Chapter 13: Reading Quiz

Which characteristic does Plato consider irrelevant to the ability to rule?

• the ability to bear children

• intelligence

• physical strength

• talent

• the ability to bear children

Very surprisingly for his time, Plato argued that both men and women are capable of acquiring the skills necessary to lead, even though men have a better chance of success. He said, "If a critic can do no more than bring up the one distinction between man and woman—that the one begets and the other bears children—we shall see that for our purposes he has offered no proof of difference at all.

Which of the following is one of the primary criticisms levied against virtue ethics?

• Virtue ethics rests on a false assumption if social psychology is correct in suggesting that character doesn't impact our action as much as external factors.

• Virtue ethics makes living a good life independent of external factors, so it is unrealistic in modern society.

• Virtue ethics does not account for the fact that people receive moral educations from their parents, teachers, etc.

• Virtue ethics offers no clear guide for how to decide what counts as moral virtue or vice.

• Virtue ethics rests on a false assumption if social psychology is correct in suggesting that character doesn't impact our action as much as external factors.

Because virtue ethics is a character-based ethical system, it rests on the assumption that character impacts our actions. However, if social psychology shows that this assumption is false, the legitimacy of this view would be undermined.

For what hypothesis is Darley and Batson's Good Samaritan experiment thought to provide evidence?

• situational ethics

• moral hypocrisy

• experimental philosophy

• cultural relativism

• situational ethics

Because virtue ethics is a character-based ethical system, it rests on the assumption that character impacts our actions. However, if social psychology shows that this assumption is false, the legitimacy of this view would be undermined.

In Frank Capra’s 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, there is a scene where residents of the town of Bedford Falls are frightened that they will lose all their money if they do not withdraw it from the savings and loan. Several characters insist upon getting all of their money immediately, in violation of the agreement they signed when opening the account. In contrast to this, Ms. Davis asks for only $17.50—far less than others request. While not exactly the same, the actions of Ms. Davis are comparable to which example from the chapter?

• the telephone booth user who helped a woman pick up papers

• the widow’s sacrifice

• the seminary students who stopped to help another

• the woman making a difficult abortion decision

• the widow’s sacrifice

The widow’s sacrifice, relative to her means, was understood as greater than the sacrifices of the rich. Ms. Davis’s withdrawal was similarly smaller than many of the other townspeople’s withdrawals and, in comparison to the other withdrawals, is seen as her being willing to share in a temporary sacrifice.

In Mexico, Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is observed every year. Families gather together to celebrate and remember those who have died by decorating graves, displaying photographs of the dead, telling stories of ancestors, and sharing food particular to the celebration—rolls decorated with bones, for example, and candy sugar skulls. This observation/celebration is an example of what aspect of life that is present in Confucius’s thought but missing in Aristotle’s?

• ritual

• self-examination

• acceptance of death

• focus on character

• ritual

Confucius’s thought highlights the importance of ritual to human life and the participation in rituals as being part of a full life. In contrast, Aristotle’s approach is silent on the need for ritual. The absence of ritual, it is suggested, points to the need of a modification of Aristotle’s theory, rather than a wholesale rejection.

Under what conditions did Locke suggest that one group could legitimately enslave another?

• if one group is the victor in a just war

• if one group has demonstrated their cultural superiority over the other

• if one group is physically stronger than the other

• if one group has a longer history than the other

• if one group is the victor in a just war

Locke believed that the victorious side in a just war could legitimately execute those who they defeat. However, he considered it to the benefit of both the victor and the defeated if the victor enslaved those they captured.

Given Aristotle's commitment to equality, it is surprising that he thought women could not live the highest form of the good life.

• True

• False

• False

Aristotle was not known for his egalitarianism. For example, he believed that it was easier for wealthier people to be virtuous than the poor. It might not be surprising, then, that he viewed certain genders or races as superior to others.

Some philosophers have argued that empirical work in social psychology has shown that virtue ethics is false because character is inert with respect to decision-making about moral dilemmas.

• True

• False

• True

Some philosophers have looked at evidence like the telephone booth experiment and the Good Samaritan experiment to show that the way people react in moral dilemmas depends on their situations, and not their character. As such, virtue ethics, with its emphasis on the cultivation of character, could not be the correct ethical theory.

In Hursthouse's view, two women, in seemingly parallel situations, could make opposite decisions with respect to whether or not to have an abortion, and so long as they both deliberated adequately, both could be morally wrong.

• True

• False

• True

According to Hursthouse, from the virtue ethics view, the salient virtue with respect to abortion is careful and serious deliberation. If a woman engages in such deliberation and does her own moral thinking, then she cannot be told that she is right or wrong.

Which justification does Aristotle offer for his view that some non-Greeks are "slaves by nature"?

• Some non-Greeks are less successful in battle than Greeks.

• Some non-Greeks have not embraced the principles of equality that were hallmarks of Greek culture.

• Some non-Greeks have lower powers of deliberative rationality than Greeks.

• Some non-Greeks are less likely to be religious than Greeks.

• Some non-Greeks have lower powers of deliberative rationality than Greeks.

Though Aristotle acknowledges that some consider slavery contrary to nature, he suggests that non-Greeks are slaves by nature due to their lower powers of deliberative rationality, which ultimately cause them to be ruled by their bodily appetites. As such, they are not suited to the same level of freedom that the Greeks are.

What were the findings of the telephone booth study?

• Participants were unlikely to use the payphone to call for assistance if the conspirator was dressed shabbily.

• Participants who saw an attractive conspirator were more likely to assist than when the conspirator was unattractive.

• Participants who had longer phone calls were proportionately less likely to assist a conspirator in distress.

• Participants who unexpectedly found a dime almost always helped a conspirator in distress, while those who didn't almost always did not.

• Participants who unexpectedly found a dime almost always helped a conspirator in distress, while those who didn't almost always did not.