Deck 12: Recent Moral and Political Philosophy

Question 1

Classical liberalism argued that the government should not interfere in economic affairs.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The emotivists thought that moral judgments are genuine propositions with a clear, factual meaning.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Making and defending moral judgments is known as metaethics.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Ayn Rand embraced a community-based ethics, in which the neediest were cared for by the strongest.

Question 5

John Rawls argued that rational, self-interested people choosing from behind a veil of ignorance would agree that there should be no inequalities in liberty or wealth and income in the just society.

Question 6

MacIntyre accepted Aristotle's view that human nature cannot be specified merely by stating the average human's characteristics.

Question 7

Herbert Marcuse argued that the reason the Marxist revolution didn't happen in modern industrial societies is because capitalism doesn't really lead to the exploitation and alienation of workers that Marx said it did.

Question 8

According to the emotivists, what do moral judgments do?

A) They guide conduct.
B) They assert facts.
C) They express emotion and encourage others to feel the same way.
D) They create value.

Question 9

Identify a true statement about Marcuse's philosophical position.

A) He perceived a weakening of the integration of the working classes into society.
B) He believed that morality means creating something and then making money from it.
C) He developed the ideas of ethical egoism, laissez-faire capitalism, and individual rights with his philosophy of Objectivism.
D) He believed that taking from the rich without compensation and giving to the poor is never just.

Question 10

Which of the following is the political philosophy based on the desire to preserve past social and political traditions and practices?

A) conservatism
B) communism
C) fascism
D) socialism

Question 11

Identify Rawls's position on the just distribution of income and wealth in a society.

A) It should be unequal unless a more equal distribution would benefit everyone.
B) It should be equal unless an unequal distribution would benefit everyone.
C) It should always be equal.
D) It should be based on effort, talent, and accomplishments.

Question 12

Robert Nozick is a libertarian who thinks that only a state limited to the functions of a night-watchman is morally justifiable.

Question 13

Which of the following is true of John Rawls's original position?

A) It leads to an entitlement view of justice.
B) It ensures that people do not tailor their conception of justice to their own case.
C) It is the position of a person in a socio-political world before the introduction of a veil of ignorance.
D) It is the social position of people in their current, real-life societies.

Question 14

According to Rawls, the most important good is respecting others.

Question 15

The attempt to understand the sources and criteria of moral value judgments is known as:

A) metaethics.
B) normative ethics.
C) deontological ethics.
D) prima facie duty.

Question 16

Why does Robert Nozick believe that any state that goes beyond the minimal state is unjust?

A) Such a state fails to achieve communitarian consensus on the good.
B) Such a state violates persons' rights not to be forced to do certain things.
C) Such a state would not be agreed to by rational, self-interested individuals in a fair initial bargaining situation.
D) Nozick is an anarchist libertarian who doesn't think that any state is just.

Question 17

_____ is an economic system in which ownership of the means of production and distribution is maintained primarily by private individuals and corporations.

A) Communism
B) Socialism
C) Fascism
D) Capitalism

Question 18

Metaethics is the attempt to understand the sources, criteria, meaning, verification, or validation of moral value judgments.

Question 19

According to Michael Walzer, what is a thick moral argument?

A) a moral argument that takes into account the actual, particular details of the political association or culture involved
B) a moral argument that focuses on abstract, universal questions of value, obligation, and justice
C) a moral argument that is dense and hard to understand
D) a moral argument that is systematic rather than piecemeal moral argument