Reference no: EM132467526

Questtion Discussion 1: If Aristotle is right about the existence of the highest good, which of the following must also be correct?

A. Human beings could never obtain it; they are not perfect.

B. Every good action must be an action directed towards the highest good.

C. The highest good looks the exact same in all persons.

D. The highest good depends on your upbringing.

QUESTION Discussion 2: According to Aristotle, wealth or money cannot be happiness because ___________.

A. money is an instrumental good; it has no value in itself

B. None of the above

C. even the wicked can be wealthy

D. wealth might corrupt one's character

QUESTION Discussion 3: James says that AU is a bad theory because it takes too much time to calculate whether or not will give us the greatest amount of pleasure.
James is ___________________.

A. Right. AU disregards our gut feelings which are important in making moral decisions.

B. Wrong. AU would take into account that spending too much time calculating pleasure would actively decrease our pleasure.

C. Right. AU often leads to inaction and missed opportunities.

D. Wrong. AU is right because we might need the extra time to figure out what is the right thing to do.

QUESTION Discussion 4: According to Aristotle, ___________.

A. we should expect the same precision in ethics that we expect in mathematics

B. we can discover a set of finite rules that will tell us what we ought to do in every circumstance of life

C. the moral life is complex and messy; therefore, we shouldn't expect to find a finite set of rules that will tell us what we ought to do in every circumstance of life

D. none of the above

QUESTION Discussion 5: Act Utilitarianism seems vulnerable to the following objections.

A. It's too permissive since it says that it's okay to do things that seem wrong to do

B. It's too demanding since it says that we are obligated to do things that seem okay not to do

C. Both A and B

D. Neither A nor B

QUESTION Discussion 6: According to Aristotle, what makes our upbringing so important?

It determines whether or not you will be able to distinguish right from wrong

Aristotle thinks that CR is the only possible meta-ethical view

It causes us to question what our parents thought

It is not important; Aristotle thinks we change over time

QUESTION Discussion 7: According to Act Utilitarianism, an action is right iff it ________.

A. maximizes hedonic utility

B. maximizes pain for the agent performing the activity

C. produces the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

D. None of the above

QUESTION Discussion 8: Consider the following argument.
P1: If Hedonism is true, then your life would go best for you if you plugged into the Experience Machine.
P2: But it's not the case that your life would go best for you if you plugged into the Experience Machine.
C: Hedonism is false.
Premise (2) is supposed to be true because _______.

A. an essential part of a good life is engaging with or being connected to reality

B. a life hooked up to the Experience Machine would not be as pleasant as an ordinary life

C. society would crumble if everyone hooked up to the Experience Machine

D. None of the above.

QUESTION Discussion 9: Which of the following arguments is a good objection to AU?

A. P1: If AU were true, then we would be obligated to be happy all the time
P2: We cannot be happy all the time
C: AU is false

B. P1: If AU were true, then subjectivism is false
P2: Subjectivism is true
C: AU is false

C. P1: If AU were true, then we would be obligated to pursue simple pleasures
P2: We are not obligated to pursue simple pleasures
C: AU is false

D. P1: If AU were true, we would be obligated to ignore our non-moral interests
P2: However, we are not obligated to ignore our non-moral interests.
C: AU is false.

QUESTION Discussion 10: Why does Aristotle believe that luck plays a factor in your moral decision making?

A. The virtues are a sort of lottery that we don't get to pick.

B. The more we try to act morally, the higher the chance that we are acting morally.

C. The highest good is only available to those who have seen the highest good, and that is a matter of luck.

D. Our upbringing and friendships are matters of luck.

QUESTION Discussion 11: Which of the following best captures Aristotle's views on human emotion (i.e. feelings)?

A. Feelings should be disregarded for the sake of reason

B. Feelings play an important role in our determination of the virtues but are not virtuous in and of themselves

C. Feelings are either in deficiency or excess.

D. Feelings are the reason why we want to be virtuous persons; they alone determine our virtuous character

QUESTION Discussion 12:  Supply the conclusion to this argument, such that the argument comes out valid:
P1: If AU were true, there would be an obvious answer to a moral dilemma
P2: There are no obvious answers to a moral dilemma
C: ________

The argument can never be valid

Need more information

AU is true

AU is false

QUESTION Discussion 13: Consider the following argument.
P1: If AU is true, then Dr. Jill is obligated to kill Jack and harvest his organs in order to save five others.
P2: But it is not the case that Dr. Jill is obligated to kill Jack and harvest his organs in order to save five others.
C: Therefore, AU is false.
This argument is_________.

A. Invalid, because it has the form of denying the antecedent

B. Valid, because it has the form of modus ponens

C. Invalid, because it has at least one false premise

D. Valid, because it has the form of modus tollens

QUESTION Discussion 14: According to Aristotle, a virtue is __________.

