Deck 2: Normative Theories of Ethics

Question 1

Which of the following considerations about utilitarianism is correct?

A) The great 19th century utilitarians, Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, believed that pleasure and happiness were different things.
B) Unlike Mill, Bentham was only concerned with the amount of pleasure that an action produces, not the quality of the pleasure.
C) Act utilitarianism and rule utilitarianism boil down to the same thing.
D) Utilitarians believe that we can't compare one person's happiness with that of another.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following represents a utilitarian belief?

A) Rightness is determined by what most people want, i.e., by majority rule.
B) Rightness is determined by what will bring about the most good.
C) We should concern ourselves only with the immediate results of our actions.
D) We must always disregard our own happiness when deciding what to do.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Utilitarianism is appealing as a standard for moral decision making in business. Which of the following provides a reason for this?

A) Utilitarianism provides an objective way of resolving conflicts of self-interest.
B) Utilitarianism provides a rigid approach to moral decision making.
C) Utilitarianism provides a fuzzy standard for formulating and testing policies.
D) Utilitarianism gives us firm rules to follow, rules that don't permit exceptions.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is true regarding Immanuel Kant's beliefs?

A) He defended a consequentialist theory of right and wrong.
B) He believed that all duties are prima facie duties.
C) He believed that moral principles rest on empirical data, on observation and experiment.
D) He believed that reason by itself can reveal the basic principles of morality.

Question 5

According to Kant

A) good will is the only thing that is good in itself.
B) an action has moral worth if it is consistent with the categorical imperative.
C) only actions based on feeling or sentiment have moral worth.
D) a self-interested person can never do the right action.

Question 6

"If you want to go to law school, then you must take the LSAT exam." This statement is an example of

A) the transcendental imperative.
B) the categorical imperative.
C) a hypothetical imperative.
D) irrational behavior.

Question 7

Supererogatory actions are

A) actions that are normally wrong to do, but can sometimes be right.
B) actions that it would be good to do but not immoral not to do.
C) actions that we are morally required to do, all things considered.
D) actions that are wrong even though they produce some good.

Question 8

Rule utilitarians

A) believe that the optimal moral code will not normally produce 100% compliance.
B) believe that the optimal moral code would consist of only one rule, namely, always act so as to maximize happiness.
C) assume that everyone will always follow the rules, all the time.
D) believe that an action is wrong if it fails to maximize happiness.

Question 9

Nonconsequentialists like Ross believe that

A) we have no obligation to promote general welfare.
B) utilitarianism doesn't require us to sacrifice as much as we should to help other people.
C) morality permits each of us a sphere in which to pursue our own plans and goals.
D) people's so-called "moral rights" are unimportant when determining the right course of action.

Question 10

Which of the following statements is true regarding human rights?

A) Human rights are equal rights; if X is a human right, then everyone has this right.
B) Human rights are transferable and thus "alienable".
C) Human rights rest on particular roles and special relationships.
D) Human rights are not natural but are always grounded in a specific legal or political system.

Question 11

Kant believed that we should always act

A) in such a way that we can will the maxim of our action to be a local law.
B) in a way that treats success as an end in itself, never merely as means.
C) in a way that would be universally unacceptable to all rational beings.
D) in a way that we can will the maxim of our action to become a universal law.

Question 12

According to W. D. Ross's theory

A) a prima facie obligation is absolute and can never be overridden.
B) what we should do in any specific set of circumstances will always be self-evident.
C) it would be wrong to lie to a murderer even to save the life of a friend.
D) we have various moral duties that can't be reduced to a single, overarching obligation.

Question 13

Imagine a shopkeeper who is honest because being honest is good for business. When the shopkeeper refrains from cheating a customer, Kant would say this action

A) was wrong because its motive was impure.
B) was in accordance with duty, but not done from duty.
C) displayed a high level of moral worth.
D) shows that he was following the categorical imperative.

Question 14

According to the utilitarian theory, an action is morally right if and only if

A) it makes the person who does it happy.
B) everyone prefers that action to any other action.
C) it maximizes total, net happiness.
D) it brings only happiness and causes no pain.

Question 15

Consequentialism

A) is best represented by Ross's theory of ethics.
B) states that sometimes the consequences of our actions can be morally relevant.
C) states that the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.
D) differs from nonconsequentialism because nonconsequentialism denies that consequences have any moral significance.

Question 16

The case of the "deathbed promise" shows that

A) utilitarianism may lead to conclusions that conflict with commonsense morality.
B) keeping your promises never maximizes happiness.
C) it was wrong to have made the promise in the first place.
D) utilitarianism boils down to egoism.

Question 17

Utilitarians believe that

A) knowledge, friendship, and aesthetic satisfaction are intrinsically valuable (or inherently good).
B) we can predict with certainty the future consequences of our actions.
C) an action that leads to unhappiness is morally right if any other action that you could have performed instead would have brought about even more unhappiness.
D) an action can't be right if the people who are made happy by it are outnumbered by the people who are made unhappy by it.

