humor.
C) A virtuous journalist has a disposition to act virtuously in novel situations rather than in familiar situations.
D) The concept of virtuous journalist is overrated.

Question 41

Which of the following is true of the Declaration on Great Apes?

A) It states that members of the community of equals may not be killed even for self-defense.
B) It asserts that some animals have the capacity to recognize fairness and act on it.
C) It states that members of the community of equals are not to be arbitrarily deprived of their liberty.
D) It asserts that animals have a form of reason, and when they hurt one another or humans, they do it on purpose.

Question 42

Which of the following is true according to John Rawls?

A) A liberal society cannot justly require its citizens to fight in order to gain economic wealth or to acquire natural resources.
B) To trespass on citizens' liberty by conscription may not be done even on a liberal political conception for the sake of liberty.
C) When a liberal society engages in war in self-defense, it does so to acquire property on behalf of its citizens.
D) Every state has a right to war in the pursuit of its rational interests.

Question 43

Which of the following is the most prevailing retentionist view among laypeople?

A) deterrence
B) vengeance
C) incapacitation
D) rehabilitation

Question 44

How has capital punishment criteria changed in the United States since 1976?

A) The death penalty has become common even for certain crimes that are not rare.
B) Certain crimes have been made punishable by death across the nation.
C) A moratorium on the death penalty has been placed since that year.
D) Individual states have been able to decide whether they want to make certain crimes punishable by death.

Question 45

In Chapter 13, there is a story about a man who wished for a life like in the movies and got it. What was his experience?

A) He was incapable of dying, like a cartoon figure.
B) He found himself to be a victim in a horror movie.
C) He lived his whole life in two hours.
D) He could hear corresponding background narration for all the events in his life.

Question 46

What does a person imply when he or she says that we are temporal creatures?

A) We are on this earth only for a short time.
B) We are endowed with temporal lobes.
C) We have a hard time controlling our emotions.
D) We remember the past and anticipate the future.

Question 47

Chapter 13 mentions three key features connected with the undertaking of telling one's own story. Which one shouldn't be on the list?

A) The story is selective.
B) The story is incomplete.
C) The story is fictional to some extent.
D) The story is always true.

Question 48

What is narrative time?

A) the time it takes to tell a story
B) the time period in which a historical or contemporary novel is set
C) the age of oral storytelling before writing was invented
D) the compressed time experience of a novel or a film

Question 49

Which of the following arguments may a retentionist use to counter an advocate of keeping murderers in prison for life without the possibility of parole?

A) that such harsh punishments do nothing to reduce heinous crime
B) that doing so would be way crueler than executing a person
C) that a prison that is completely escape-proof has not yet been built
D) that resorting to such vengeful punishment would lead to chaos

Question 50

The psychoanalyst Erik Erikson believed that if we are lucky enough to have become psychologically mature, we will have developed

A) dependence.
B) ego integrity.
C) cynicism.
D) normative influence.

Question 51

According to British newspapers, which of the following was the main driving force behind WikiLeaks?

A) anti-Americanism
B) empathy for the middle class
C) the thirst for truth
D) monetary gains

Question 52

Which of the following wars introduced the concept of "embedded journalists"?

A) the war in Iraq
B) World War II
C) the war on terror
D) the Vietnam War

Question 53

Which of the following most closely reflects what is stated by the comparative justice rule of the just war theory?

A) A declaration of war must be made only if all the other ways of restoring peace have been exhausted.
B) The values and rights that are being defended must be so important that their defense outweighs the horrors of war.
C) The intention must be to defend the rights of a nation, not for some ulterior motive.
D) The costs of the war must not exceed its presumed benefits.

Question 54

Which of the following is a rule of just war suggested by scholars for limiting the damage done by war?

A) probability of success
B) right intention
C) proportionality of means
D) comparative justice

Question 55

Why do modern utilitarians prefer to use the term "animal welfare" over "animal rights"?

A) because when great results can be obtained for a majority, then causing pain to sentient creatures is morally acceptable and even commendable
B) because animals do not understand the concept of rights and, thus, are not in a position to be benefited by them
C) because any reference to rights brings with it heavy political connotations, which results in the distortion of the original cause
D) because the word "rights" in this case has been rendered obsolete as a result of circumstantial changes

Question 56

Which of the following best describes the fallacy of begging the question?

A) a circular definition
B) a definition with many possible interpretations
C) an ambiguously worded definition
D) an oversimplified definition

Question 57

The Catholic concept of double effect is used to allow acts that result in the death of a fetus in some specific cases.

Question 58

Saint Augustine specified that the soul is not present in a fetus until it is capable of feeling pain.

Question 59

In Islam, aborting a fetus is not immoral because fetuses at any stage of development are believed to not have souls.

Question 60

The Council of Vienna concluded that the rational soul is not identical with the human form (and is thus not present at fertilization).

Question 61

The early modern concept of the homunculus, or tiny "little man" inside each sperm, has been verified by modern biology and technology.

Question 62

Judith Jarvis Thomson proposes an analogy to the abortion question: She asks you to consider a situation where you find yourself, in a hospital bed, attached to a famous violinist via intravenous tubes. The violinist will die if you detach yourself from him before he is strong enough to live on his own.

Question 63

A pro-choice utilitarian will use the rights of women as the key argument.

Question 64

A pro-choice deontologist will use the rights of women as the key argument.

Question 65

Utilitarians may conclude that patients with a higher quality of life should get preferential treatment over those patients with a lower quality of life when it comes to medical care.

Question 66

Peter Kemp is an advocate of the idea that since everyone is irreplaceable, everyone should be respected as a person and not treated as a commodity.

Question 67

Those who support or favor euthanasia tend to emphasize the concept of "death with dignity."

Question 68

Those who oppose euthanasia tend to emphasize the Hippocratic oath.

Question 69

What television and radio hosts can say without being unacceptably offensive, rather than what reporters can reveal, has come under scrutiny lately.

Question 70

Most people would agree that Fox News is liberal, while CNN is conservative.

Question 71

In media ethics, national security issues always outweigh the public's right to know.

Question 72

Rosenstand claims that Aristotle's theory of the Golden Mean can serve as a starting point for media ethics.

Question 73

The television program 60 Minutes chose to air a videotape of a person committing assisted suicide.

Question 74

Among the general business ethics topics is the topic of whistle-blowing.

Question 75

It has been accepted by all major thinkers throughout history that property is a right.

Question 76

Rosenstand claims that businesspeople are, by definition, amoral.

Question 77

A pacifist believes that there is no excuse for using violence except to defend our loved ones.

Question 78

Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., were both advocates of a nonviolent, passive resistance policy.

Question 79

Steven Nathanson argues that patriotism is as discriminatory as racism and sexism.

Question 80

Steven Nathanson argues in favor of moderate patriotism.