A. A stable character trait the possession of which tends to make your life go better for you; for example, your life will tend to go better for you if you're courageous rather than cowardly or rash.

B. A disposition to recognize and respond to reasons of a certain kind; for example, the person who has the virtue of courage will tend to recognize when he should stand his ground in the face of danger and will be able to make himself do so.

C. Traits that you are not born with but can acquire through practice and habit; you not born courageous but you can become so through practice

D. All of the above

QUESTION Discussion 15: Which of the following best describes how Mill is distinct from Bentham?

Mill takes into consideration a person's intellectual pleasures.

Mill thinks that happiness is always different than pleasure.

Bentham only cares about individuals.

Bentham only wants to consider rational pleasures.

QUESTION Discussion 16: According to Aristotle, who would benefit from studying ethics?

A. Those who have had a good moral education and some experience in life.

B. The immature

C. None of the above

D. Everyone

QUESTION Discussion 17: In his paper "A Critique of Utilitarianism," Williams argues that Act Utilitarianism is false because _____.

A. it devalues the distinction between doing something, one the one hand, and allowing another to do something (or failing to prevent another from doing something, or taking some action that results in another's doing something), on the other hand

B. it devalues integrity

C. Both A and B

D. Neither A nor B

QUESTION Discussion 18: Bentham and Mill both think that the only intrinsic good is ______.

A. Wealth

B. Moral goodness

C. Rationality

D. Pleasure

QUESTION Discussion 19: According to Aristotle, pleasure is not happiness because _________.

A. pleasure is not unique to human beings; even a pig can live a pleasant life.

B. some pleasures are evil

C. not everyone finds pleasure in the same things

D. None of the above

QUESTION Discussion 20: Suppose Jamie is really interested in roads. She finds intense pleasure in looking at maps and memorizing every road on it. One day, Jamie is offered a job by the Department of Transportation for her vast knowledge of roads. Jamie declines the job, she would rather spend all her time looking at roads.
This scenario could be used to show that ______________.

A. Hedonistic and desire-fulfillment theories are true

B. Desire-fulfillment is false

C. Hedonism is false

D. Hedonistic and desire-fulfillment theories are false

QUESTION Discussion 21: According to Aristotle, what counts as happiness is ________.

A. expressing the virtues in action over the course of a lifetime

B. having the virtues

C. expressing the virtues in action over the course of a lifetime, together with a few external goods like friendship

D. expressing the virtues in action

QUESTION Discussion 22: Consider the following argument:
P1: If the parts of an entity have a function, then the entity as a whole has a function.
P2: The parts of a human being (heart, liver, etc.) have a function.
C: Therefore, the human being as a whole has a function.
This argument is _________.

A. Valid and sound

B. Valid, but unsound (P1 is false).

C. invalid (the premises don't entail the conclusion).

D. Valid, but unsound (P2 is false).

QUESTION Discussion 23: According to Aristotle, a virtuous dispositions consists in ____________.

A. following your "natural" emotions and letting them lead you in your decision making process

B. being disposed to do the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons, and in the right amount

C. letting reason alone govern your decision making process

D. fulfilling your desires

QUESTION Discussion 24: According to Aristotle, eudaimonia or happiness is _______.

A. different for everybody

B. a good feeling that comes and goes

C. living well as a human being

D. None of the above

QUESTION Discussion 25: Hedonism is the view that ________________.

A. happiness consists in pleasure

B. happiness consists in having one's desire fulfilled whether or not one is aware of having one's desires fulfilled

C. happiness consists in having certain things in one's life like moral goodness whether or not one desires to be morally good and whether or not being morally good brings one pleasure

D. None of the above

QUESTION Discussion 26: Mill responds to the objection that if Act Utilitarianism is true, then a pig can lead a better life than a human being by arguing that _____.

A. Higher pleasures are different in kind from lower pleasures

B. Higher pleasures are more valuable than lower pleasures

C. Pigs cannot experience higher pleasures

D. All of the above

QUESTION Discussion 27: For Aristotle, a deficiency and an excess is determined by ______________.

A. the person

B. the situation

C. both the person and the situation

D. None of the above

QUESTION Discussion 28: According to hedonic egoism, an action is right iff it _____.

A. maximizes hedonic utility

B. maximizes the pleasure and minimizes pain for the agent who performs the action

C. produces the greatest pleasure of the greatest number

D. None of the above

QUESTION Discussion 29: Mill is a qualitative hedonist which means he makes a distinction between __________ and ___________.

A. higher pleasures; lower pleasures

B. the amount of pleasure; the intensity of pleasure

C. How pleasure affects our goals; how our goals affect pleasure

D. one culture's concept of pleasure; another culture's concept of pleasure

QUESTION Discussion 30: According to Aristotle, for all x, x is morally right if and only if ______________.

A. x maximizes hedonic utility

B. x can be universalized

C. x is what a virtuous person would do

D. All of the above