Deck 11: Normative Theories, Part 1

Question 1

Normative ethics is:

A) The part of moral philosophy that focuses on answering questions about the nature of morality and about moral language and thought.
B) The part of moral philosophy that focuses on figuring out what to do in specific situations.
C) The part of moral philosophy that focuses on understanding normal people's moral psychology.
D) The part of moral philosophy that focuses on developing general theories about which actions or things are right or wrong or good or bad.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following best explains the difference between normative ethics and applied ethics?

A) Whereas normative ethics aims to answer questions about the nature of morality and moral thought and language, applied ethics aims to develop general theories about what makes actions right or wrong.
B) Whereas applied ethics aims to determine what is actually right or wrong for you to do in specific situations, normative ethics aims to answer questions about what norms guide most people's moral reasoning in a society.
C) Whereas normative ethics aims to develop general theories about what makes actions right or wrong, applied ethics aims to develop intermediate-level moral principles that enable us to apply the general theories of normative ethics.
D) Whereas applied ethics aims to determine what kinds of actions one should do in specific circumstances, normative ethics aims to develop general theories about what makes actions right or wrong.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Consequentialism is:

A) A normative theory according to which the rightness of an action depends ultimately on the consequences of performing that action or on the consequences of something closely connected to the action, such as a rule that permits the action.
B) A type of deontology that focuses on only on the most serious obligations, such as the obligation to treat persons as ends in themselves and never merely as means.
C) A metaethical view according to which an individual's moral obligations depend on the moral beliefs of his or her culture, but the correctness of those beliefs depends on the effects of everyone accepting those beliefs.
D) A view in applied ethics according to which all moral reasoning must be conducted solely in terms of the consequences of the specific actions being considered.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What is consequentialism?

A) A family of normative theories that evaluate each action in terms of the effects of performing that action or the effects of something else, such as having a rule that permits that action.
B) A branch of utilitarianism according to which each action is to be evaluated according to the total amount of happiness and unhappiness that it creates.
C) A type of virtue ethics according to which virtuous character traits are those that produce good consequences for the person who has them.
D) A normative theory that focuses primarily on whether someone is a good or bad person, which is assessed in terms of whether the person makes the world a better or worse place.

Question 5

What is act utilitarianism?

A) The view that an action is right if it benefits more people than it harms, where benefits and harms are understood in terms of pleasure and pain.
B) The view that an action is right if and only if it produces more happiness, on balance, than any other available action, counting each person's happiness equally.
C) The view that an action is right if and only if it promotes at least one person's goals and does not treat anyone merely as a means.
D) The view that an action is right if it maximizes the total happiness in the world, ignoring any suffering inflicted on people who deserve it.

Question 6

Act utilitarianism is:

A) The view that an action is right if and only if there is no other available action that creates more pleasure in the world, counting everyone's pleasure equally.
B) The view that an action is right if and only if the number of people who feel more pleasure than pain as a result of the action is greater than the number of people who feel more pain than pleasure.
C) The view that an action is right if and only if it causes the actor more pleasure than pain in the long run, taking into account all of the actions' direct and indirect effects.
D) The view that an action is right if and only if there is no other available action that creates a greater balance of pleasure over pain in the world, counting everyone's pleasure and pain equally.

Question 7

Define act utilitarianism.

A) Act utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if it maximizes the total happiness in the world, counting everyone's happiness equally.
B) Act utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if it maximizes both the quantity and the quality of pleasure in the world, counting everyone's happiness equally.
C) Act utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if, relative to other available actions, it produces happiness for the greatest number of people.
D) Act utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if it benefits people in proportion to their usefulness to society.

Question 8

Suppose that the world's greatest video game designer was admitted to the hospital suffering from advanced liver failure. Every video game he designs produces hours and hours and happiness for tens of thousands of people, and if he survives he will produce many more video games. A little while later, a homeless man who has no friends or family is admitted to the emergency room after being hit by a car. Doctors realize that if they secretly let the badly injured homeless man die, they could transplant his liver into the video game designer; if they save the homeless man, the video game designer will die. Which of the following would an act utilitarian be most likely to say about what the doctors should do?

