Ethical Analysis of Issues Part 2

Question 1

Epicurus theorized that upon death we no longer exist and so should not fear the ____.

Answer 1

Gods

Explanation:

Epicurus believed that there is nothingness upon death; we cannot feel anything and hence should not fear the gods.

Question 2

The greatest pleasures according to Epicurus could be attained through a life of simplicity and moderation in order to achieve ___________, whereas excessive desire soon escalates, leading to dissatisfaction and pain.

Answer 2

tranquility

Explanation:

Epicurus felt that a simple and moderate life would bring tranquility and hence maximum pleasure.

Question 3

According to Epicurus, by committing __________, tranquility will be sacrificed and hence happiness.

Answer 3

injustices

Explanation:

Where injustices are carried out, there will always be the fear of reprisals or being discovered as the perpetrator.

Question 4

The basic moral principle for _________________ is that if the good consequences of an action outweigh the bad consequences, then the act is morally right.

Answer 4

consequentialists

Explanation:

This is the thinking of consequentialists and it partly stems from commonsense morality which means that you use your commonsense to determine if an act is morally right or wrong.

Question 5

In war, if the killing of civilians resulted in a positive outcome, a ________________ would conclude that killing civilians is not inherently wrong, but a deontologist would disagree.

Answer 5

consequentialist

Explanation:

Deontologists believe that if something is inherently wrong, its always wrong regardless of the outcome. Immanuel Kant was the first philosopher to define deontological principles.

Question 6

Deontological moral thinking is duty-based and also emphasizes the ___________ behind our actions.

Answer 6

motivations

Explanation:

To make the right moral choices, we must understand the rules that govern our moral duties. So, we behave morally when we follow our duties and behave immorally when we do not. However, this is inadequate as our motivations must also be correct and pure.

Question 7

In his book The Philosophy of Loyalty (1908), Josiah Royce contended that loyalty was the cohesive principle of all _______ behavior and social practice.

Answer 7

ethical

Explanation:

Royce, a deontologist, believed that loyalty linked the individual to the community and that each man should identify and commit himself to a cause that would advance the good of all.

Question 8

According to American philosopher ____________, adult children do not have any moral obligation to support their elderly parents.

Answer 8

Jane English

Explanation:

English believed that parents voluntarily sacrificed for their children, and because the children never requested this sacrifice they do not incur a moral responsibility to reciprocate when their parents are old and need care. According to English, children owe their parents nothing.

Question 9

The political and social norms of the early eighteenth century were heavily questioned by members of the ____________ movement known as The Enlightenment.

Answer 9

intellectual

Explanation:

The Enlightenment principles led people to seek self governance with an emphasis on liberty and individual rights.

Question 10

The Age of Enlightenment was a time when it was widely believed that human reason could remedy problems of the past and create a _______ government. People believed that they could correct the errors of their ways if the errors were pointed out to them.

Answer 10

utopian

Explanation:

Sometimes known by its detractors as the Enlightenment Project, Enlightenment developed simultaneously in many European countries and spread across much of the western world. The later years of the Enlightenment were called The Age of Reason.

Question 11

______________ is a philosophical theory that states that the moral course of action is the one which maximizes the total well-being of all humans, each of whom have an equal right to be included.

Answer 11

Utilitarianism

Explanation:

To a Utilitarian, it would be morally correct to break an oath of confidentiality when it would protect his life or the life of others, and when breaking the oath were an action that would be supported by the general public.

Question 12

Utilitarianism is a ________________ (consequentialist or deontologist?)morality because it considers how much pleasure and pain results from an action.

Answer 12

consequentialist

Explanation:

A consequentialist defines the rightness of an act based on its outcome.

Question 13

________________ defines the greatest happiness principle as holding actions right in proportion where they promote happiness and wrong where they promote the reverse.

Answer 13

John Stuart Mill

Question 14

____ distinguished between the higher and lower pleasures and believed that most people would prefer the former.

Answer 14

Mill

Explanation:

Mill believed that humans are different from animals and therefore would prefer the higher pleasures which involve our mental faculties.

Question 15

In his book, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill claims that governments have the moral right to limit peoples liberty only when it is necessary to prevent them from harming ______.

Answer 15

others

Explanation:

This is called Mills Harm Principle, where competent individuals (not insane or children) are free to decide about activities which may be harmful to themselves (i.e. smoking, drinking, mountain climbing, etc) without government intervention.

Question 16

Mill propounded the view that competent individuals should have the freedom to take part in _________ activities and the government should not prohibit these activities.

Answer 16

dangerous

Explanation:

Mill believed that individuals could decide for themselves, as they are aware of the risks of injury.

Question 17

Jeremy Bentham theorized that an act is only morally wrong if it reduced _______ happiness.

Answer 17

overall

Explanation:

This is the principle of utility as defined by Bentham.