Question 18

If you adopt ethical egoism as your moral code, then

A) you can never act honestly or be gracious or helpful to others.
B) you must endorse hedonism.
C) you must always avoid any unpleasant or painful experiences.
D) you believe that it is morally right to do whatever promotes your self-interest.

Question 19

The statement that best defines rights is

A) all moral rights are legal rights.
B) a negative right is a right to receive certain benefits.
C) a right is an entitlement to act or to have others act in a certain way.
D) all moral rights are human rights.

Question 20

Egoism as a psychological theory

A) states that self-interest is the only thing that ever motivates anyone.
B) is the same thing as ethical egoism.
C) states that people are sometimes selfish.
D) is based on egoism as an ethical theory.

Question 21

For those who are trying to make moral decisions,

A) it is impossible to make progress on controversial ethical issues unless everyone shares the same moral theory.
B) endorsing a moral principle doesn't require you to apply it in all similar situations.
C) moral judgments don't have to be related to some general moral principles.
D) in a moral discussion, clarifying the facts and spelling out the principles to which people are appealing can help us to reach a solution.

Question 22

Nonconsequentialist theories of ethics never consider the consequences of an action or rule when making a moral judgment.

Question 23

Which of the following is true regarding utilitarian beliefs?

A) Utilitarians wish to maximize happiness not simply immediately, but in the long run as well.
B) Utilitarians contend that we can determine with certainty what the future consequences of our present actions will be.
C) When choosing among possible actions, utilitarianism requires us to disregard our own happiness.
D) For the hedonistic utilitarian, knowledge, friendship, and aesthetic satisfaction are inherently good.

Question 24

According to W. D. Ross, we have immediate intuitive knowledge of the basic prima facie moral obligations/principles.

Question 25

Normative theories of ethics propose some principle or principles for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions.

Question 26

When a utilitarian like Jeremy Bentham advocates "the greatest happiness for the greatest number," we must consider unhappiness or pain as well as happiness.

Question 27

According to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, pleasure is the one thing that is intrinsically good or worthwhile.

Question 28

A practical basis for discussing moral issues involves taking account of

A) effects, ideals, and obligations.
B) effort, duties, and organization.
C) compassion, intellect, and patience.
D) compliance, contribution, and consequences.

Question 29

The rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights are positive rights, not negative rights.

Question 30

A key idea of Immanuel Kant's ethical theory is that:

A) all duties are prima facie duties.
B) the moral permissibility of our actions depends entirely upon their consequences.
C) we should treat people as ends in themselves, never merely as means.
D) only pleasure has intrinsic value.

Question 31

Egoists only do what they feel like doing.

Question 32

Rule utilitarianism applies the utilitarian standard, not to individual actions, but to moral codes as a whole.

Question 33

All moral rights are legal rights.

Question 34

The view that equates morality with self-interest is egoism.

Question 35

The only accurate statement about consequentalism is:

A) Utilitarianism is a nonconsequentialist ethical theory.
B) Utilitarianism is an egoistic normative theory.
C) Consequentialism says that the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.
D) Nonconsequentialists deny that consequences have any moral significance.

Question 36

Adam Smith made the point that individual pursuit of self-interest (egoistic conduct), even when subject to rules and constraints, always undermines the utilitarian goal of producing the most good for all.

Question 37

Richard Brandt defends a form of act utilitarianism.

Question 38

The connection between rights and duties is that, generally speaking, if you have a right to do something, then someone else has a correlative duty to act in a certain way.

Question 39

According to Immanuel Kant, moral reasoning is based on observation.

Question 40

By "maxim," Immanuel Kant meant the subjective principle of an action, the principle that people in effect formulate in determining their conduct.

Question 41

Immanuel Kant believed that prostitution was immoral because, by selling their sexual services, prostitutes allow themselves to be treated as only a means to an end.

Question 42

W. D. Ross denied that we have immediate, intuitive knowledge of the basic prima facie obligations.

Question 43

Jeremy Bentham thought that a community is no more than the individuals who compose it and that the interests of the community are simply the sum of the interests of its members.

Question 44

Immanuel Kant believed that it is only when we act out of empathy for others that our actions have moral worth.

Question 45

A hypothetical imperative tells us to act as we would want everyone to act in that situation.

Question 46

A supererogatory act is an act that would be good to do, but not doing it is not wrong.

Question 47

According to Adam Smith, if business is left to pursue its self-interest, the good of society will be compromised and harmed.

Question 48

A prima facie obligation is an obligation that can be overridden by a more important obligation.

Question 49

One feature about utilitarianism that makes it appealing as a standard for moral decisions in business and nonbusiness organizations is that it provides a clear and straightforward basis for formulating and testing policies.

Question 50

Ethical egoism says that human beings are, as a matter of fact, so constructed that they must behave selfishly.