A) The doctors should save the homeless man because designing video games is not useful to society, and so it is not worth sacrificing someone's life to have better video games.
B) The doctors should let the homeless man die and transplant his liver because the happiness resulting from the video game designer's work will outweigh the loss of happiness associated with the homeless man's death.
C) The doctors should save the homeless man because the benefits of having a rule that forbids doctors from letting people die to harvest their organs would outweigh the benefits of saving the video game designer.
D) The doctors should let the homeless man die and transplant his liver because saving the homeless man would benefit one person, whereas saving the video game designer would benefit many people.

Question 9

In what sense is act utilitarianism sometimes thought to be too demanding?

A) Because it requires you to maximize overall happiness, act utilitarianism sometimes allows you to do things that most people regard as morally wrong.
B) Because it requires you to make as many people happy as possible, act utilitarianism sometimes requires you to make other people happy at your own expense.
C) Because it requires you to count everyone's happiness as equal to your own and that of your loved ones, act utilitarianism sometimes requires you to make great sacrifices for others.
D) Because it requires you to focus entirely on being useful to society in everything you do, act utilitarianism requires you to give up interests that are not directly useful, such as arts and music.

Question 10

In what sense is act utilitarianism sometimes thought to be not demanding enough?

A) Because it requires you to maximize overall happiness, act utilitarianism sometimes allows you to do things that most people regard as morally wrong.
B) Because it requires you to make as many people happy as possible, act utilitarianism sometimes does not require you to consider the effects of your actions on the minority of people who are negatively affected by your actions.
C) Because it requires you to count everyone's happiness as equal to your own and that of your loved ones, act utilitarianism sometimes requires you to make great sacrifices for others.
D) Because it requires you to benefit the few at the expense of the many in certain cases, it does not always require you to take everyone's happiness into account.

Question 11

What is the point of the example from Chapter 11 in which you must choose between rescuing your mother or a famous cancer researcher from a burning building?

A) To prove that act utilitarianism is not the correct normative theory.
B) To show that some people are more useful to society than others.
C) To demonstrate a particular kind of mistake that many people make in applying act utilitarianism to particular cases.
D) To illustrate that act utilitarianism sometimes leads to surprising conclusions about what you should do.

Question 12

Rule utilitarianism is:

A) The view that an act is right if and only if it produces a greater balance of pleasure over pain for the ruling class of a society.
B) The view that an act is right if and only if it is permitted by the rules whose widespread acceptance would have better consequences than the acceptance of any alternative set of rules.
C) The view that the morally best rules are those whose acceptance in a society would maximize overall happiness within that society.
D) The view that an act is right if and only if it is useful in upholding or maintaining the moral rules of society.

Question 13

What is rule utilitarianism?

A) The view that an action is right if and only if it is allowed by the set of rules whose acceptance would bring about the greatest balance of pleasure over pain.
B) The view that an action is right if it produces the greatest balance of pleasure over pain, counting everyone's happiness equally, unless it violates one or more universal obligations.
C) The view that an action is right only if it abides by the rules of utility, which specify which actions produce the most happiness for everyone.
D) The view that an action is right if and only if it is allowed by the moral rules of the actor's society, since those rules have evolved over time to maximize society's total happiness.

Question 14

Which of the following best captures the difference between act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism?

A) Whereas act utilitarianism allows any action that maximizes happiness, rule utilitarianism only allows happiness-maximizing actions that are permitted by social norms.
B) Act utilitarianism focuses only on the effects of an individual action, whereas rule utilitarianism looks at the effects of that action being performed over and over again.
C) Act utilitarianism considers the effects of each action individually, whereas rule utilitarianism considers the effects of making the rule of your action a universal law.
D) Whereas act utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of individual actions, rule utilitarianism focuses on the consequences of society's acceptance of a particular set of rules.

Question 15

What is the purpose of the Robin Hood example in Chapter 11?

A) To test whether rule utilitarianism avoids the surprising implications of act utilitarianism.
B) To contrast rule utilitarianism's explanation of the wrongness of robbery with Rossian deontology's explanation.
C) To illustrate that actions that seem to maximize happiness in the short run can violate a rule whose widespread acceptance is crucial to maximizing happiness in the long run.
D) To prove that act utilitarianism is superior to rule utilitarianism because rule utilitarianism would incorrectly prohibit Robin Hood from robbing the rich to give to the poor.

