Deck 1: Ethical Reasoning, Moral Theories, Principles, and Bioethics

Question 1

The ethical theory most in sympathy with the ethos of Public Health is:

A) Kantian ethics
B) Emotivism
C) Objectivism
D) Utilitarianism
E) Social contract theory

Answer 1

Utilitarianism

Question 2

Which of the following is a false statement about the ethics of triage in medicine?

A) A physician at a scene calling for medical triage should not treat those who will die anyway.
B) A physician at a scene calling for medical triage should not treat those who will live anyway.
C) The ethics of triage owe their philosophical roots to utilitarianism.
D) The ethics of triage aims to maximize life.
E) Triage ethics owes its philosophical roots to ancient Greek quality-of-life ethics.

Answer 2

Triage ethics owes its philosophical roots to ancient Greek quality-of-life ethics.

Question 3

Ultimately, Kant tried to equate morality with:

A) Love
B) Humanity
C) Civility
D) Reason
E) Feeling

Answer 3

Reason

Question 4

Ancient Greek physicians adopted an ethics best described as:

A) Utilitarian
B) Role-based
C) Based on the needs of public health
D) Based on universalizable maxims
E) Based on love

Question 5

Which of these is FALSE about utilitarianism as a moral theory?

A) It defines right acts as producing the greatest good for the greatest number.
B) The greatest good may include the pain and suffering of animals.
C) Consequences matter in this theory.
D) The number of beings affected matter in this theory.
E) Virtuous character done for the sake of being virtuous matters in this theory.

Question 6

There is a breakthrough in cancer research and a new drug seems to cure anyone who takes it for a year, but it is very rare and expensive, so there is only enough for a few patients. Kantian ethical theory would favor allocating this drug according to:

A) Who would contribute most to society.
B) Who would live the longest.
C) Who had the most children dependent on him or her.
D) Who was the sickest.
E) A lottery.

Question 7

The Ethics of Care is most identified with:

A) Kant
B) John Stuart Mill
C) Bentham
D) Feminism
E) Aristotle

Question 8

Which two of these are examples of impartial ethical theories?

A) Feminist ethics and utilitarianism.
B) Kantian ethics and feminist ethics.
C) Virtue theory and feminist ethics.
D) Kantian ethics and utilitarianism.
E) Subjectivism and nihilism.

Question 9

A shipwreck has occurred in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and there was no time to radio for help. It is a thousand miles distance to Africa. Rescue may not be coming. A captain has a gun in a lifeboat but too many people want to get in and a storm approaches. If the captain follows utilitarian ethical theory he will choose to include which of the following as those who get to stay inside (and probably, to live)?

A) Only those already inside the boat with whom he has developed a caring relationship.
B) He would choose by drawing straws (use a lottery).
C) He would choose those who were the strongest (best rowers, most endurance).
D) He would give up his place to an elderly person in the water who was likely to soon drown.
E) He would not make any choice at all.

Question 10

In describing ethical theories, which of the following is true?

A) The root of "compassion" comes from a Greek phrase meaning "to compare feelings."
B) The Stoics believed in the greatest good for the greatest number, as the basis for morality.
C) Augustine quipped that life was "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
D) Kant believes that autonomy of alcoholic patients is best respected by understanding that alcoholism is a disease over which they have little free will.
E) Some forms of utilitarianism consider the suffering of animals in calculating the greatest good for the greatest number.