Deck 4: A Methodological Toolbox

Question 1

Are the commands of the NSPE Code of Ethics valid for the members of NSPE in an objective sense? If so, what does this mean?

Answer 1

No Answer.

Question 2

Does a professional association that revises its code of ethics construct a new set of valid moral rules? Why or why not?

Answer 2

No Answer.

Question 3

What, if anything, can we conclude from the fact that reasonable and equally well-informed moral peers sometimes disagree on what is right and wrong?

Answer 3

No Answer.

Question 4

Can moral problems (always) be resolved without ethical theories?

Question 5

Are some moral rules universally valid-that is, for everyone at all points in time and space?

Question 6

Which of the following is a conceptual claim as opposed to a factual claim?

A) Public officials have many laws governing the money they can and cannot accept.
B) Corruption is a bigger problem in government today than 30 years ago.
C) Illicit payments are legally prohibited.
D) Corrupt politicians never get away with their crimes.

Question 7

According to David Hume's is-ought thesis,

A) we can never derive a moral conclusion from a set of premises containing a bridge premise.
B) we cannot derive a moral conclusion from purely nonmoral premises.
C) all answers to moral questions are insensitive to factual information.
D) All of the above

Question 8

Which of the following inferences could serve as a bridge premise to conclude it is wrong to get your little brother to tell lies?

A) Lying is a form of untruthfulness.
B) It is wrong to tell lies.
C) Lying causes anxiety and stress for the liar.
D) Lying ruins one's reputation.

Question 9

Which of the following is not among the standard objection to ethical objectivism?

A) Ethical properties would be strange entities.
B) It is not clear how ethical properties could motivate us to act.
C) Objective truth is not possible.
D) Moral disagreement between cultures is not what we expect on hypothesis of ethical objectivism.

Question 10

An ethical expressivist would understand the sentence "It is wrong to murder" as

A) a necessarily false proposition.
B) an emphatic expression of moral truth.
C) a sentence expressing the subjective opinion of the speaker.
D) signifying the speaker's negative attitude toward murder.

Question 11

Mackie's error theory maintains

A) there are no mistakes in moral codes at the level of culture.
B) individuals cannot be mistaken in their moral commitments.
C) moral statements have truth value and all are false.
D) conscience is prone to error and requires moral education.

Question 12

An ethical constructivist would deny

A) moral statements have a truth value.
B) there are human rights.
C) moral truths are posterior to social fact.
D) moral statements are feelings we construct to navigate society.

Question 13

Which best describes the commitment of an ethical relativist?

A) The truth value of moral statements varies by cultural context.
B) There is no real right or wrong; it is all relative.
C) Morality is purely subjective opinion.
D) All moral statements are equally groundless.

Question 14

Which consideration might support particularism as best explaining how we should come to warranted conclusions about what to do in particular cases?

A) There is no agreement on which moral theory is correct, and the theories often give contradictory moral judgments.
B) Kant's theory does not care about consequences of actions.
C) Utilitarianism is impractical as a theory.
D) None of the above

Question 15

Suppose the detective knows Bob's fingerprints are found at the scene of the murder, and the detective thinks this fact is a reason to think Bob is the murderer. But suppose the detective is informed that the murder scene is where Bob goes to work every day. The detective no longer thinks the fingerprints count as evidence against Bob. The detective's reasoning is an example of

A) simple deduction.
B) reasons holism.
C) theory-centered approach.
D) pragmatic reasoning.

Question 16

Which of the following best describes domain specific principles?

A) Culture determines the domain of ethical theory.
B) A limited form of reasons holism in which a principle applies within a certain domain.
C) Utilitarianism can only be applied to the domain of criminal justice
D) Applied ethics is divided into different domains such as medical, engineering, and legal ethics.

Question 17

Ethical theories

A) make general claims about what makes right acts right and wrong ones wrong.
B) are applicable to all decisions made by engineers and everyone else, such as politicians, doctors, philosophy professors, and movie stars.
C) should be to engineering ethics what math is to the engineering sciences: a solid foundation on which precise conclusions about real-world problems can be based.
D) All of the above

Question 18

Domain-specific principles

A) are a form of particularism.
B) work on a case by case basis.
C) are an example of ethical subjectivism.
D) apply to moral issues within a given domain but not outside it.

Question 19

Which of the following is a domain-specific principle of engineering ethics?

A) Nonmaleficence
B) Justice
C) Autonomy principle
D) Beneficence

Question 20

Casuists argue that any new case where moral judgment is required can be analyzed by

A) the unique features of the case.
B) similarity to a paradigmatic case.
C) a general moral principle.
D) norms of the culture.

Question 21

One major objection to the theory-centered approach is that

A) it is very difficult to see how theories apply in most situations.
B) there is widespread disagreement as to the correct moral theory.
C) most people accept moral subjectivism.
D) All of the above

Question 22

Ethical relativism and ethical constructivism differ in what respect?

A) Constructivists accept human rights; relativists do not.
B) Constructivists thinking that ethics are constructed by reason; relativists think it comes from subject desires and affect.
C) Constructivists might think there are social facts that make ethical truths apply across all cultures; relativists think it is always relative to culture.
D) None of the above

Question 23

What is the problem with the inference from the fact that the F-150 is less fuel efficient to the moral judgment that the engineers who design the F-150 have a moral obligation to make it more fuel efficient?

A) This is a culturally relative judgment.
B) There is no bridge premise.
C) We don't know the social facts necessary to construct the relevant moral values.
D) It is classist.

Question 24

Mackie argues against ethical objectivism from the fact that

A) there is widespread moral disagreement.
B) if there are moral properties, they would be strange entities.
C) it is hard to see how moral facts would be motivating.
D) All of the above

Question 25

One problem with ethical relativism is that

A) it devolves into Subjectivism.
B) it is not clear how we can disagree with gross moral outrages like the Holocaust.
C) the value of a pickup truck is not culturally relative.
D) None of the above