Question 16

Deontology is:

A) A metaethical theory according to which the rightness of an action depends ultimately on the consequences of accepting rules that obligate people to perform the action.
B) A normative theory according to which the rightness or wrongness of an action depends on whether the actor is violating his or her moral obligations.
C) A normative theory according to which each person is obligated to treat others as ends in themselves and never merely as means.
D) A metaethical theory according to which there are objective moral facts that determine what we ought to do.

Question 17

What is deontology?

A) A view in applied ethics that moral reasoning should be conducted solely in terms of virtues and vices.
B) A metaethical view according to which there are no objective moral facts about what we ought to do.
C) A normative theory according to which morality is primarily about fulfilling your obligations.
D) A normative theory according to which we are obligated to do whatever will produce the best consequences overall.

Question 18

What is Rossian deontology?

A) The view that the rightness of an action can be determined using Rossian felicific calculus.
B) The view that the correct moral code consists of a set of irreducible, unorderable prima facie obligations.
C) The view that the correct moral code consists of a strict hierarchy of prima facie obligations.
D) The view that the rightness of an action depends entirely on the specific facts of the case, not on generalizable rules.

Question 19

What does it mean to say that someone has a prima facie obligation to perform a certain action?

A) That although it appears that the person has an obligation to perform the action, that appearance might be mistaken.
B) That the person has a genuine obligation to perform that action, but the obligation could be overridden by another obligation if the other obligation is more important in this case.
C) That the person's obligation to perform the action derives ultimately from the primary obligation to treat people with respect.
D) That the person has an obligation that cannot be reduced to any other obligation.

Question 20

What does it mean to say that a set of obligations is unorderable?

A) That for each obligation in the set, there is some situation in which it overrides each of the others and some situation in which each of the others overrides it.
B) That each of the obligations can be reduced to some more basic obligation, but that none of the obligations can be reduced to the same obligation.
C) That none of the obligations can be reduced to any other obligation, including any of the other obligations in the set.
D) That each of the obligations in the set can only be known through careful reflection on the meaning of the words used to state the obligation, rather than as the conclusion of an argument.

Question 21

What is a hypothetical imperative?

A) An imperative that tells you what you are obligated to do unless some other obligation overrides the first obligation.
B) A principle that tells you what to do if you want to achieve some goal.
C) A hypothesis about what you ought to do in a situation, to be tested by the use of thought experiments.
D) A command issued by an authority figure that applies only to those over whom the authority figure has rightful control.

Question 22

Which of the following gives the best definition of a categorical imperative?

A) A categorical imperative is a principle that says what, if anything, a particular prima facie obligation requires you to do in specific circumstances.
B) A categorical imperative is a moral principle that does not contain any contradictions.
C) A categorical imperative is a moral principle that applies to everyone regardless of their particular goals, desires, and preferences.
D) A categorical imperative is a moral principle that explains how universal obligations apply to people in some particular category.

Question 23

Which of the following best captures the difference between a hypothetical imperative and a categorical imperative?

A) Although all imperatives tell you to do something, hypothetical imperatives only tell you to perform some action if you want to achieve a particular goal, whereas categorical imperatives tell you to perform an action regardless of your goals or interests.
B) Although all imperatives tell you to do something, hypothetical imperatives could, in principle, apply to anyone, whereas categorical imperatives apply only to specific groups of people.
C) An imperative is hypothetical when you do not want to achieve the particular goal stated in the imperative, and it becomes a categorical imperative in the event that you do want to achieve that goal.
D) An imperative is hypothetical until it is tested for a long enough period of time, at which point it becomes a categorical imperative.

Question 24

What is a maxim?

A) A claim about what someone is obligated to do, all things considered.
B) A type of categorical imperative.
C) A goal, desire, or interest that would be achieved or satisfied by obeying some hypothetical imperative.
D) A principle that specifies someone's reason for performing a particular action.

Question 25

Which of the following best captures Kant's idea of universalizing the maxim of your action?