Question 18

Based on Benthams theory, it would be possible to have several ___________ actions available to an agent that could be morally right and this position can be described as negative act utilitarianism.

Answer 18

alternative

Explanation:

This is the definition of negative act utilitarianism. Act utilitarianism is defined as the morally right act and the one that will bring the greatest increase in overall well-being.

Question 19

Middle class liberals of the eighteen hundreds did not believe in universal ________.

Answer 19

suffrage

Explanation:

Although liberals believed all people were entitled to equal civil rights, they did not support equal political rights. Middle class liberals did not want to share power with the lower classes and instead supported limiting the right to vote and hold office to those who owned property.

Question 20

___ utilitarianism does not assess the moral rightness or wrongness of the types of acts.

Answer 20

Act

Explanation:

This is because act utilitarians will say it depends on the circumstances. For example, if you ask an act utilitarian if capital punishment is morally right or wrong, they will answer that it depends on the individual circumstances of each case.

Question 21

Rule utilitarianism states that individuals should follow the correct moral rules based on the test of total well-being and where these rules conflict, we should revert to ___ utilitarianism.

Answer 21

Act

Question 22

Bentham is a ____________ utilitarianist whereas Mill is a rule utilitarianist.

Answer 22

negative act

Explanation:

Mills utilitarianism is rule based and the rule being that the correct moral action is the one that produces the most desirable results.

Question 23

The utilitarian principle has external sanctions such as fear of punishment from the ruler, and ________ sanctions, which essentially entail the conscience of the individual.

Answer 23

internal

Explanation:

This is the most critical and extreme sanction the one where we judge our own standards of behavior.

Question 24

Bentham devised an algorithm called the hedonistic or __________________ to calculate the quantity of happiness that an action would produce that would act as a gauge of the moral rightness of an action.

Answer 24

felicific calculus

Question 25

A system in which women are subordinate to men is called a __________.

Answer 25

patriarchy

Explanation:

The economic, legal and social status of women throughout history has been subordinate to men.

This system where the men hold a disproportionately large share of the power is called a patriarchy.

Question 26

________ is the political theory that proposes that men and women are equal in the way that they should be treated and in the responsibilities and rights that they should have.

Answer 26

Feminism

Explanation:

The goal of feminism is to change society and liberate women from male oppression.

Question 27

The term feminist ethics can be defined as a revision of elements of entrenched _______ ethics that devalues morality from a feminine perspective.

Answer 27

western

Explanation:

Traditionally, women have been viewed as less moral than men as their perspective is seen as emotional and caring as opposed to rule and duty based.

Question 28

Carol Gilligan believed that women’s decisions are not based on abstract concepts of morality but on the _____________ they build.

Answer 28

relationships

Explanation:

Carol Gilligan believed that women lean more towards the love and care mentality when it comes to morality rather than the justice mentality followed by men.

Question 29

Standard ethics is dominated by moral rules of non-____________ with an individuals life and restrictions on aggression.

Answer 29

interference

Explanation:

The male perspective is that society will have many individuals desiring and fighting over limited resources and so it is necessary to contain any violent conflicts. For example, the rules from the Ten Commandments not to kill or steal.

Question 30

The proponents of an ethic of care believe that through mutual interdependence, ________ empower the individual giving him or her a cognitive ability to understand a situation that may not be apparent to another adopting the justice approach.

Answer 30

emotions

Explanation:

By tapping into our emotional self, a compassionate and sensitive perspective will be obtained that may enable individuals to understand situations outside the mere scope of rules and duties.

Question 31

_____________ believes that western ethics shortchanges women in 5 ways; namely, that it takes only a small account of women’s interests and rights, excludes moral conundrums that arise in a woman’s world, defines women as morally underdeveloped as compared to men, overvalues male traits such as independence and undervalues feminine traits such as emotion, and prefers culturally male methods of moral reasoning.

Answer 31

Alison Jagger

Explanation:

Many philosophers have considered women to be morally inferior including Kohlberg and Aristotle.

Question 32

Philosophers such as ____________ believe that a caring person will try to resolve conflicts through compromise in an attempt to create a just and fair solution for all.

Answer 32

Rita Manning

Explanation:

Manning reveals the difference between the care and justice approaches instead of deciding which rule to apply (justice approach), the person adopting the care approach would try to seek alternative solutions to satisfy all.

Question 33

The basis of _________ ethics is psychology, so that in an organized personality, will and reason operate in harmony.

Answer 33

Aristotles

Question 34

According to Aristotle, the goal for all humans is happiness, which he classified as a rational activity, possessed with _____.

Answer 34

Arete

Question 35

Aristotle believed in the concept of _______ so that individuals should not be discriminated against for irrelevant reasons.

