Exam 4: Is Morality Relative the Variability of Norms and Values

Which of the following positions holds that there are eternal,unchanging moral laws that apply to all people,everywhere?

Which of the following,derived from John Stuart Mill,suggests that governments can legitimately create and impose laws only where it is necessary to prevent people from harming others?

Using the harm principle,a government could legitimately pass laws to prohibit murder,rape,and robbery.

Which of the following positions holds that moral beliefs vary from person to person,and that one person's beliefs and practices cannot be said to be more right (or wrong)that any other person's?

Briefly describe the difference between descriptive and prescriptive relativism.

Advocates of which of the following often appeal to the harm principle to support their position:

A pragmatist might argue that moral values and cultural practices based upon them are not representations of the truth,but are functional for people in a particular place at a particular time.

Moral relativism is the idea that:

When we claim that certain moral values or principles (e.g. ,do not steal)apply or should apply to all people,everywhere,we are saying that some values or principles are:

Providing at least one specific example,briefly describe what is meant by the term,"defensible killings."

Gambling would be considered a crime mala in se.

The argument that sodomy should be prohibited simply because it is immoral -- not because it harms anyone -- would be an example of:

Legal moralism suggests that governments can and should pass laws to prevent behaviors that are largely considered to be immoral.

Which of the following might help us develop open-mindedness and the virtue of tolerance?

Ethical objectivism would suggest that whether dishonesty is right or wrong depends upon the person doing it and the circumstances of the situation.

The logic of the idiom,"beauty is in the eye of the beholder," or the notion that,"beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them," closely resembles the logic of objectivism.

The majority of victims of honor killings across the world are women and girls.

The involuntary (against their will)hospitalization of persons who are determined to be dangerous to themselves or unable to care for themselves effectively could be considered paternalistic.

Normative or prescriptive relativism implies that we should not judge the beliefs and behaviors of other cultures.

If we were to argue that incest is universally wrong,we would be arguing that it is wrong for all people,everywhere,no matter the circumstances.