A) Universalizing the maxim of your action means considering the maxim from the perspective of the universe, rather than from just your own perspective.
B) Universalizing the maxim of your action means considering the effects of your maxim on everyone, not just yourself.
C) Universalizing the maxim of your action means imagining what would happen if everyone adopted that maxim.
D) Universalizing the maxim of your action means imagining how you would like it if everyone adopted that maxim.

Question 26

What are the two different senses in which universalizing the maxim of your action could lead to a contradiction in your will?

A) Universalizing the maxim might undermine the maxim itself, or it might lead to a situation that is not strictly self-defeating but that you don't like.
B) Universalizing the maxim might lead to a situation that is not strictly self-defeating but that you don't like, or it might conflict with some other maxim for the sake of which you adopted the maxim in the first place.
C) Universalizing the maxim might be inconsistent with your previous actions, or it might undermine the maxim itself.
D) Universalizing the maxim might undermine the maxim itself, or it might conflict with some other maxim for the sake of which you adopted the maxim in the first place.

Question 27

What is the Formula of Universal Law, as stated in Chapter 11?

A) Act only on a maxim that treats all of humanity as an end in itself.
B) Act only on a maxim that could be universalized without leading to a contradiction in your own will.
C) Always act so as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or someone else's, always as an end in itself and never merely as a means.
D) Act only on maxims whose universal acceptance would have better consequences than the acceptance of any alternative maxim.

Question 28

What is the Formula of Humanity, as stated in Chapter 11?

A) Act only on maxims whose universal acceptance would have better consequences than the acceptance of any alternative maxim.
B) Always act so as to treat humanity with respect rather than as a means, including both yourself and others.
C) Act only on maxims whose universalization would not reduce any person to the status of a thing.
D) Always act so as to treat humanity, whether in your own person or someone else's, always as an end in itself and never merely as a means.

Question 29

What does it mean to treat humanity as an end in itself?

A) That we should treat human beings as imposing limits on the maxims that we choose for ourselves.
B) That we should treat people's capacity for rational action as something that has value in itself and deserves to be honored, promoted, and protected.
C) That we should treat people as if they have the capacity for rational decision making, even when they don't.
D) That we should promote other people's interests without asking why those interests are valuable.

Question 30

What does it meant to treat someone "merely as a means"?

A) To use them to achieve your goals.
B) To treat them as a mere thing that can be used however you wish.
C) To treat them as beings with aims and purposes of their own.
D) To use them to achieve your goals, but with their consent.

Question 31

Which of the following actions would NOT count as treating someone merely as a means?

A) Henry lies to Lucy to get her to go on a date with him.
B) A restaurant manager makes his staff wear ridiculous costumes as part of his horror-themed restaurant.
C) A detective finds evidence that Frank is a big-time heroin dealer and threatens to have Frank arrested unless Frank pays him $10,000 a month.
D) Roger manipulates four other men into helping him commit a crime with false promises of a big financial reward.

Question 32

What is the purpose of the discussion in Chapter 11 of the lethal duel at the end of Hamlet?

A) To prove that any action that ends in someone's death fails to treat that person as an end in itself.
B) To contrast consequentialist with deontological theories about right and wrong.
C) To show that it doesn't make sense to say that someone agreed to something if he or she didn't know what was being agreed to.
D) To illustrate how Kant's rule about universalizing maxims would apply in the case of dueling.

Question 33

Virtue ethics is:

A) A metaethical view according to which there are objective moral facts about what makes someone's life go well, but not about what someone ought to do in any given circumstance.
B) A normative theory according to which persons are evaluated in terms of their character traits and actions are evaluated in terms of which character traits they demonstrate.
C) A normative theory according to which it only makes sense to ask whether someone is a good or bad person, as opposed to asking whether an action is right or wrong.
D) A metaethical view according to which morality varies from culture to culture because each culture emphasizes different virtues and vices.

Question 34

What is virtue ethics?

A) A view in applied ethics that moral reasoning should focus entirely on the goodness or badness of persons rather than the rightness of wrongness of their actions.
B) A metaethical theory according to which the only meaningful moral terms are thick ethical terms, such as courage, rather than thin ethical terms, such as right or wrong.
C) A normative theory that says that what you ought to do follows from what kind of person you ought to be and that what kind of person you ought to be follows from what is required for a flourishing human life.
D) A type of consequentialism according to which an action is right if and only if it exhibits a character trait that increases the overall level of happiness in a person's life.

