Question 1

Regarding justice, Mill says that

Accepted Answer

A)  rules of justice have particular importance because they deal with something very important to us: Our security. 
B)  it is always possible that the consequences of an act can be so beneficial that they will outweigh considerations of justice. 
C)  justice is of such a pleasurable quality as to outweigh any quantitative considerations about pleasure. 
D)  justice is godly, and so utilitarianism is not opposed to it. 
A)  rules of justice have particular importance because they deal with something very important to us: Our security. 
B)  it is always possible that the consequences of an act can be so beneficial that they will outweigh considerations of justice. 
C)  justice is of such a pleasurable quality as to outweigh any quantitative considerations about pleasure. 
D)  justice is godly, and so utilitarianism is not opposed to it. A

Question 2

Bentham's calculus of utility

Accepted Answer

A)  was designed to help legislators write good laws. 
B)  relies on Newton's calculus for its structure. 
C)  regards the intensity of a pain as more important than the duration of a pleasure. 
D)  includes considerations of the quality of pleasures, as determined by the majority of those who have experienced them. 
A)  was designed to help legislators write good laws. 
B)  relies on Newton's calculus for its structure. 
C)  regards the intensity of a pain as more important than the duration of a pleasure. 
D)  includes considerations of the quality of pleasures, as determined by the majority of those who have experienced them. A

Question 3

Explain the principle of utility. What makes this a moral principle, rather than just a piece of prudential or self-interested advice?

Accepted Answer

Act so as to bring about by your action the set of consequences that produces the most happiness overall. It is moral in that it treats everyone alike-impartially. You are to consider your alternatives, weigh the consequences relevant to happiness, and choose to do the action that has the greatest balance of happiness over unhappiness-for everyone concerned.

Question 4

What problem is justice thought to raise for the utilitarians? How does Mill argue that there is, in the last analysis, no conflict between justice and utility?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What problem is justice thought to raise...

Question 5

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that it makes it impossible to understand admiration for people who act self-sacrificially?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the...

Question 6

Wollstonecraft thinks that women in her day

Accepted Answer

A)  deserve what they have gotten. 
B)  have deliberately been treated in such a way as to make them weak, meddlesome, and cunning. 
C)  are superior to men in virtue. 
D)  should engage in armed rebellion, if necessary, to attain their rights. 
A)  deserve what they have gotten. 
B)  have deliberately been treated in such a way as to make them weak, meddlesome, and cunning. 
C)  are superior to men in virtue. 
D)  should engage in armed rebellion, if necessary, to attain their rights.

Question 7

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that the general happiness is too high a standard?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the...

Question 8

What bad consequences do Wollstonecraft and Mill see flowing from the differential treatment of women?

Accepted Answer

The answer of What bad consequences do Wollstonecraft and Mill...

Question 9

Compare Kantian ethics with the ethics of utilitarianism, pointing out both similarities and differences.

Accepted Answer

Kantian ethics and utilitarianism are tw

Question 10

Would a Kantian or a utilitarian be the best friend of women's rights? Explain your answer in some detail.

Accepted Answer

A Kantian would likely be the best frien

Question 11

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that to take pleasure as a standard for morality is to espouse a morality for pigs?

Accepted Answer

The answer of How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the...

Question 12

In replying to objections that have been raised to utilitarianism, Mill states that

Accepted Answer

A)  it is better to be a fool satisfied than a Socrates dissatisfied, for the fool experiences the most pleasure. 
B)  happiness for all is a good goal, since striving for it is the way to get the most happiness for yourself. 
C)  it is not impractical, since we don't need to calculate the consequences of every act at the time of doing it. 
D)  everything should be done from the motive of happiness for all. 
A)  it is better to be a fool satisfied than a Socrates dissatisfied, for the fool experiences the most pleasure. 
B)  happiness for all is a good goal, since striving for it is the way to get the most happiness for yourself. 
C)  it is not impractical, since we don't need to calculate the consequences of every act at the time of doing it. 
D)  everything should be done from the motive of happiness for all.

