Deck 3: Flourishing

Question 1

Marcus Aurelius defines tranquility as __________.

A) Balance in the tripartite soul
B) Harmony with the universe
C) Good ordering of the mind
D) Quiet and calm

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Aristotle argues that right conduct is the mean between __________.

A) Excess and deficiency
B) Matter and form
C) Moral and intellectual
D) Perfect duty and approximate duty

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Aristotle defines "good" as __________.

A) That which gives pleasure
B) That at which all things aim
C) That than which there is nothing greater
D) That which the gods love

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Which of the following is most clearly advocated by Aurelius?

A) Do only that which is necessary
B) Ask God for forgiveness
C) Realize one's own importance
D) Do as many different things as one can

Question 5

Aurelius claims that men do wrong involuntarily.

Question 6

Aurelius claims that tranquility lies in the proper ordering of the mind.

Question 7

If he is right about virtue and happiness and about being "political animals," does it follow that we can only be virtuous in connection with institution, communities, and traditions that are virtuous? Why or why not?

Question 8

When Aristotle writes that we are social by nature, the Greek he used is literally that we are "political animals." Do you think that our social and political impulses and orientations go to the essence of what it means to be human? How substantively do you think we are formed by the traditions of our communities--social, economic, political, religious, and other institutions? (Note that Aristotle didn't differentiate between the social and the political as we do. For him, "political" also meant what we mean by "social.")

Question 9

As the emperor of Rome, do you think that Marcus Aurelius lived in a way consistent with his meditations? Can a rich powerful person live with the simplicity that he advocates? Would a poor or oppressed person write these meditations? Why or why not?

Question 10

What are the two kinds of virtue Aristotle describes?

A) Mortal and venial
B) Moral and immoral
C) Moral and intellectual
D) Patience and virginity

Question 11

How does Aristotle say we begin to acquire the virtues?

A) By exercising them
B) Through education
C) We are born with them
D) Reading the Bible

Question 12

Aristotle thinks that human beings have the proper purpose and goal of happiness, or a flourishing life, and that it is necessarily related to being virtuous. What do you think? Do you think that there are answers to the questions "What are people for?" or "Why are we here?"

Question 13

With which of these meditations do you agree? Why? With which do you disagree? Why?

Question 14

Aurelius was the emperor of Rome.

Question 15

Do you see various Stoic virtues in contemporary culture? If so, what are they?

Question 16

Aristotle thinks that virtue is often (not always) found someplace between the vice of extremity and the vice of deficiency and that sometimes we should incline ourselves toward either extremity or deficiency to become more virtuous. Do you think that this is a helpful way to describe virtue? Explain. Can you think of a better way?

Question 17

Aristotle agues, that properly speaking, children cannot be said to be happy.

Question 18

MacIntyre argues that a unity of character and a unity of narrative are necessary for a coherent moral life.

Question 19

Which of the following counts as a practice, according to MacIntyre?

A) Tic-tac-toe
B) Planting turnips
C) Throwing a football
D) Playing chess

Question 20

Do you agree with Aristotle that we learn to be virtuous (and vicious) and that we form moral and immoral habits by acting morally or immorally? He thinks that attaining virtue is rather difficult ("there are many ways to go bad," he writes elsewhere). Do you agree? Why or why not?

Question 21

Kallenberg says that moral reasoning is __________.

A) A communal practice
B) A universal human trait
C) A natural function of the intellect
D) An expression of emotion

Question 22

According to Kallenberg, the ability to make ethical judgments requires __________.

A) Heavy theoretical reasoning
B) The ability to see in a certain way
C) Knowledge of rules
D) The ability to play games

Question 23

Do you see the relationship between internal goods, external goods, and morality? How would you explain this relationship? Do you agree with MacIntyre's thought about this? Why or why not?

Question 24

According to Appiah, a life that exhibits the virtues is a better life because __________.