Question 35

What is the purpose of the discussion in Chapter 11 of Jordan Belfort from The Wolf of Wall Street?

A) To suggest that no matter how successful someone appears to be, that success is doomed to be temporary if the person is not virtuous.
B) To illustrate that having a virtue or vice involves a complex set of behaviors and attitudes involving oneself and others.
C) To contrast the way that virtue ethics evaluates a person's whole life with the way that consequentialism evaluates only a person's actions.
D) To show that whether someone is living the best life possible depends not only on external things, like wealth and success, but also on the person's moral character.

Question 36

What is eudaimonia?

A) The state of living the best life possible for a human being.
B) The state of living a pleasurable life that is free from pain.
C) The state of living a life that mixes both pleasure and pain.
D) The state of living a virtuous life, regardless of whether one is happy.

Question 37

Why is "happiness" a problematic translation for the Greek word eudaimonia?

A) Virtue ethicists believe that someone can achieve eudaimonia without being truly happy.
B) Happiness suggests a focus on pleasant feelings, whereas eudaimonia is about how one's life is going as a whole.
C) Happiness can be interpreted narrowly or broadly, whereas eudaimonia is strictly about feeling pleasure and the absence of pain.
D) Ancient Greek words are essentially untranslatable into modern English because the culture of ancient Greece was so different from ours.

Question 38

What is a virtue?

A) A special power, skill, or talent that enables someone to achieve his or her goals.
B) A character trait that is stable over time because it is deeply embedded in someone's personality.
C) An outward sign of inner virtue, such as success in business, friends, or a loving family.
D) A character trait that contributes to someone's being an excellent person.

Question 39

What is the connection between virtue and eudaimonia?

A) Virtues are usually a reliable means of getting the things one needs to achieve eudaimonia.
B) Achieving eudaimonia requires being an excellent person, which consists in having virtues.
C) Being virtuous is worthwhile in its own right, even when it conflicts with the pursuit of eudaimonia.
D) In a well-organized society, people will reward virtue with the things that are required to achieve eudaimonia.

Question 40

What is the purpose of the discussion of "Honest Abe" in Chapter 11?

A) To make a general point about virtues by showing that being truly honest requires not only telling the truth, but also regarding truth-telling as good for its own sake, encouraging truth-telling in others, etc.
B) To distinguish honesty from more specific virtues by showing that being truly honest requires not only telling the truth, but also regarding truth-telling as good for its own sake, encouraging truth-telling in others, etc.
C) To make a general point about virtues by showing that although we call many different attitudes and kinds of behavior "honest," honesty essentially consists in telling the truth.
D) To show that some virtues, such as honesty, are essentially about interpersonal relationships, whereas other virtues, such as courage, are about a person's relationship to the world as a whole.

Question 41

What is practical wisdom?

A) The skill of recognizing which people are truly virtuous and which are truly pretending.
B) The ability to correctly apply the relevant virtues in a specific case.
C) The state that a person achieves when he or she has fully cultivated all of the virtues.
D) The knowledge of the true components of eudaimonia.

Question 42

What is a vice?

A) A character trait that makes someone a bad person but may nonetheless contribute to achieving eudaimonia.
B) A character trait that is widely regarded as undesirable or contemptible in a particular society.
C) A character trait that makes someone a bad person and thereby interferes in the pursuit of eudaimonia.
D) A habit that leads someone to develop bad character traits or otherwise interferes with the pursuit of eudaimonia.

Question 43

If someone lacks the virtue of kindness, does that necessarily mean that he or she has the vice of cruelty?

A) No, because kindness is intermediate between cruelty and being ingratiating, and so one could fail to be kind by being "too nice" to others.
B) Yes, because cruelty is the absence of kindness, and so anyone who lacks kindness will necessarily be cruel.
C) No, because someone can lack the virtue of kindness simply by not caring enough about kindness, but being cruel means valuing cruelty for its own sake.
D) Yes, because kindness involves caring about others, and anyone who does not care about others is cruel.

