PHL 103 Final Exam

What is Ethics, or moral philosophy?

The philosophical study of topics such as right and wrong

Which of the following statements BEST summarizes the disadvantages of trying to avoid doing ethics?

You will not be in control of your own choices, and you will run a risk of being lost if your moral beliefs do not answer certain questions

What is descriptive ethics?

The scientific study of moral beliefs and practices

Which field studies the moral principles, rules, or theories that guide our actions and judgments?

normative ethics

Which field would study the following question: "What does it mean for an action to be wrong?"

metaethics

What does it mean if something is instrumentally valuable?

Its value comes from its use as a tool.

Assume that human life is intrinsically valuable. Which of these conclusions is BEST supported by that assumption?

Whatever helps humans stay alive is instrumentally valuable.

The principle of universalizability demands that a moral statement that applies to one situation must apply in

all other situations that are relevantly similar.

What is the dominance of moral norms?

that moral norms override nonmoral norms when there is a conflict

Which of the following statements BEST summarizes what the author describes as important features of ethics?

Ethics requires that we be able to give good reasons for our judgments, especially when we judge that two people should be treated differently.

Which of the following is required by the principle of impartiality?

to justify any discriminatory treatment by providing morally relevant differences

Which of the following is a reason that religious believers need to do ethics?

Religious rules of conduct sometimes conflict with each other or with our beliefs.

Miguel believes that it is wrong for a doctor to assist a patient in committing suicide. To convince others of this, he provides the reason that it is up to God when someone dies, not up to humans. According to the author, what would be a major limitation of Miguel's strategy for convincing others to share his belief?

People with different religious views may not accept this reason.

Which of the following BEST summarizes the Euthyphro dilemma that Socrates raises for divine command theory?

Either actions are morally right because God wills them to be so, or God commands actions because they are right, and both options lead to problems for divine command theory.

(T/F) Feelings do not play an important role in our moral experience.

False

(T/F) All norms are moral norms.

False

(T/F) Many great religious thinkers have relied on reason to understand the truths of morality.

True

(T/F) There are never any good reasons for treating someone differently from the way we treat others.

False

(T/F) Religious moral codes typically provide clear and direct answers to all moral questions.

False

(T/F) All major religious thinkers have accepted the divine command theory.

False

According to emotivism, if someone says, "No one should eat meat," that person is

expressing his/her emotions.

An emotivist would call a moral disagreement about abortion

a disagreement in attitude.

Cultural relativists would say that if an action is morally right in one culture

it can be morally wrong in another culture.

Which of the following is true according to subjective relativism?

I cannot be mistaken about what is morally right for me.

Even if the basic argument for cultural relativism fails, it is an appealing doctrine to many people because

it seems to promote tolerance toward other cultures.

If you believe that some moral principles are valid for everyone, regardless of culture or moral outlook, you subscribe to

objectivism.

If I say that violence is never morally permissible, and you say that violence is sometimes morally permissible, then which statement is true according to subjective relativism?

We are not having a moral disagreement.

If you and I belong to the same culture, and I say capital punishment is always wrong, whereas you say capital punishment is sometimes right, which statement is true according to cultural relativism?

We can resolve our disagreement through an opinion poll.

Which view holds that there is no objective morality and that cultural norms do not make something right or wrong but rather that individuals do?

subjective relativism

Which view says that moral judgments ascribe moral properties to actions or people and are statements that can be true or false?

cognitivism

To a cultural relativist, when someone says, "Capital punishment is wrong," what is that person really saying?

"My culture says that capital punishment is wrong."

Which view says that an action may be morally right for a person even if no one, even the person himself, approves of it?

objectivism

(T/F) A cultural relativist will agree with this statement: "It is morally permissible to smoke marijuana in Amsterdam if the culture of Amsterdam approves of it.

True

(T/F) Cultural relativism applies only when considering cultures from countries other than ones own.

False

(T/F) Cultural relativists can consistently claim that tolerance of other cultures is morally right everywhere.

False

(T/F) Emotivists believe that moral judgments are about feelings rather than the truth or falsity of moral statements.

True

(T/F) Nothing is truly good or bad, according to emotivists.

True

(T/F) Social reformers are always right in the view of a cultural relativist.

False

(T/F) The statement "Shoplifting is wrong" attempts to influence others' attitudes about shoplifting, according to emotivists.

True

(T/F) This statement is morally sound for subjective relativists: "If I think that inflicting pain on an innocent child for no reason is right (that is, I approve of such an action), then the action is right."

True

A group of statements, one of which is supported by the rest, is called a(n)

argument

A statement affirming that an action is right or wrong or that a person is good or bad is called a(n)

moral statement.

An argument that is supposed to give logically conclusive support to its conclusion is said to be

deductive.

Premise indicator words include

"since" and "given that."

Which form does the following argument have? "Nonhuman animals do not have rights. And if nonhuman animals did have rights, it would be wrong to eat meat. Therefore, it is not wrong to eat meat."

denying the antecedent

A valid deductive argument is defined as an argument with

a conclusion that must be true if the premises are true.

In the conditional statement "If an action has good consequences, then it is a good action," which of these is the consequent?

