Question 1

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

Accepted Answer

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 2

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 3

Utilitarianism reminds us that

Accepted Answer

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 4

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

Accepted Answer

The answer of To the classic utilitarian, ________ is the...

Question 5

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 6

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

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

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

Accepted Answer

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 8

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

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 9

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 10

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 11

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

Accepted Answer

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

Question 12

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

Accepted Answer

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

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

Accepted Answer

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

Exam 5: Consequentialist Theories: Maximize the Good