Philosophy
1308
Final
Examination. Two hours. Closed book.
December
7, 2007
Name:
___________________________
Note: You may notice some overlap between a few
questions. Feel free to use this to your
advantage (you can re-use ideas when appropriate; of course if you make the same mistake in
both places, you will lose points in both places).
A1.
The retributivist defense of capital punishment is centered on the claim that:
(a)
crime is in the mind of the beholder
(b)
criminals deserve death for some crimes
(c)
living criminals are a bad example to others
(d)
there is no such thing as free will
A2.
William May says there are four basic views of sexuality, depending on whether
one sees sexuality as good or bad, important or unimportant. Which of the following is not one of these four?
(a)
casual
(b)
demonic
(c)
divine
(d)
foolish
(e)
nuisance
A3.
Andrea Dworkin thinks that the production of pornography is wrong because
(a)
it harms men
(b)
it harms women
(c)
it is boring
(d)
it is fun
(e)
it is lucrative
A4.
According to Camus, in the Myth of Sisyphus, human life is
(a)
absurd
(b)
deeply innately meaningful, no matter what we make of it
(c)
exciting
(d)
fun
A5.
John Paul II thinks that lust is wrong primarily because
(a)
it is pleasant
(b)
it leads to economic inequality between the North and the South
(c)
it leads to procreation
(d)
it treats others as tools for sexual gratification
A6.
Which of the following philosophical views is most likely to lead one to agree
with the following statement: “If a dictator tells you that if you don’t shoot
one innocent person, he will have ten other innocent people shot, then you have
a moral duty to shoot the one innocent person, to save nine lives in total”?
(a)
Error Theory
(b)
Kantianism
(c)
Utilitarianism
A7.
According to John Locke, unowned land becomes ours when we mix our ____________
with it.
(a)
blood
(b)
desire
(c)
labor
(d)
none of the above
A8.
In our reading, Marx argues that the problem of alienated labor is the fault of
the workers in not taking sufficient pride in their work, and can be easily
fixed by the workers simply taking more pride in their work.
(a)
false
(b)
true
A9.
According to Aristotle, our goals go on forever: we want A for the sake of B, B for the sake of C, C for the sake of D, and so on forever.
(a)
false
(b)
true
A10.
Mill thinks that rights are defined as what society should ______________ one
in the possession of.
(a)
defend
(b)
discourage
(c)
encourage
(d)
reward
1.
persons vs. biological humans, in Mary
Anne Warren’s thought
2.
love of friendship vs. love of concupiscence,
in Thomas Aquinas’ thought
3.
social vs. individual relativism
4.
the strong vs. the weak form of
Singer’s famine-relief argument
5.
signs vs. symbols, in Tillich’s
thought
6.
consequentialist vs.
non-consequentialist moral theories
7.
demonic vs. nuisance views of sex
8.
immoral actions vs. injustice, in
Mill’s Utilitarianism
9.
moral relativism vs. error theory of
morality
10.
alienated
vs. non-alienated labor, in Marx' thought
C1.
How does C. S. Lewis use observations about quarreling as an argument for
absolutism? Give two criticisms of the
argument, and for each say how C. S. Lewis would or could respond. Does his argument survive the criticisms?
C2.
State Kant’s First Categorical Imperative (CI-1). Consider the case of the following two
maxims: (1) “Play tennis on Saturday night because the courts are empty” and
(2) “Make everybody miserable.” Some
critics of Kant may think that these two maxims create a problem for Kant,
because Kant allegedly has to say that the first maxim violates CI-1, and
because Kant allegedly has to say that the second maxim passes the test of
CI-1. Is it true that the first maxim
fails the test of CI-1? Is it true that
the second one passes? Why or why not? Is (1) the right way to describe the maxim of
someone who plays tennis on Saturday night because the courts are empty, or is
the actual maxim of such a person different?
Why or whynot?
C3.
Describe the way in which one (not necessarily Rousseau) might think that
tradable property, differences in talents, inequality and various negative
emotions like envy are all interconnected.
Rousseau thinks that such interconnections mean that tradable property
is a bad thing. This leads to two
questions. Is he right that if there are such interconnections, then
tradable property is a bad thing? Why or
why not? And is he right that there are
such interconnections? Why or why not?
C4.
What would be the best retribution-based argument for capital punishment? Does this argument show that the state has
the right to execute some criminals
or that the state has the duty to do
so? Now carefully state a plausible
objection to the argument. Can the
argument for capital punishment survive this objection? Why or why not?
C5.
Utilitarianism appears to conflict with common sense morality, by apparently
implying that sometimes one should deliberately kill innocent people. Give a case where utilitarianism appears to
have such a consequence. Does the
utilitarian have a way of arguing that even in a case like that, killing
innocent people is wrong? (Hint: long
term consequences.) Will this kind of
solution work in every case? Why or why
not? Do you think that if we could show
that utilitarianism conflicts with common sense morality, this would show that
utilitarianism is false?
D. Applied essay:
A friend of your needs
ethical advice and tells you the following story by phone:
Jennifer,
a good friend of your friend—someone you do not yourself know—is now paraplegic. Your friend has just found out that Jennifer
had stabbed her husband to death ten years ago, in order to get his life insurance
money. The police have never solved that
murder. Jennifer is quite unrepentant of
the crime. However, five years ago
(i.e., five years after the murder) she was in a motor vehicle accident that
left her largely paralyzed from the neck down.
Consequently, she is exceedingly unlikely to commit another violent
crime ever again (she can’t even hire a contract killer, because she would have
to ask her personal assistant to make the phone call for her, since she is not
audible enough on the phone herself).
Your friend found out about the crime because she overheard Jennifer
talking in her sleep, and Jennifer included details there that only the
murderer would know (your friend discreetly checked out these details with
police records). Jennifer lives in a
state that would not impose the death penalty in a case like that. Should your friend turn Jennifer in to the
police, assuming that the case could be proved?
In your essay, answer all
of the following questions, in about one paragraph each.
(i)
What do you think is the best Kantian
answer in this situation in light of the first form of the categorical
imperative? How might someone who
actually accepts this form of the categorical imperative object to this answer,
and how would you refute the objection?
(ii)
What do you think is the best Kantian
answer in this situation in light of the second form of the categorical
imperative? How might someone who
actually accepts this form of the categorical imperative object to this answer,
and how would you refute the objection?
(iii)
What do you think is the best
hedonistic utilitarian answer in this situation? (Make sure you consider both short and
long-term consequences.) How might
someone who is also a hedonistic utilitarian object to your answer, and how
would you refute the objection?
(iv)
What advice would you yourself give,
and on what grounds. If you base your
personal answer on some specific ethical system, such as the Kantian, the
utilitarian or other, you should explain why you think this system is
true. Note that you will not be penalized for giving a
reasoned argument for a position that you expect your professor to disagree
with.
E. Personal comment
Has this
course changed your thinking either about some general or specific ethical
issue, and if so, how and why? (Three or four sentences.)