"it is a good action"

What is an implied premise?

a premise that is not explicitly stated

Which of the following is MOST likely an implied premise in the following argument? "It is wrong to lie, because lying is unnatural."

All unnatural actions are wrong.

According to the author, which of the following is crucial to good writing and speaking about moral issues?

honestly and thoroughly considering alternative views

(T/F) A typical moral argument consists of premises and a conclusion, with the conclusion being a nonmoral statement, or judgment

False

(T/F) An inductive argument is not intended to provide decisive support to its conclusion

True

(T/F) An inductive argument that manages to give probable support to the conclusion is said to be valid.

False

How should we evaluate nonmoral premises?

See whether they are supported by good reasons.

The fallacy of arguing that the absence of evidence entitles us to believe a claim is called

appeal to ignorance.

Which of these is a method to test the truth of a moral premise?

using counterexamples

Consider the argument "If a fetus is a person, then it is wrong to kill a fetus. But it is wrong to kill a fetus. Therefore, a fetus is a person." How do we apply the counterexample method to test the validity of this argument?

Provide a twin argument with the same form that is obviously invalid.

(T/F) Hasty generalization is a fallacy of inductive reasoning.

True

(T/F) Modus ponens is symbolized by the following: if p, then q; p; therefore, q.

True

(T/F) The fallacy of assigning two different meanings to the same term in an argument is known as faulty analogy.

False

What is a moral theory?

an explanation of what makes an action right or what makes a person or thing good

Consequentialist moral theories say that what makes an action right is its

results.

Nonconsequentialist moral theories say that the rightness of an action

does not depend entirely on its consequences.

Which actions does divine command theory say are morally right?

actions that God commands

The first step in assessing a theory is to ensure that the theory meets the minimum requirement of

coherence.

Which of the following must an adequate moral theory be consistent with?

considered moral judgments

A theory in conflict with one's basic moral experiences is

probably false.

Which of the following BEST describes the relationship between a moral theory and considered moral judgment?

A moral theory is shaped by considered moral judgments and can help adjudicate conflicts among those judgments and other moral statements.

What is a negative right?

an obligation for others to not prevent us from obtaining something

(T/F) Moral agents can be mistaken about their moral experience.

True

(T/F) A moral theory that is internally inconsistent is not eligible for further evaluation

True

(T/F) One's considered moral judgments can be mistaken

True

(T/F) A moral theory is equivalent to a moral code

False

(T/F) To a nonconsequentialist, telling a lie is wrong primarily because it results in bad consequences.

False

(T/F) Ethical egoism says that the morally right action is the one that produces the most favorable balance of good over evil for oneself

True

(T/F) According to the author, in building a moral theory, the most important concern is to include multiple absolute rules.

False

(T/F) If a moral belief such as "Equals should be treated equally" is self evident, then we can be confident that it is true, unless we find good evidence against it.

True

What is a major difference between descriptive ethics and normative ethics?

Normative ethics implies that some people's moral beliefs are incorrect, whereas descriptive ethics does not.

Which of these questions belongs to metaethics?

What does it mean for an action to be right?

Which field concerns questions such as "Was this abortion permissible?" or "Was this instance of mercy killing immoral?"

applied ethics

The preeminence of reason refers to the

overriding importance of critical reasoning in ethics.

Which of the following correctly applies the principle of impartiality?

Everyone deserves the same treatment, unless there is a morally relevant reason to favor someone.

The dominance of moral norms suggests that if a speed limit on a highway conflicts with a person's moral duty to rush a dying man to the hospital, then

the moral duty would take precedence over the legal duty.

In arguing against the divine command theory, many critics insist that

if an action is right only because God wills it, then many evil actions would be right if God willed them.

(T/F) When you strictly follow the moral rules passed down to you from others, you are doing ethics.

False

(T/F) An example of moral reasoning is avoiding actions whenever you feel disgusted by them.

False

(T/F) All divisions of ethics concern both values and obligations. These two topics are similar in that they both concern things that we care about - things that we can favor or oppose.

True

(T/F) If money is instrumentally valuable, then having a paying job is also instrumentally valuable.

True

(T/F) According to the author, if one's religious moral code gives conflicting advice on whether it is permissible to drink alcohol, then moral philosophy cannot provide any guidance because the conflict can only be resolved by interpreting religious texts.

False

The phrases "because," "given that," "due to the fact that," and "for the reason that" are

premise indicators.

A valid deductive argument with true premises is said to be

sound.

A strong inductive argument with true premises is said to be

cogent.

The fallacy of assigning two different meanings to the same term in an argument is known as

equivocation

What is the fallacy used in the following passage? "John argues that active euthanasia is sometimes morally acceptable. But we can reject out of hand anything he has to say because he's an ultraconservative."

appeal to the person

Objectivism is the view that

some moral principles are valid for everyone.

Subjective relativism implies that when a person states their moral beliefs, that person is

incapable of being in error.

Cultural relativism implies that the abolition of slavery in the United States

cannot be regarded as moral progress.

Cognitivism is the view that moral statements

can be true or false.

Noncognitivism is the view that

moral judgments are not statements that can be true or false.

Central to emotivism is the view that moral judgments are not statements that can be true