Exam 2

Question 1

optimal pollution level, criteria for deciding

Answer 1

Baxter

Question 2

lifeboat ethics, tragedy of the commons

Answer 2

Hardin

Question 3

pond analogy, excess wealth, objections to donating

Answer 3

Singer

Question 4

signs of condemnation, environmental contenders

Answer 4

Appiah

Question 5

justice/compensation, compensation argument, nonidentity argument (collective vs individual)

Answer 5

Broome

Question 6

sentience, pain/preference

Answer 6

Wallace

Question 7

contractarianism, cruelty-kindness view, rights view

Answer 7

Regan

Question 8

moral rights (agents & recipients), objections, speciesism, considerations

Answer 8

Cohen

Question 9

species egalitarianism, levels of moral standing, speciesism

Answer 9

Schmidtz

Question 10

Does Baxter value people or penguins more?

Answer 10

people

Question 11

According to Baxter, with consideration of trade-offs, how much pollution is the optimal amount of pollution?

Answer 11

some pollution

Question 12

Garrett Hardin, in his article on “Lifeboat Ethics”, argues that

Answer 12

rich nations have an obligation to not help poor nations

Question 13

Peter Singer, in his article “The Solution to World Poverty”, argues that:

Answer 13

each person should give most of their excess wealth to people suffering from poverty

Question 14

What are Appiah’s four contenders for future condemnation?

Answer 14

1) The prison system
2) The environment
3) The institutionalized elderly
4) Industrial meat production

Question 15

Wallace argues that lobsters are known to exhibit_____, which suggests they experience_______.

Answer 15

preference, suffering

Question 16

Which ethical view on direct duties to animals does Regan find the most defensible?

Answer 16

the rights view

Question 17

Cohen’s reasoning for the permissibility of using animals in biomedical research is that they _____.

Answer 17

have no rights and can have none

Question 18

Species egalitarianism

Answer 18

the view that all species have equal moral standing

Question 19

Schmidtz believes that:

Answer 19

all living things, broadly, are deserving of some degree of respect

Question 20

What is Baxter’s view on environmental protection?

Answer 20

Instrumental with an anthropocentric worldview, believing that it must be protected because doing so will also benefit humans

Question 21

Baxter’s trade-off

Answer 21

in order to have more of one thing, we have to get by with less of something else

Question 22

What is the optimal level of pollution, according to Baxter?

Answer 22

some pollution, because no pollution could not be achieved without an unbalanced allocation of resources

Question 23

Spaceship ethics

Answer 23

we all share the same place (Earth) and the consequences of one individual’s or group’s actions will effect everyone else

Question 24

What is Hardin really talking about with his Lifeboat Ethics?

Answer 24

people in rich nations, acting in their own best interest, should not give aid to people in poor countries

Question 25

What ethical theory does Hardin use to justify Lifeboat Ethics?

Answer 25

utilitarianism

Question 26

Tragedy of the Commons

Answer 26

if one person takes more than their fair share, the system is ruined for everybody

Question 27

What is Hardin's proposed solution to hunger in poor nations as opposed to opening a worldwide food bank?

Answer 27

agricultural education

Question 28

How would rich nations not directly helping poor nations actually benefit them?

Answer 28

they are helping to reduce population growth, therefore helping by not helping

Question 29

What reveals a major flaw in the Lifeboat Argument?

Answer 29

globalization

Question 30

What is the difference between not helping a drowning child and a starving child somewhere else in the world?

Answer 30

nothing but physical distance

Question 31

What is the punishment for not donating additional wealth to starving children overseas?

Answer 31

knowing that we are failing to live a morally decent life

Question 32

What ethical theory does Singer use to justify his argument?

