MidTerm Exam 1

Question 1

Describe: Descriptive Claims

Answer 1

a statement describing a matter of fact; “the grass is green”

Question 2

Describe: Normative Claims

Answer 2

a statement evaluating how something is; “harming others is wrong.”
a statement asserting how things should be; “class should end earlier.”
a statement prescribing how one ought to act; “one should not harm others.”

Question 3

Describe: Moral Theory & give an example

Answer 3

Answers the question: “what is the good?” Example: a hedonistic moral theory says the Good pleasure and Bad is pain.

Question 4

Describe: Moral Principle (Maxim)

Answer 4

A general statement describing kinds of behaviors as morally good or bad. Example: “Murder is wrong.”
Sometimes a moral principle is a general imperative describing how one ought to behave.

Question 5

Describe: Moral Judgement

Answer 5

A statement about the moral value of a particular behavior or group of behaviors; “Smiths’ harming of Jones’ was wrong.”

Question 6

Describe: Extrinsic Value

Answer 6

Derive their value from one of their consequences. Value that is not intrinsic (from within). Has value because of its relationship to anything else.

Question 7

Describe: Intrinsic Value

Answer 7

The intrinsic value of something is said to be the value that that thing has “in itself,” or “for its own sake,” or “as such,” or “in its own right.” For Mill, the only thing that has intrinsic moral value is happiness.

Question 8

Describe: Physical Experiment

Answer 8

Tests a hypothesis in science. “All else being equal, if X happens, then Y will happen.”

Question 9

Describe: Thought Experiment

Answer 9

In ethics, a thought experiment tests a moral principle.

Question 10

Describe: Boom Crutch

Answer 10

A bad thought experiment

Question 11

Describe: Obligatory Actions

Answer 11

In scenario A, you are obligated to do C. If you do C, you will be praised. If you do not do C, you will be blamed.

Question 12

Describe: Permissible Actions

Answer 12

In scenario A, you can do C. If you do C, you will not be praised or blamed. If you do not do C, you will not be praised or blamed.

Question 13

Describe: Impermissible Actions

Answer 13

In scenario A, you cannot do C. If you do C, you will be blamed. If you do not do C, you will be praised.

Question 14

Describe: Superogatory Actions

Answer 14

In scenario A, doing C would be heroic. If you do C, you will be praised. If you do not do C, you will not be praised or blamed.

Question 15

Describe: Eudaimnonia

Answer 15

a Greek word commonly translated as happiness or welfare; however, “human flourishing” has been proposed as a more accurate translation.

Question 16

Describe: Conceptual Rationalism

Answer 16

States that a person who makes a moral judgement should be motivated accordingly, assuming he or she is rational.

Question 17

Describe: Moral Psychopath

Answer 17

a person who makes moral judgments, is rational, but not motivated.

Question 18

Describe: The Greatest Happiness Principle

Answer 18

“The creed which accepts as the foundations of morals ‘utility’ or the ‘greatest happiness principle’ holds that actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness. By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasure

Question 19

Describe: Happiness According to Mill

Answer 19

Happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain

Question 20

Describe: Hypothetical Imterative

Answer 20

A hypothetical imperative is a commandment of reason that applies only conditionally. Kant divides hypothetical imperatives into two subcategories: the rules of skill and the counsels of prudence. The rules of skill are conditional and are specific to each and every person to which the skill is mandated by.

Question 21

Describe: Both Forms of Kant’s Categorical Imperative

Answer 21

First Form of the Categorical Imperative
Act only on that maxim that you can will as a universal law.
Second Form of the Categorical Imperative
Always treat humanity, whether in your own person or that of another, never simply as a means but always at the same time as an end

Question 22

Describe: A Good Will (According to Kant)

Answer 22

For Kant, one thing that has intrinsic moral value is one’s motive. A Good Will has intrinsically good moral value. An evil will has intrinsically bad moral value.

Question 23

Describe Virtue Ethics (Plato)

Answer 23

Virtue Ethics a. Who is a person you admire? b. Why do you admire him or her? c. For virtue ethics, morality is not about how one ought to act, but about what kind of person one ought to be. It is about one’s moral character. The idea is that a good person
has the sorts of properties we have identified for these admirable people.
Unit of ethical analysis is character.
Eudaimonia is the Good.

Question 24

Describe Utilitarianism (Mill)

Answer 24

the doctrine that an action is right insofar as it promotes happiness, and that the greatest happiness of the greatest number should be the guiding principle of conduct.
Unit of ethical analysis is the consequence

Question 25

Describe Deontology (Kant)

Answer 25

We must not only act out of duty (have the right motive) but also according to duty (do what is right).
Unit of ethical analysis is motive and action

Question 26

Describe the Ring of Gyges thought experiment:

Answer 26

Scenario A

A person A has so far lived a life of selfishness and greed. Many of the things A has done most people would judge to be immoral, but most people do not know about the things A has done. Instead, they are aware only of what A seems to them to be, which is a good person. So, in spite of what A has done, A has a good reputation. A is also quite wealthy and lives a comfortable life. Today, A has come into possession of the Ring of Gyges.

