Deck 5: Consequentialist Theories: Maximize the Good

Question 1

Ethical egoism seems to conflict with

A) psychological egoism.
B) our considered moral judgments and our moral experience.
C) our considered moral judgments and our self-interest.
D) our moral experience and self-indulgence.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Rule-utilitarianism has been accused of being internally inconsistent because the theory can

A) easily lapse back into act-utilitarianism.
B) be defended through act-utilitarianism.
C) always fall back on rigid rules.
D) never be understood.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

John Stuart Mill says, "It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied." This sentiment is an indictment of the glutton but also a pat on the back for those who

A) make no distinction between higher and lower pleasures.
B) avoid all pleasures.
C) enjoy higher pleasures.
D) achieve the greatest quantity of pleasure.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Because people will renege on deals they enter, Hobbes believes that what is needed for enforcing the social contract is an absolute sovereign-a fearsome, powerful person he refers to as the

A) Divine Father.
B) Utility Monster.
C) Leviathan.
D) categorical imperative.

Question 5

Utilitarianism reminds us that

A) the consequences of our actions do not matter most of the time.
B) not everyone counts equally in moral deliberations.
C) some absolutist rules are necessary.
D) the consequences of our actions make a difference in our moral deliberations.

Question 6

One of the criticisms of social contract theory is that it's doubtful that those who are supposed to be parties to the contract have actually given

A) due attention to morality.
B) any thought to whether Hobbes was correct.
C) any consideration to those who are not party to the contract.
D) their consent to the terms of the contract.

Question 7

A true ethical egoist chooses actions that

A) are exceptionally altruistic.
B) lead him to self-indulgent or reckless behavior.
C) provide him with whatever he wants.
D) promote his own self-interests.

Question 8

Suppose a utilitarian judge decides to rule against a plaintiff in a lawsuit just because people in general would be happier if the plaintiff lost the case. Such a utilitarian move would conflict with

A) rule-utilitarianism.
B) commonsense views about happiness.
C) divine command theory.
D) commonsense views about justice.

Question 9

If, according to Jeremy Bentham, only the total quantity of happiness produced by an action matters, then the person closest to the moral ideal would be

A) the self-denying monk.
B) the glutton.
C) the academic scholar.
D) a disciplined soldier.

Question 10

Suppose you break your promise to visit your dying grandmother on the grounds that you can create more happiness by partying with your friends. This utilitarian view of the situation seems to conflict with our commonsense

A) view of justice.
B) view of rights.
C) view of our obligations to other people.
D) notion of utilitarian morality.

Question 11

Defenders of act-utilitarianism insist that the scenarios put forth by critics that seem to show utilitarianism in conflict with commonsense morality are

A) misleading and implausible.
B) likely to occur at least some of the time.
C) too realistic.
D) common but inconsequential.

Question 12

Some utilitarians respond to the charge that act-utilitarianism conflicts with commonsense moral intuitions by

A) switching to natural law theory.
B) rejecting commonsense morality.
C) denying that act-utilitarianism is a true moral theory.
D) rejecting rule-utilitarianism.

Question 13

Commonsense morality makes a distinction between doing our duty and doing more than duty requires, what are called supererogatory actions. This distinction seems to disappear in

A) ethical egoism.
B) social contract theory.
C) utilitarianism.
D) Kant's theory.

Question 14

Utilitarianism (in all its forms) requires that in our actions we always try to maximize utility, everyone considered. This requirement has given rise to

A) ethical egoism.
B) the no-rest problem.
C) the maximization problem.
D) the Golden Rule problem.

Question 15

Joel Feinberg argues that someone who directly pursues happiness

A) will find it faster than others.
B) is insincere.
C) is unlikely to find it.
D) is unlikely to pursue anything.

Question 16

The philosopher Thomas Hobbes says that people are naturally

A) greedy, selfish, violent, self-destructive, and desperate.
B) compassionate, generous, and considerate.
C) eager to believe in a religious doctrine.
D) lazy and unambitious.

Question 17

John Stuart Mill says that humans by nature desire happiness and nothing but happiness; therefore happiness is the standard by which we should judge human conduct, and therefore the principle of utility is at the heart of morality. But this argument is controversial, because

A) it reasons from what is to what should be.
B) it equivocates on the word "happiness."
C) it is internally inconsistent.
D) Mill failed to defend his theory.

Question 18

Suppose for someone there are only two possible actions: (1) read Aristotle, or (2) spend a weekend on a tropical isle filled with intensely pleasurable debauchery. Under these circumstances, John Stuart Mill would likely

A) spend a week in intensely pleasurable debauchery.
B) refrain from making such a choice.
C) combine reading Aristotle with debauchery.
D) read Aristotle.

Question 19

The philosopher who said that the greatest good is pleasure, and the greatest evil is pain, was

A) Kant.
B) Epicurus.
C) Aquinas.
D) Socrates.

Question 20

Consider a scenario involving the possible killing of an innocent person for the good of others. Such an action could conceivably be sanctioned by

A) Kant's theory.
B) natural law theory.
C) the means-end principle.
D) act-utilitarianism.

Question 21

Psychological egoism is a moral theory.

Question 22

Rule-egoism says that to determine the right action you must apply the egoistic principle to individual acts.

Question 23

According to social contract theory, morality comprises the social rules that are in everyone's best interests to heed.

Question 24

Utilitarianism is a moral theory for promoting human welfare.

Question 25

One of the concerns raised by critics of social contract theory is that vulnerable individuals, such as the severely disabled, the very poor, nonhuman animals, children, and infants, have no moral status and no rights according to the theory.

Question 26

Some critics of social contract theory argue that few people have ever actually consented to the terms of a social contract. Some defenders of social contract theory reply that people are much more likely to have given their

A) verbal consent.
B) implicit consent.
C) fictional consent.
D) refusal to consent.

Question 27

John Stuart Mill called the utilitarian principle, by which all actions can be judged, the ________ principle.

Question 28

________, an influential social contract theorist, attempted to determine what moral principles a society would accept if they were arrived at through a hypothetical give-and-take that was as fair and impartial as possible.

Question 29

The ethical theory that says that the right action is the one that advances one's own best interests is called ________.

Question 30

According to Hobbes, when there is a breakdown in the real world of the forces that preserve law and order, such as times of revolution, war, natural disaster, famine, and civil unrest, the human race returns to the ________, which is horrifying and gruesome.

Question 31

The doctrine that says that morality arises from an agreement that self-interested and rational people abide by in order to secure a degree of peace, prosperity, and safety is called ________.

Question 32

To the classic utilitarian, ________ is the only intrinsic good.

Question 33

When act- and rule-utilitarianism are applied to the same moral issue, they may yield different answers.