Answer 32

utilitarianism

Question 33

3 signs that a practice is destined for future condemnation

Answer 33

1) Existing arguments against the practice 2) People who defend a practice justify it as "the way things are" 3) Strategic ignorance

Question 34

Compensation argument

Answer 34

future generations will likely have a far more damaged environment due to greenhouse gas emissions but greater material wealth than us, so we are already compensating them for damage to be done

Question 35

What are the two gaps in the compensation argument?

Answer 35

1) No consideration for impact on individuals 2) An injustice is not necessarily canceled by compensation

Question 36

Nonidentity problem

Answer 36

if views on the environment change now, we would lead very different lives that would create different future people than would exist with our current trajectory, and we cannot do injustice to people who would not exist, therefore they cannot claim a right to compensation

Question 37

Zoocentrism

Answer 37

belief that moral consideration should be extended to all animals

Question 38

Two main criteria for capacity to suffer

Answer 38

1) Having the neurological hardware required for pain-experience 2) Demonstrating behaviors associated with pain

Question 39

What does Regan see as fundamentally wrong in regards to how humans treat animals?

Answer 39

the entire system

Question 40

Indirect duty

Answer 40

a duty regarding a non-human entity that an agent owes to another human

Question 41

Direct duty

Answer 41

a duty regarding a non-human entity that an agent owes to that non-human entity

Question 42

Contractarianism

Answer 42

morality consists of rules that individuals agree to abide by, and those who understand & accept the terms are directly covered

Question 43

Moral right

Answer 43

a moral claim that one can exercise against another

Question 44

Speciesism

Answer 44

the belief that one species (usually humans) has greater moral standing than other species

Question 45

What are the three goods?

Answer 45

vegetative, animal, & cognitive goods

Question 46

According to Taylor, what does it mean to say that human goods are the only goods that matter?

Answer 46

to pre-suppose an anthropocentric stance

Question 47

What does it mean to have moral standing?

Answer 47

to at least command respect

Question 48

Biocentrism

Answer 48

all living things have equal moral standing

Question 49

1) Humans are members of Earth's community of life 2) The human species, and all other species, are integral elements in a system of interdependence 3) All organisms are teleological centers of life (each is a unique individual pursuing its own good in its own way) ----------------- 4) Humans are not inherently superior to other living beings

Answer 49

Taylor's core biocentric beliefs

Question 50

How is the objective good of a living thing determined?

Answer 50

its standpoint (no privileged "speciesist" standpoint)

Question 51

teleological centers of life

Answer 51

each organism is uniquely pursuing its own good in its own way

Question 52

all living things as ends in themselves (TCLs), core biocentric beliefs

Answer 52

Taylor

Question 53

What are Schmidtz's two possible responses to Taylor's biocentric argument?

Answer 53

1) Accept that humans are not superior to other living beings, but still deny Taylor's species egalitarianism conclusion 2) Suggest that humans are inherently superior, but it wouldn't matter because Taylor's argument suggests it would be a mistake to ignore the needs of other species

Question 54

What does Schmidtz suggest as an interpretation that humans are not superior to other species, as suggested by Taylor?

Answer 54

That we are either inferior or incomparable, but it makes more sense to say we are incomparable because we have a different kind of value than non-humans

Question 55

Vegetative nature

Answer 55

nutrition and growth (all living things have this; TCL)

Question 56

Animal nature

Answer 56

TCL+ preferences, desires, etc.

Question 57

Cognitive nature

Answer 57

TCL++ reasoning, wisdom, understanding

Question 58

“Our coming to see other species as commanding respect is itself a way of transcending our animal nature...our capacity to see ourselves as equal is one of the things that makes us different. Thus, our capacity to see ourselves as equal may be one of the things that makes us superior...” (p. 63)

Answer 58

Schmidtz

Question 59

How does Schmidtz justify plant well-being when they are less-than on his scale or morality?

Answer 59

1) They are instrumentally valuable 2) Senseless destruction betrays something about you, the destroyer

Question 60

Why does Schmidtz believe we ought to respect nature, in general?

Answer 60

our moral duties are to not senselessly destroy beautiful things