Scenario B

A person B has so far lived a life of selflessness and modesty. Many of the things B has done most people would judge to be moral, but most people do not know about the things B has done. Instead, they are aware only of what B seems to them to be, which is a bad person. So, in spite of what B has done, B has a bad reputation. B is also very poor and homeless. Today, B has come into possession of the Ring of Gyges.

Question 27

Describe the Classic Variant Trolley Problem

Answer 27

The brakes on a trolley car have broken. Five people are on the tracks ahead of the trolley, and they will be killed if the trolley continues on its course. A spur leads off to one side, but there is a single person on that track. Before the spur, there is a lever that can divert the trolley onto the spur. You can pull the lever and divert the trolley. If you do nothing, the five people on the main track will die. If you pull the lever, the person on the spur will die. What do you do?
The brakes on a trolley car have broken. Five Nazis are on the tracks ahead of the trolley, and they will be killed if the trolley continues on its course. A spur leads off to one side, but there is a single person on that track. Before the spur, there is a lever that can divert the trolley onto the spur. You can pull the lever and divert the trolley. If you do nothing, the five Nazis on the main track will die. If you pull the lever, the person on the spur will die. What do you do?
The brakes on a trolley car have broken. Five people are on the tracks ahead of the trolley, and they will be killed if the trolley continues on its course. A spur leads off to one side, but your significant other is on that track. Before the spur, there is a lever that can divert the trolley onto the spur. You can pull the lever and divert the trolley. If you do nothing, the five people on the main track will die. If you pull the lever, your significant other on the spur will die. What do you do?

Question 28

Describe the Fat Man Variant Trolley Problem

Answer 28

The brakes on a trolley car have broken. Five people are on the tracks ahead of the trolley, and they will be killed if the trolley continues on its course. On a bridge over the tracks, there is a fat man. Because of his size, the fat man would stop the trolley if he were in front of it. Suppose you are on the bridge with the fat man. If you push him onto the tracks, the five people will live but he will die. If you do nothing, the five will die but the fat man will live. What do you do?
The brakes on a trolley car have broken. Five people are on the tracks ahead of the trolley, and they will be killed if the trolley continues on its course. On a bridge over the tracks, there is a fat Nazi. Because of his size, the fat Nazi would stop the trolley if he were in front of it. Suppose you are on the bridge with the fat Nazi. If you push him onto the tracks, the five people will live but the Nazi will die. If you do nothing, the five will die but the Nazi will live. What do you do?
The brakes on a trolley car have broken. Five people are on the tracks ahead of the trolley, and they will be killed if the trolley continues on its course. On a bridge over the tracks, there is a fat villain. The fat villain is responsible for damaging the trolley’s brakes. His intention is to harm the five people. Because of his size, the fat villain would stop the trolley if he were in front of it. Suppose you are on the bridge with the fat villain. If you push him onto the tracks, the five people will live but he will die. If you do nothing, the five will die but the fat villain will live. What do you do?

Question 29

Describe the Experience Machine Thought Experiment

Answer 29

“Suppose there was an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you were writing a great novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting book. All the time you would be floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain. Should you plug into this machine for life, pre-programming your life’s experiences? If you are worried about missing out on desirable experiences, we can suppose that business enterprises have researched thoroughly the lives of many others. You can pick and choose from their large library or smorgasbord of such experiences, selecting your life’s experiences for, say, the next two years. After two years have passed, you would have ten minutes or ten hours out of the tank, to select the experiences of your next two years. Of course, while in the tank you won’t know that you’re there; you’ll think it’s actually happening. Others can also plug in to have the experiences they want, so there is no need to stay unplugged to serve them.” (Nozick, 1974, p. 44)
It is Saturday morning and you are planning to stay in bed for at least another hour when all of the sudden you hear the doorbell. Grudgingly, you step out of bed to go open the door. At the other side there is a tall man, with a black jacket and sunglasses, who introduces himself as Mr. Smith. He claims to have vital information that concerns you directly. Mildly troubled but still curious, you let him in. ‘‘I am afraid I have to some disturbing news to communicate to you’’ says Mr. Smith. ‘‘There has been a terrible mistake. Your brain has been plugged by error into an experience machine created by superduper neurophysiologists. All the experiences you have had so far are nothing but the product of a computer program designed to provide you with pleasurable experiences. All the unpleasantness you may have felt during your life is just an experiential preface conducive toward a greater pleasure (e.g. like when you had to wait in that long line to get tickets for that concert, remember?). Unfortunately, we just realized that we made a mistake. You were not supposed to be connected; someone else was. We apologize. That’s why we’d like to give you a choice: you can either remain connected to this machine (and we’ll remove the memories of this conversation taking place) or you can go back to your real life.’’

Question 30

Describe Platos Function Argument

Answer 30

1) Virtue (arête) is proper functioning
2) To function properly is to flourish (to achieve Eudaimonia).
3) So, being virtuous is equivalent to flourishing.
4) Hence, Glaukon’s view of Eudaimonia and its relationship to virtue is mistaken.