Question 13

The basic idea of consequentialism is that

Accepted Answer

A)  all consequences of a given act are equally important in trying to decide whether to do that act or not. 
B)  we should look to the consequences when judging the moral rightness of an act. 
C)  we all have our own ideas about the consequences of our acts, so morality will be different for everyone. 
D)  happiness doesn't count as much as consequences. 
A)  all consequences of a given act are equally important in trying to decide whether to do that act or not. 
B)  we should look to the consequences when judging the moral rightness of an act. 
C)  we all have our own ideas about the consequences of our acts, so morality will be different for everyone. 
D)  happiness doesn't count as much as consequences.

Question 14

An ethical hedonist will

Accepted Answer

A)  favor the pleasures of others over his or her own. 
B)  think that we all, always, pursue pleasure over anything else. 
C)  disdain pleasure in favor of ethical correctness. 
D)  count the pleasures of all as equally important. 
A)  favor the pleasures of others over his or her own. 
B)  think that we all, always, pursue pleasure over anything else. 
C)  disdain pleasure in favor of ethical correctness. 
D)  count the pleasures of all as equally important.

Question 15

What general features of an action determine whether it is morally right or wrong? Contrast this utilitarian view with Kant's account of what makes actions right or wrong.

Accepted Answer

The answer of What general features of an action determine...

Exam 22: Kierkegaard and Marx: Two Ways to Correct Hegel

Regarding justice, Mill says that

Bentham's calculus of utility

Explain the principle of utility. What makes this a moral principle, rather than just a piece of prudential or self-interested advice?

What problem is justice thought to raise for the utilitarians? How does Mill argue that there is, in the last analysis, no conflict between justice and utility?

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that it makes it impossible to understand admiration for people who act self-sacrificially?

Wollstonecraft thinks that women in her day

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that the general happiness is too high a standard?

What bad consequences do Wollstonecraft and Mill see flowing from the differential treatment of women?

Compare Kantian ethics with the ethics of utilitarianism, pointing out both similarities and differences.

Would a Kantian or a utilitarian be the best friend of women's rights? Explain your answer in some detail.

How does Mill defend utilitarianism against the charge that to take pleasure as a standard for morality is to espouse a morality for pigs?

In replying to objections that have been raised to utilitarianism, Mill states that

The basic idea of consequentialism is that

An ethical hedonist will

What general features of an action determine whether it is morally right or wrong? Contrast this utilitarian view with Kant's account of what makes actions right or wrong.

Before Philosophy: Myth in Hesiod and Homer

Philosophy Before Socrates

Appearance and Reality in Ancient India

The Sophists: Rhetoric and Relativism in Athens

Reason and Relativism in China

Socrates: to Know Oneself

The Trial and Death of Socrates

Plato: Knowing the Real and the Good

Aristotle: The Reality of the World

Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi: Virtue in Ancient China

Epicureans, Stoics, and Skeptics: Happiness for the Many

Jews and Christians: Sin, Salvation, and Love

Augustine: God and the Soul

Philosophy in the Islamic World: The Great Conversation Spreads Out

Anselm and Aquinas: Existence and Essence in God and the World

From Medieval to Modern Europe

René Descartes: Doubting Our Way to Certainty

Hobbes, Locke, and Berkeley: Materialism and the Beginnings of Empiricism

David Hume: Unmasking the Pretensions of Reason

Immanuel Kant: Rehabilitating Reason Within Strict Limits

Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel: Taking History Seriously

Moral and Political Reformers: The Happiness of All, Including Women

Friedrich Nietzsche: The Value of Existence

The Pragmatists: Thought and Action

Ludwig Wittgenstein: Linguistic Analysis and Ordinary Language

Martin Heidegger: The Meaning of Being

Simone De Beauvoir: Existentialist, Feminist

Postmodernism: Derrida, Foucault, and Rorty

Physical Realism and the Mind: Quine, Denne

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