Exam 1: Ethical Theory, Philosophical Foundations, Our Reasoning Flaws, and Types of Ethical Dilemmas

A journalist who fails to disclose his or her financial interest in the subject of a story he or she is covering has a conflict of interest.

"If you think what we're doing now is bad, you should have seen our actions 10 years ago," is an example of:

Which philosopher feels that we all hold a set of rights and that it is the role of government to protect those rights?

Professor Reba McGintry is the head of the Student Conduct Board. Charges have been brought against three students who are also members of the university basketball team. The charges are based on the criminal charges brought by the local district attorney against the three men for sexual assault. Professor McGintry's husband was one of the staff attorneys in the DA's office who made the decision to go forward with the prosecution. Professor McGintry:

Unwritten rules of conduct are part of our normative standards.

The unauthorized access to the records was uncovered when the story of the late Ms. Fawcett's recurrence of cancer was published in The National Enquirer before Ms. Fawcett had disclosed her health condition to family or friends. Ms. Fawcett's lawyers then notified the hospital of the only possible source of the information. Which category of an ethical breach applies to the conduct of the hospital employees?

Alice is a secretary in your department. Alice is also a member of the American Guild of Organists. Alice has been placed in charge of the Guild's national convention. Each time you pass by Alice's desk or go to her to have some work done, you notice she is on the phone discussing or working on the convention. Alice's work on the convention during work hours is an ethical violation.

"I did fudge on some of the numbers in our financial reports, but that kept 6,000 employees from losing their jobs," a statement by a CFO, is an example of:

A professor for one of your courses has assigned reading materials from various publications. He tells you that the materials are on reserve and that each student should go and copy the materials individually. He notes that for him to copy the materials for students and then sell them or distribute them would be a violation of copyright law. The professor's conduct:

A physical fitness expert retained by a fitness magazine to evaluate walking shoes has a conflict of interest if she has an endorsement contract with one of the shoe companies that manufactures the shoes she will be evaluating.

Your college of business is sponsoring a case competition. All teams must watch the other teams compete. The order of presentation is by luck of a draw. The team that is the last to present left during one of the presentations, went to the computer room and redid its PowerPoint slides and restructured its presentation based on what other teams had presented. This team has done nothing wrong.

You are a building inspector for the county. A friend of yours is a plumbing contractor. Under county regulations, all steps in plumbing construction from the initial dig to the final installation of sink and bathroom fixtures requires an inspection sign-off. Your plumbing contractor friend has just called and wants to take you to dinner for your birthday at a five-star restaurant. Because you are friends anyway, the dinner presents no ethical problems.

Self-interest is the same as selfishness.

Long-term relationships create ethical and legal obligations between the parties through conduct and accommodations.

Third-trimester abortions would be supported under a Rights Theory.

Ayn Rand was the philosophical thinker who developed the Divine Command Theory.

An application for graduate school admission at Arizona State University includes the following request for information: Please list all institutions attended since graduation from high school. Marie Davis, a returning student, is applying for admissions to the Masters in Architecture program. Marie attended the University of Arizona for one semester in 1976. Marie had a substance abuse problem and did not attend many of her classes. She left the University of Arizona before classes ended that semester. She did not take her final exams and earned 15 credit hours of "E" for that semester. After 8 years, the policy of the University of Arizona is to expunge the records of non-matriculating students. Marie's record was expunged in December 1994.

A company executive exerting pressure on a scientist and her university to delay disclosure of study results harmful to the company and its products would be unethical.

An agreement by an agent to accept a 10% commission from a seller who will sell goods to the agent's employer is ethical so long as the agent would have chosen that seller anyway.

A recent survey found that 24% of Americans feel that it is always wrong to speed. In which of the following schools of ethical thought would this 24% fit best?