Answer 35

justice

Explanation:

Aristotle felt that justice was a virtue and believed in the principle of equality.

Question 36

Aristotles system of ethics is based around his empirical theory of the doctrine of the ____.

Answer 36

mean

Explanation:

Aristotle believed that ethics was a constantly shifting science as human behavior and motivations are variable. Hence, he devised a system whereby the correct course of action would be the mean (average). So, for courage, one extreme would be foolhardiness and the other cowardice. The correct course would be somewhere between the two.

Question 37

Aristotle felt that some moral laws were ________; for example, the prohibition against murder and theft.

Answer 37

absolute

Explanation:

Despite not having any hard and fast moral rules, Aristotle believed some rules to be inviolable.

Question 38

Aristotle propounded that by using the Doctrine of the Mean, actions could be determined according to the _____________ of each situation and therefore would promote equity.

Answer 38

circumstances

Explanation:

Aristotle believed that this method promoted a fair and equitable outcome for the parties involved.

Question 39

For Aristotle, the highest good is virtuous activity, but that may be _______ if other such goods, such as friendship and power are lacking.

Answer 39

reduced

Explanation:

An individual who is lacking in these goods may encounter difficulty in sourcing virtuous activities.

Question 40

Aristotle felt that where an individual ___________ assesses the merits of an action before executing it, that individual can be reasonably held responsible for their moral actions.

Answer 40

voluntarily

Explanation:

The individual must not be coerced into making a decision. He or she must have exercised their free will.

Question 41

Aristotle singled out ________ as the intellectual thinking process that resulted in the individual acting correctly after taking into account their desires and the moral outcome.

Answer 41

prudence

Explanation:

Another way to say this is practical intelligence.

Question 42

Aristotle believed that _____ excellence comes about as the result of habit.

Answer 42

moral

Explanation:

Aristotle believed that people can change and shape their own character–that we become brave by doing brave acts, just by doing just acts and temperate by doing temperate acts.

Question 43

Aristotle propounded that there were 2 forms of justice, namely _________ and particular justice.

Answer 43

universal

Explanation:

Particular justice refers to distributive and rectification justice. The former allows for the correction of individual wrongs by society and the latter amends unfair division between 2 individuals. Universal justice is that which is lawful and right for all.

Question 44

Two elements of Aristotles political teaching affected political institutions for many centuries: his justification of _______ and his condemnation of usury.

Answer 44

slavery

Explanation:

Aristotle believed that some people are so inferior that it is better for them to be under the rule of a kindly master than to be left to their own devices. He also believed that money was meant to be used for exchange, not to increase at interest.

Question 45

Socrates is best known for believing in following through on your beliefs even though everyone else thinks that you are wrong and pursuing knowledge even when _______.

Answer 45

opposed

Question 46

According to Socrates, virtue is _________.

Answer 46

knowledge

Explanation:

He believed that if you knew what was good, then you would always do good acts and if you do wrong, then you do not know what good actually is.

Question 47

Socrates propounded that one should never commit a crime nor should one disobey the _____.

Answer 47

state

Explanation:

In the Crito, written by Plato, Socrates friend Crito comes to convince Socrates to escape certain death and instead live in exile. The plan of escape was sound and practically foolproof, but Socrates refused–not because he was concerned that he would be caught, but because he disagreed with the reasons for escape.

Question 48

_____, in his dialogue Crito, introduced the concept of the Social Contract, whereby a citizen is obligated to obey the laws of the city.

Answer 48

Plato

Explanation:

In Platos Crito, Socrates is condemned to death and is offered a chance to escape but refuses as doing so would violate his obligation to the city. This is the first appearance of what a later age will call Social Contract Theory.

Question 49

The story of the Ring of Gyges from _____’s Republic, is a tale told by Glaucon to illustrate that justice is merely a preventative tool and injustice is more profitable. However, Plato refutes this argument on the grounds that one will never achieve a happy, virtuous existence without the principle of justice.

Answer 49

Plato

Explanation:

The Ring of Gyges made the shepherd Gyges invisible so that he could do anything he wanted without fear of capture, so he murdered the King. In this dialogue, Glaucon argued that any man in his position would do the same.

Question 50

In “The Republic”, Plato discusses his idea of the _____ government.

Answer 50

ideal

Explanation:

In The Republic, written by Plato, he describes the ideal government, which is neither a democracy nor a communist state, but rather a state ruled by the highly educated, who are forced to live in poverty with no possessions.

Question 51

Plato believed that justice was achieved when a society’s various ______________ performed their duties and lived in perfect harmony.

Answer 51

social classes

Explanation:

Plato felt that true justice could only be achieved when the 3 social classes of the rulers, soldiers and people performed their individual roles satisfactorily and did not try to usurp the roles of others.

Question 52

The 3 social classes had to be blessed with certain virtues in order for society to run smoothly and justly, and these are wisdom for rulers, courage for soldiers, and __________ for the people.