A) The acts of the virtuous have good consequences
B) The acts lead to satisfaction
C) The virtues are intrinsically worth having
D) Acting virtuously gives pleasure to the agent

Question 25

As with Aristotle (Reading 20), Kallenberg thinks that morality is developed through training and habituation. What do you think is the relationship between the tacit and habitual nature of ethics? Is there also a relationship between what Kallenberg writes about the tacit nature of ethics and what MacIntyre (Reading 22) writes about practices, narratives, goods, and traditions? How would you describe and explain these relationships?

Question 26

What does MacIntyre mean by "a unitary life"? Do you see its relationship to narrative? How would you explain this relationship? How would you explain the relationship of a unitary life, narrative, and morality?

Question 27

Appiah cites several studies indicating that an individual's behavior is often influenced more by irrelevant features of a situation than by stable traits in an individual's character.

Question 28

MacIntyre claims that a practice (we all engage in many practices) involves standards of excellence and obedience and the achievement of goods related to the practice. Do you agree that practices, as he defines them, are important aspects of ethics? Restate MacIntyre's definition of a practice in your own words. Do you see the relationship of practices to virtue?

Question 29

Appiah rejects virtue ethics on the grounds that it fails to account for a good many character traits exhibited by indigenous peoples.

Question 30

Which of the following does MacIntyre say is necessary for one to participate in a practice?

A) High intelligence
B) Subordinating oneself to authority
C) Knowledge about the practice
D) Proper upbringing

Question 31

MacIntyre says that man is essentially __________.

A) An upright bi-ped
B) A ghost in a machine
C) A thinking reed
D) A story-telling animal

Question 32

MacIntyre thinks that a unity of character and a unity of narrative are necessary for a coherent moral life. This involves, among other things, my being accountable to others and others being accountable to me. Do you think that there is an important relationship between this unity and practices, goods, and virtue? Do you think that accountability is a necessary part of morality?

Question 33

Kallenberg argues that art derives its meaning from the form of the good.

Question 34

Do you agree that the lack of justice, truthfulness, courage, and the relevant intellectual virtues always corrupt traditions? Can a tradition exist composed of injustice, deceit, cowardice, and ignorance? In short, why can't a tradition be vicious instead of virtuous?

Question 35

MacIntyre writes that we can't characterize behavior independently of intentions and we can't characterize intentions independently of settings. How do you think "settings" relate to virtue?

Question 36

Appiah accepts the claim that character traits are relatively stable across various situations, at least for adults.

Question 37

According to Kallenberg, learning to appreciate art is like apprehending the form of the beautiful.

Question 38

What "social obstacle" does MacIntyre discuss that thwarts our attempt to envisage each human life as a whole?

A) The way modernity divides each life into segments, each with its own norms and behaviors
B) The way modernity repeats the themes of antiquity
C) The way Christianity views life and the afterlife
D) All of the above

Question 39

Kallenberg argues that moral tastes develop much like artistic taste.

Question 40

Kallenberg writes, "our ability to recognize a family resemblance is more of a tacit skill than an exercise of theoretical reasoning." What does he mean by "family resemblance" and "tacit skill?" Has your moral development come about through habitual training and the recognition of family resemblances? Or has it been more of a deliberate exercise in theoretical reasoning?
e.g. skills learned through examples of others, rather than reasoning for ourselves, we're likely to emulate their misjudgments or corrupt choices.
People don't always do what they profess to be right and they don't always get it right when they do intend to do right. Furthermore, Kallenberg says, "truth can be spoken only by someone who is already at home in it." It's my opinion that no one person can possess all of the truth, that there is often more than one truth, and that truth is a cultural construction in many cases. If I tell my children that I know all truths and therefore my instruction and example are the only ones of value, and I proceed to train them to recognize only values that bear a family resemblance to my own, I've limited their ability to recognize the value in other cultures or other systems of value. Consequently I'll have trained my children to exclude from public discourse those whose cultures and values don't conform to ours. I think that Kallenberg's theory only holds up in a hypothetical perfect world where all masters are truly wise.
I have developed the majority of my own moral policies and practices, as opposed to values and habits, independently of my upbringing. I was an obedient child; however, I've always had a strong, inherent feeling that the values and practices I was raised with were skewed. As an adult I have gone in search of other truths and a multiplicity of value systems and have chosen an alternate worldview that I see as moral and ethical, both inherently and in comparison to those I was raised with. So yes, my latent moral development has most certainly been a deliberate exercise in moral theoretical reasoning (a.k.a. critical thinking).

