Exam #1 Study Guide – Ethical Choice

Define morality, ethics; normative, applied, and meta-ethics; cultural and individual relativism; consequentialism, ethical egoism, care ethics, utilitarianism, Moism, Confucianism, Legalism; deontology, divine command theory, natural law theory, and virtue ethics.

Mill – Definition of utilitarianism, doctrine of the swine objection, intellectual and bodily pleasures, morality as self-sacrifice objection, too high for humanity objection, not enough time objection

Kant – Why good will is the only unqualifiedly good thing, instrumental and pure reason, four categories of actions and examples illustrating them, difference between categorical and hypothetical imperatives, the universal law and end in itself formulations, why a false promise sets a double standard, why coercion and deception undermine the rationality and autonomy of the other person.

Plato – The three parts of the soul, the four virtues, and the relationship between them.

Aristotle – Why is virtue a mean between two extremes, and how does this affect moral judgment? How does Aristotle illustrate the doctrine of the mean using the virtue of bravery?

Essay Questions:

1. State which of the normative ethical theories you prefer and justify your choice by giving good reasons why this theory is preferable to the others. In the process, discuss two other theories in detail.

2. Recount in detail one of the objections to utilitarianism we read about and Mill’s response to it. Do you think that Mill’s response is successful? State another objection that you think would be more of a problem for utilitarianism.

3. Do you think that Kant is right that we are able to be act against our desires and be motivated by reason alone? Explain and justify you view, and illustrate it with at least two examples.