Deck 8: Utilitarianism: The Greatest Happiness Principle

Question 1

According to John Stuart Mill, a utilitarian theorist, which of the following are the only things worth desiring?

A) wisdom and the truth about the nature of reality
B) changing the course of society and human evolution
C) pleasure and freedom from pain
D) wealth and property

Answer 1

pleasure and freedom from pain

Question 2

Which of the following expressions would you most likely hear utilitarians use to justify their actions?

A) "To each his own."
B) "My country, right or wrong."
C) "The ends justify the means."
D) "It's all relative."

Answer 2

"The ends justify the means."

Question 3

Utilitarian theories are _____, which indicates that the outcome or consequences of one's actions are more important than one's intentions.

A) universalist
B) consequentialist
C) normative
D) objective

Answer 3

consequentialist

Question 4

According to Mo Tzu, the principle of love:

A) applies primarily to filial relationships.
B) requires that we respect tradition and authority.
C) applies universally and equally to all people.
D) is the passive aspect of the Tao.

Question 5

Jeremy Bentham developed the utilitarian calculus, which is a method of determining which actions are morally preferable by:

A) democratically selecting an action based on the opinions of others.
B) weighing the costs and the benefits of each action.
C) calculating how quickly each action will produce results.
D) selecting an appropriate compromise between pain and pleasure.

Question 6

Which of the following theories gives moral consideration to cats, coyotes, and humans equally?

A) utilitarianism
B) Noddings' care ethics
C) deontology
D) natural law ethics

Question 7

Which of the following factors should be taken into consideration when performing Bentham's utilitarian calculus?

A) the intensity of the pleasure
B) the quality of the pleasure
C) the opinion of the majority
D) the simplicity of the pleasure

Question 8

Which of the following two philosophers had the greatest influence on Bentham's formulation of his utilitarian theory?

A) Ayn Rand and Thomas Hobbes
B) John Stuart Mill and Lawrence Kohlberg
C) David Hume and Epicurus
D) Mo Tzu and Peter Singer

Question 9

John Stuart Mill agreed with Jeremy Bentham on which of the following points?

A) A woman's place is in the home.
B) People should do what is in their own self-interest.
C) Legislation and morality should be kept separate.
D) Tradition is one of the main causes of unhappiness.

Question 10

According to John Stuart Mill, it is better to be:

A) a happy pig than an unhappy human.
B) an unhappy pig than a happy slave.
C) an unhappy human than a happy pig.
D) happy and in pain than unhappy and without pain.

Question 11

In his essay "Utilitarianism," Mill held this up as embodying the "complete spirit of the ethics of utility."

A) Aquinas's natural law ethics
B) Buddha's Doctrine of the Mean
C) the golden rule of Jesus of Nazareth
D) Bentham's categorical imperative

Question 12

The 1995 Maternal and Infant Health Care Law is a Chinese law that bans marriages between couples "with certain genetic diseases of a serious nature" unless they agree to sterilization or long-term contraception. The law also requires doctors to "advise"
Parents to abort if an abnormality is detected in the fetus. The state justifies this law as a measure to "shed some of the economic burden"
Of caring for disabled people. This justification is based on which metaethical theory?

A) Kantian deontology
B) Buddhist ethics
C) care ethics
D) utilitarianism

Question 13

In the current debate over the morality of stem cell research, a utilitarian would most likely hold that:

A) the research's morality should be based on what the majority of people feel is right.
B) stem cell research is immoral because it is a violation of natural law.
C) stem cell research is immoral because an embryo is potentially a rational person and, as such, has rights.
D) stem cell research is moral since the potential benefits outweigh any harm to nonsentient embryos.

Question 14

In the context of utilitarian ethics, the act of painlessly bringing about the death of a person who is suffering from a terminal or incurable disease or condition is known as _____.

A) speciesism
B) apotheosis
C) nonmaleficence
D) euthanasia

Question 15

Which of the following arguments might a utilitarian use to support or oppose capital punishment?

A) Capital punishment should not be legal because all humans have intrinsic moral value.
B) Capital punishment should not be legal because it is costly and has no deterrent effect on crime.
C) Capital punishment should be legalized because it is the only appropriate punishment for the crime of murder.
D) Capital punishment should be legalized because the majority of people in the United States favor the death penalty.

Question 16

Which of the following considerations has the utilitarian concept of justice been criticized for failing to take into account?

A) individual integrity and personal responsibility
B) impartiality
C) equality between humans and animals
D) actions that bring about the greatest social good

Question 17

Which of the following prima facie duties would a utilitarian accept as morally binding?

A) reparation
B) gratitude
C) nonmaleficence
D) fidelity

Question 18

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"It is quite compatible with the principle of utility to recognize the fact that some kinds of pleasure are more desirable and more valuable than others."

A) Jeremy Bentham
B) John Stuart Mill
C) Mo Tzu
D) John Rawls

Question 19

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"The interest of the community is one of the most general expressions that can occur in the phraseology of morals... The interest of the community then is, what?-the sum of the interests of the several members who compose it."

A) Ayn Rand
B) Jeremy Bentham
C) Ruth Benedict
D) Thomas Aquinas

Question 20

Identify the person who said each of the following.

-"Sexists violate the principle of equality by favoring the interests of their own sex. Similarly speciesists allow the interests of their own species to override the greater interests of members of other species. The pattern is identical in each case."

A) Peter Singer
B) Nel Noddings
C) Lawrence Kohlberg
D) Jack Kevorkian