Question 44

Normative ethics involves trying to develop general theories about what makes something right or wrong or good or bad.

Question 45

Consequentialism is the normative theory according to which actions are right if and only if they have good consequences.

Question 46

Consequentialism is the normative theory according to which the rightness of an action depends ultimately on the effects of that action or of something related to that action, such as rules that permit the action.

Question 47

Act utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if it produces a greater balance of pleasure over pain, counting everyone's pleasure and pain equally, than any available alternative.

Question 48

Act utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if it brings pleasure to more people than any other available action does.

Question 49

According to act utilitarianism, an action is right if it maximizes the number of people who feel happy as a result of the action.

Question 50

Rule utilitarianism is the view that an action is right if and only if it is permitted or required by the rules whose acceptance would maximize the total amount of happiness in the world, counting everyone's happiness equally.

Question 51

According to rule utilitarianism, whether an action is right or wrong depends on whether it is permitted by the rules whose acceptance would produce the greatest balance of pleasure over pain, counting everyone's pleasure and pain equally.

Question 52

According to rule utilitarianism, people should follow the rules of their society unless breaking those rules maximizes overall happiness, counting everyone's happiness equally.

Question 53

Some people prefer rule utilitarianism over act utilitarianism because they think that act utilitarianism is too demanding in some ways and not demanding enough in others.

Question 54

Some consequentialists believe that people should rely primarily on obligations or virtues when reasoning about what to do.

Question 55

Deontology is the normative theory according to which morality is primarily a matter of fulfilling one's obligations.

Question 56

Deontology is the normative theory according to which morality is primarily a matter of bringing about the best consequences.

Question 57

Deontology is a metaethical view according to which objective moral facts exist.

Question 58

Rossian deontology is the view that the correct moral code consists of an unorderable set of irreducible prima facie obligations.

Question 59

To say that an obligation is a prima facie obligation is to say that it seems obligatory from a certain perspective but is not really obligatory.

Question 60

A hypothetical imperative is a principle that tells you what to do if you happen to have a particular goal.

Question 61

A categorical imperative is a principle that tells you what to do regardless of whether you have a particular goal.

Question 62

A hypothetical imperative is a proposed moral principle that has not yet been tested, whereas a categorical imperative is a moral principle that has been tested and shown to be correct.

Question 63

One formulation of the categorical imperative is that you should act only on maxims that you could universalize without a contradiction in your own will.

Question 64

Kant's categorical imperative says that you should only act on those maxims whose consequences you would be willing to accept if everyone else acted on your maxim, too.

Question 65

One formulation of the categorical imperative is that you should also treat people's rational capacity for action as an end in itself and you should never treat anyone merely as a means to an end.

Question 66

According to Kant's categorical imperative, it is never morally permissible to use another person as a means to an end.

Question 67

Virtue ethics is the normative theory that focuses on what makes people morally good people and evaluates actions based on whether they contribute to or reflect someone's good character.

Question 68

Virtue ethics is the normative theory according to which actions and people are to be evaluated in terms of character traits that contribute to making someone an excellent person.

Question 69

According to virtue ethics, it is impossible to evaluate individual actions, since ethics is about what kind of person to be.

Question 70

Eudaimonia is often translated as "happiness" or "flourishing."

Question 71

A virtue is a character trait that contributes to a person's excellence, which is required for eudaimonia.

Question 72

Practical wisdom is a skill that enables people to apply their virtues correctly.

Question 73

According to virtue ethics, anyone who regularly faces danger without fear has the virtue of courage.

Question 74

Define consequentialism in your own words. Why is it sometimes considered a "family of theories" rather than a single theory?

Question 75

What is act utilitarianism?

Question 76

Why do some people believe that act utilitarianism is too demanding in some cases and not demanding enough in others?

Question 77

What is rule utilitarianism?

Question 78

Describe a situation in which act utilitarianism would require an action that seems to be morally wrong but rule utilitarianism does not. Explain why each theory requires what it does in that situation.

Question 79

In your own words, explain Rossian deontology.

Question 80

In your own words, explain the idea of a prima facie obligation.