Question 41

Elga considers positive illusions in light of a practical problem about what to believe, but positive illusions present ethical concerns as well. For example, Jonathan Haidt thinks we have the positive illusion that we reason objectively when it comes to ethical questions. What would it mean if our perception that we are being rational and objective about ethics turns out to be an illusion?

Question 42

It is clear that the poet views the unknown citizen as flourishing in the sense described by Aristotle.

Question 43

The central aim of Elga's paper is to explain how we can both hold positive illusions and retain our commitment to the view that our beliefs should be supported by evidence.

Question 44

Which of the following is an example of a positive illusion discussed by Elga?

A) People tend to rate themselves as friendlier than they really are
B) People tend to believe their children are more gifted then they really are
C) People tend to believe they are better drivers than they really are
D) All of the above

Question 45

How does Appiah view the task of ethics?

A) The task of ethics is to delineate right and wrong behavior
B) The task of ethics is to expound upon the notion of universal moral principles
C) The task of ethics is to discover what traits of character we need to live well
D) The task of ethics is to develop moral taste

Question 46

The unknown citizen is viewed as __________.

A) Thoroughly average
B) Outstanding for his intellect
C) An outstanding voice of the counter-cultural
D) A well-dressed, but unknown man

Question 47

More generally, if happiness or flourishing or mental health require illusion, are they really desirable? Does happiness require living a lie?

Question 48

What are some of the social psychology experiments Appiah cites? How are they supposed to challenge the notion of virtues? Do you give the experiments the same interpretation and relevance that Appiah does? Explain.

Question 49

How does Appiah's argument help us to see why it might be difficult to become a compassionate person? Does the evidence he provides lead to the conclusion that developing compassion as a character trait is particularly difficult? Why or why not?

Question 50

What does Elga say about our beliefs?

A) They must be supported by evidence
B) They must be coherent
C) They must be realistic
D) They must be true

Question 51

Auden notes that the unknown citizen was found by the _________.

A) Police
B) Sanitarium
C) Bureau of Stastics
D) Bureau of Investigation

Question 52

What views of happiness, virtue, and flourishing does this poem present? Explain your interpretation?

Question 53

Elga argues that possession of evidence is irrelevant to the truth of our beliefs.

Question 54

The unknown citizen is described as approving war when his country was at war and approving piece when his country established piece.

Question 55

Elga argues that maintaining illusions in the face of evidence to the contrary is a coping mechanism known as denial.

Question 56

What is the Fundamental Attribution Error, and what is its relevance for ethics?

Question 57

Recall Appiah's discussion of the power of the situation. What does this poem add to the discussion about the role of the situation?

Question 58

Compare Aristotle's doctrine of the mean with what this poem seems to be saying about being average. Do the two pieces contradict each other; or are they addressing different concerns. Explain your answer.

Question 59

How can unwarranted beliefs make us happy? If they can, what does "happiness" mean? Is being "made happy" by that which is irrational (not simply nonrational) acceptable? Why or why not? If it is acceptable to "be happy" on irrational grounds, does this endanger certain moral judgments, beliefs, decisions, and conduct? Might we be led to endorse actions that seem immoral simply because they "make us happy"?

Question 60

Do you think someone deserves praise for performing an act of kindness if it can be shown that the situation explains the action better than the character of the person? Why or why not? Explain carefully how the situationist and the globalist would answer this question.

Question 61

Auden's poem portrays a faithful and dutiful citizen. Many people believe morality requires good citizenship, or at least that good citizenship is generally part of an ethical life. Is there anything that seems morally troubling to you in this poem? If so, what is it? Why?

Question 62

This poem can also be read as a reflection of convention, of the status quo. Do you read a sense of regret and tragedy in Auden's voice? If so, why might he feel this way about the ordinary life of this unknown citizen? Is there something morally stifling about such ordinariness? Does an ethical life demand that we make adventurous and countercultural choices?