Deck 10: Deontology: The Ethics of Duty

Question 1

In the context of Immanuel Kant's categorical imperative, what is an a priori position?

A) the ability to understand the connection between the general and the particular
B) simultaneously holding two contradictory views and believing both to be true
C) a statement that one can know to be true without reference to or prior to any experience
D) the refusal, on moral grounds, to obey certain rules or laws that conflict with one's personal morality

Answer 1

a statement that one can know to be true without reference to or prior to any experience

Question 2

According to deontologists, a prima facie duty is binding unless it:

A) conflicts with our legal duty.
B) conflicts with a more compelling moral duty.
C) conflicts with our deeply held religious beliefs.
D) conflicts with natural law.

Answer 2

conflicts with a more compelling moral duty.

Question 3

What, according to Confucius, is the fundamental source of moral knowledge?

A) family and cultural traditions
B) God
C) the categorical imperative
D) the universal principle, or Tao

Answer 3

the universal principle, or Tao

Question 4

Your widowed and ailing father needs someone to look after him. Although he can afford to hire in-home care, he would prefer to have you, his only child, do it. However, you would rather live in your university's dorms. If you live at home, you would have to commute almost an hour to college and miss out on much of campus life. You turn to Confucius for advice. He would most likely advise you to:

A) live at home with your father and commute to school.
B) say no to your father's demands. It is time for you to become independent and autonomous.
C) calculate the utility of living at home against the utility of living on campus.
D) call Dr. Jack Kevorkian.

Question 5

Which of the following, according to Kant, is a characteristic of moral maxims and duties?

A) We know them intuitively.
B) They are universally binding.
C) They are relative and vary from culture to culture.
D) Depending on the cultural context, they can be overridden by other duties.

Question 6

According to deontologists, autonomous moral agents:

A) rely on their own feelings and opinions, rather than on the opinions of others, in making moral decisions.
B) use their reason to discern moral principles and make moral decisions.
C) uncritically accept moral laws imposed on them by outside authorities.
D) look to God for moral direction.

Question 7

The development of proper self-esteem (the duty of self-improvement) in deontology requires that we:

A) pursue self-esteem as an end in itself.
B) pursue our self-interest exclusively.
C) cultivate good will.
D) put the needs of others before our own.

Question 8

Roberta's husband had told her he was going out of town for a week to a business conference. Roberta misses him terribly and is looking forward to his return. You were also at the conference but left early because of other commitments. Roberta calls shortly after you return home and asks if you saw Jack at the conference. She was unable to reach him by phone and is very concerned. You know that he is not at the conference but, instead, is in Bermuda with her best friend, Joan. Do you lie and say he was at the conference, or do you tell Roberta the truth? Sissela Bok would most likely advise you to:

A) first ask yourself if you would want to be lied to if you were in Roberta's position.
B) tell Roberta the truth. Lying is always wrong because it is a violation of respect for persons.
C) apply the test of publicity, which requires you to first make a public announcement of Jack's infidelity.
D) do what feels personally right for you.

Question 9

In response to complaints from students that some professors were allowing a few select students in their classes to do extra credit assignments to pull up their grades, the administration issues a memo telling professors that they cannot give extra credit assignments unless the whole class has an opportunity to earn extra credit. Which of the following duties of justice does the administration's decision typify?

A) reparative justice
B) retributive justice
C) distributive justice
D) positive beneficence

Question 10

In the context of W. D. Ross's seven prima facie duties, _____ is a moral duty of loyalty that stems from a commitment made in the past.

A) nonmaleficence
B) beneficence
C) justice
D) fidelity

Question 11

What does John Rawls mean by the "veil of ignorance"?

A) When coming up with principles of justice, we should try to ignore our background.
B) People often refuse to analyze moral issues by using ignorance as a type of resistance.
C) We can never discover moral truths because they are hidden from us by a veil of ignorance.
D) It is ignorant of us to criticize women in other cultures for wearing veils since the principle of multiculturalism requires us to respect other cultures' customs.

Question 12

According to Rawls's theory of justice, primary social goods should be distributed:

A) by the judicial or penal system rather than by private individuals.
B) based on the principle of equality because they are necessary for us to pursue our liberty rights.
C) based on merit so that those who contribute most to society get the most in return.
D) first to children in primary school.

Question 13

According to Immanuel Kant, a _____ is a moral injunction that is unconditionally binding upon everyone.

A) hypothetical imperative
B) moral dilemma
C) categorical imperative
D) circumstantial fallacy

Question 14

The ethical theory that duty is the basis of morality is called _____.

A) epistemology
B) existentialism
C) deontology
D) rationalism

Question 15

According to Immanuel Kant, _____ is a duty that requires punishment in proportion to wrongdoing.

A) distributive justice
B) veil of ignorance
C) retributive justice
D) fallacy of ignorance

Question 16

According to W. D. Ross, one of the seven prima facie duties is _____, which stems from past favors or unearned services received.

A) beneficence
B) justice
C) gratitude
D) nonmaleficence

Question 17

A while back, I accidentally locked the car keys in my daughter's car. I felt bad and offered to treat her to dinner and a movie because of the inconvenience I had caused her. According to Ross, which duty, if any, was I honoring?

A) beneficence
B) reparation
C) fidelity
D) none of the above. You didn't intentionally lock the keys in the car, so you have no duty toward your daughter as a result.

Question 18

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"So act as to treat humanity, whether in thine own person or in that of any other, in every case as an end in itself, never as a means only."

A) John Stuart Mill
B) Ayn Rand
C) Jeremy Bentham
D) Immanuel Kant

Question 19

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both (a) reasonably expected to be to everyone's advantage, and (b) attached to positions and offices open to all."

A) W. D. Ross
B) John Rawls
C) Immanuel Kant
D) Jeremy Bentham