Answer 52

moderation

Explanation:

Since the rulers made decisions about the operation of the society, they needed wisdom to make unbiased decisions and to make assessments about their society.

Question 53

In The Republic, Plato stated that individuals have 3 souls; namely, the rational, ________, and appetitive souls, that had to be working in harmony to make the individual just.

Answer 53

spirited

Explanation:

The spirited soul is our will. It enables us to lead our lives the way our rational soul has dictated. The rational soul is our capability to reason and our appetitive soul is our will power.

Question 54

On the issue of liberty and freedom, Plato felt that the _____ was a happy medium between slavery and license.

Answer 54

ideal

Explanation:

License describes a situation of excess liberty. There would be chaos and a lack of law and order, which means that the people are not really free at all because they would be victims of force and dominated by the strong.

Question 55

For Plato, _______ is achievable even when social controls are in place if the people participate in making or enforcing the laws and the laws are not unduly restrictive, unreasonable or irrational.

Answer 55

liberty

Explanation:

By having a hand in making the laws, we are exercising a degree of our liberty in determining what social controls we are subject to.

Question 56

According to ____________, in every case, the laws are made by the ruling party in its own interests.

Answer 56

Thrasymachus

Explanation:

Thrasymachus further said that by making these laws, the ruling class defines justice. This position is often represented by the slogan Might makes right.

Question 57

According to Socrates, no ruler acts for his own interests but instead acts only for the best interests of his ________.

Answer 57

subjects

Explanation:

In Platos Republic, Socrates said this in response to Thrasymachus who believed that rulers make laws only to protect their own self interests.

Question 58

Thucydides was a Greek historian and author of the History of the _____________ War, which chronicles the struggle between Athens and Sparta in the 5th century BC.

Answer 58

Peloponnesian

Explanation:

Thucydides is primarily known for his historical account of the Peloponnesian War in which he examines the nature of Athens and the ethical consequences of conflict. Thucydides work was the first recorded political and moral analysis of a nation’s military policies.

Question 59

Thucydides drew a critical distinction between internal politics and foreign policy relations in that for the latter situation, moral judgments are almost ____________.

Answer 59

non-existent

Explanation:

In a state, the individuals form a social contract with the rulers where some of their freedoms are sacrificed in return for state protection. Hence, both strong and weak citizens are afforded equal legal and ethical protection.

Question 60

According to Thucydides, individuals are _______ and not moderated by moral rules.

Answer 60

selfish

Explanation:

Thucydides had a very cynical viewpoint on human nature. He felt that humans are too self-interested in achieving glory rather than being bound by moral rules.

Question 61

Ayn Rand is a philosopher who believed that individuals must exist for their own _____________ in order to achieve greatest happiness, which is the highest moral purpose in life.

Answer 61

self-interest

Explanation:

Rand believed that one should never sacrifice neither himself to others nor sacrifice others to himself.

Question 62

The main difficulty with Rands philosophy is that she seems to propound that one should never _____ another.

Answer 62

serve

Explanation:

As human beings, we are fairly dependent on our governments and each other. We rely on our parents when we are children and on others to shop for us, pick up our dry cleaning, look after our children at day care, and so on.

Question 63

David Hume was a Scottish philosopher who believed that our moral actions were guided not by reason but by our ________.

Answer 63

feelings

Explanation:

Hume believed that when we performed a virtuous act, we received a feeling of pleasure and on performing a vicious act, we would receive a feeling of pain. Hence, experience teaches us to avoid vicious acts.

Question 64

Hume believed that the possession of virtues was in the self-interest of the possessor and promoted social harmony, but our understanding of virtues and vices is not driven by self-interest but by ___________ and sympathy.

Answer 64

benevolence

Explanation:

Hume felt that everyone had some benevolent feelings towards others as no one could completely ignore the pleasure or pain another was experiencing.

Question 65

________________ wrote the Declaration of Independence in which he stated that all men were created equal, had the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and that these rights were self-evident.

Answer 65

Thomas Jefferson

Explanation:

By this, he meant that these rights were inalienable and did not have to be proven–it was clear that all men had these rights.

Question 66

According to Thomas Jefferson, ___________ are instituted among men to secure the unalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Answer 66

governments

Explanation:

This was stated by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence. This indicates that the people had to clearly affirm their wishes on whom they wanted to be governed by. The legitimacy of government came from the consent of the people.

Question 67

According to the ______________, political freedoms include essential democratic rights such as freedom of speech, expression, information, association, assembly and the media

Answer 67

United Nations

Explanation:

The right to political participation is included in the UNs Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Question 68

According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), decisions relating to children fall under the Principle of _____________.

Answer 68

Best Interest

Explanation:

Article 3 states: “In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration…”