Exam 13: Aristotle's Ethics: Exploring Virtue and Justice

How might someone object to Steinbock's appeal to the facts that "we feel a special obligation to" and we "feel a closer identification" with members of our own species and that this feeling makes a moral difference? Be sure to state your objection as a complete argument.

Why does Thomas discuss Kant's argument that one cannot consistently will an end without also willing the means to that end?

Which of the following best captures Shue's main argument for the main conclusion of "Torture"?

Wolf claims that physician-assisted suicide cannot be justified purely on the basis of doctor's duties to respect patient autonomy. Explain in your own words the principal argument for this conclusion.

Which of the following can be inferred from the claim that an individual is liable to be tortured?

Which of the following can we infer from the fact that racist and sexist biases exist and Thomas's claim that determining whether someone is the best qualified candidate is often a judgment call?

Why does Estes discuss the claim that you should try to learn as much about your partner as possible by communicating about sexual desires and subjects not having to do with sex?

How might one object to Rachels's argument that the refusal to perform relatively simple operations such as those to remove intestinal blockages in children with Down's syndrome constitutes the making of life-and-death decisions on irrelevant moral grounds? Be sure to state your objection as a complete argument.

Kant says that there is only one categorical imperative, but then seems to present several different categorical imperatives. What is the relationship between these seemingly different categorical imperatives?

Briefly state the four key claims of care ethics, as Collins explains them.

In your own words, explain the story of Mencius, King Xuan, and the ox. What lesson does Mencius try to teach King Xuan of this story? What implications does this story have for how you should live?

Of the following explanations, which most accurately captures the explanation of the idea of sex that Estes employs in this paper?

In your own words, state Sinnott-Armstrong's main conclusion in "It's Not My Fault" and summarize his main argument for that conclusion.

Why, according to van den Haag, is the distribution of a punishment ultimately irrelevant to questions about the punishment's moral permissibility?

Aristotle believes that there is no highest good, only a collection of different goods.

Norcross argues that appeals to the Aristotelean criterion of rationality cannot answer the argument from marginal cases.

Van den Haag argues that the ultimate point of punishment is to offset or compensate for the victim's suffering.

Collins uses the example of a man who cares for his elderly father out of love to argue that caring attitudes are valuable in themselves.

A key premise of Nathanson's argument against "payback" retributivism is that murderers always deserve to die, whereas those who kill in self-defense do not.

Bentham claims that people should always follow his procedure for calculating the pleasure or pain caused by an action before making a moral judgment.