Exam #2 Study Guide – Ethical Choice

Introduction – see handout

Mappes

Kant’s end-in-itself formulation of the categorical imperative

Why undermining someone’s voluntary informed consent is using them in an immoral manner.

The two types of deception

Occurrent and disposition coercion, and coercive offers

The difference between an offer and a threat

How deception and each of the types of coercion undermine voluntary informed consent.

Ericcson

Why our negative attitudes about prostitution are the problem rather than prostitution itself.

The sentimentalist charge and Ericcson’s two responses to it.

The paternalistic charge and Ericcson’s response.

The ineradicability of prostitution and the harms that result from trying to outlaw it.

Punzo

Punzo’s critique of the liberal position: Uncommitted sex leads to depersonalization. What distinguishes sex from other activities.

Why a morality of aspiration is preferable to merely avoiding harms.

Existential integrity as the ethical principle guiding sexual activity.

Punzo’s view on preceremonial sex: Is he a conventionalist? Sex with love?

West

Feminist claims about the status of women in society.

Reasons why women consent to undesired sex.

Harms that may result from this.

Martin

Martin’s two arguments against the claim that nonprocreative sex is unnatural.

The other senses of unnatural and Martin’s claim that they are not morally relevant.

The possible causes of male homosexual promiscuity.

Essay Topics

1. State your view on sexual morality in relation to love, commitment, and marriage. Provide arguments to support your view and explain why your view is preferable to the other main positions.

2. Pick one of the following normative theories (Kant’s ethics, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, natural law theory) and use it to argue for liberalism, conventionalism, and the sex with love position. Then explain which of these arguments you think is the best and why.

3. Should homosexuality be illegal? State your views and defend it vigorously with evidence and arguments. How is homosexuality relevantly different than sexual acts that you think should be legal/illegal?