FINAL EXAM

Ethics

Name: Casinillo, Robbie Mae N.

Instruction: Answer these test questions electronically using MS Word and upload it on Google
classroom named after your Ethics class. You have one hour and half (1.5 hrs.) to answer
these questions before the time is up. Good Luck!

True/False: Write T if the statement is correct, and F if it is wrong.

__T__1. To the extent that ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics raise questions about
judgments relating to value, they are concerned with axiology.

__F_2. The philosophical attempt of ethics to provide a standard for evaluating laws, religions, customs,
and individual preferences is itself based on each philosopher's personal values.

__F_3. In the retributive notion of justice, the purpose of punishment is to change the person's
character so that he or she does not commit such offenses again.

__F_4. As a utilitarian justification for capital punishment, the reform theory recommends the
reform of society at large through the elimination of threatening individuals in the
community.

__F_5. Because retribution serves a purpose--namely, giving someone what is due to him or
her--it is generally considered a utilitarian justification for punishment.

__F_7. According to Socrates and Plato, we should act virtuously for the sake of others,
regardless of whether acting morally improves our ability to discern what is good or to
control our passions.

__T_8. According to Socrates and Plato, we can be truly happy only if we allow our reason or
intellect to guide our emotions and appetites.

__T_9. According to Plato, the soul achieves balance or harmony only when reason controls both the
spirited (or courageous) part of the soul and the soul's appetites.

__F_10. According to Plato, moral goodness is achieved by eliminating the activities of the lower parts
of the soul and acting solely on the basis of reason.

___T_11. According to Aristotle, because moral virtues are habits, they cannot be taught but only
learned in living according to them.

__T__12. According to Aristotle, in a good or happy life someone is able to fulfill himself or herself
through behavior that combines moderation, good fortune, and wisdom.

__F__13. According to Aristotle, because happiness is not only the goal of all human beings but also
defined by anyone as he/she sees fit, there is no ultimate standard of ethics.

__T__14. In Aristotle's virtue ethics, moral value is a purely private matter, unconnected to how people
interact with others in the community.

__F__15. Because Utilitarianism is a consequentialist way of thinking, it is more properly identified as a

 form of ethical egoism rather than as a form of psychological egoism.

___T__16. Teleological theories of ethics determine the moral value of actions in terms of their
consequences.

___T__18. Though Bentham agrees that we should do that which produces pleasure or happiness, they
differ on whose pleasure or happiness should be taken into account.

___T__19. If psychological egoism is true, then no ethical position (including ethical egoism) is possible.

___F__20. Because ethical egoism claims that we are incapable of doing anything other than promoting
our self-interests, it violates the moral dictum "ought implies can."

___T__21. For the utilitarian, the whole purpose of ethics and virtuous behavior is the production and
increase of happiness.

___T__22. According to the utilitarian principle of morality, one should always act so as to produce the
greatest overall and long-term amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.

___T__23. Utilitarian’s claim that actions have value and thus are morally good insofar as they produce
happiness (good consequences) for the greatest number of people.

___F__24. Since utilitarianism is really a form of social hedonism, it cannot be considered as a

consequentialist theory of morality.

___F__25. Because Bentham's felicific calculus does not consider the pleasures or pains that other
people experience as a result of a person's action, it is more egoistic than Mill's version of
utilitarianism.

___T__26. According to Mill, the proof that happiness is good (and thus desirable) is that human beings
desire it.

___F__27. Utilitarian’s argue that, because all moral values are relative to cultural or individual choice,
no universally valid moral principles hold for all human beings.

___F__28. According to J. S. Mill, the quantity (as opposed to the quality) of pleasures is determined by
how well those pleasures enhance human fulfillment and well-being.

___F__29. A deontological ethical theory is one that makes judgments about the morality of actions
based on the ends, purposes, or consequences of the actions.

___F__30. A person who has a moral obligation to do something is not physically able or free to do
anything else.

___F__31. Kant rejects all forms of hypothetical imperatives because (he claims) no rational agent can
ever be obligated to act morally.

___F__32. Kant's categorical imperative states that we should always act for the sake of doing our duty
except when doing our duty conflicts with deeply held personal or religious values.

___T__33. To act virtuously, Kant argues, means to act for the sake of doing one's duty—even if that
means going against one's religious beliefs.

__T___34. In Kantian ethics, "ought implies can," refers to the claim that no one can be morally
obligated
to do something unless he or she is able to do it.

___F__35. "Ought implies can" summarizes the moral principle that if someone is physically not able to
 do an action, he or she is morally obligated to do it.

___T__36. To say that a moral imperative is categorical means (for Kant) that the demand should be
obeyed without exception, regardless of the negative consequences of acting on it.

___F__37. Teleological ethical theories characterize moral obligation in terms of categorical rather than
hypothetical imperatives.
___F__38. From Kant's perspective, utilitarian consequentialism assumes that ethical reasoning is and
should be based on a categorical (rather than a hypothetical) imperative.

___T__39. According to Kant, I can be morally obligated to do an action only if everyone else in the
same
type of situation is likewise obligated.

___F__40. According to Kant, we should treat people as ends-in-themselves (and never as means
alone)
because they produce good consequences through their actions.

II. Multiple Choice. Bracket only the correct answer.

1. Ethics, political philosophy, and aesthetics are areas of philosophy that address topics that are
likewise addressed in fields like psychology, political science, sociology, and anthropology. But instead
of concentrating on what different people call the good life, moral duties, social obligations, or
beauty, these areas of philosophy search for:
[a.] reasons why different people should or should not think about such topics as they do.
b. the personal or social causes of why different people think about such topics as they do.
c. ways of getting people to question and ultimately to reject ways they have been raised.
d. a basic principle or logos by which both philosophy and the social sciences can be reduced to the
physical sciences (especially physics).

2. Ethics and law have sometimes been distinguished in the following way: the law attempts to resolve
conflict in society by regulating behavior, whereas ethics is concerned with determining the rules for
resolving conflict both in belief and in the behavior or action based on those beliefs. Ethics thus
emphasizes:
[a.] the reasons that can be given as to why certain beliefs should be adopted and certain actions done.
b. the ways in which individuals can be excused from being held responsible for their actions.
c. how a rational resolution of conflicting beliefs is unattainable due to the different backgrounds of
people.
d. the difference between an individual's religious training and the requirements of the laws of his
state and nation.

3. From a philosophical perspective, religious teachings or revelations cannot (by themselves) serve as
standards of morality because:
a. the appeal to the will of God as the reason for one's behavior cannot provide a motive for acting
morally or immorally, even for religious believers.
[b.] interpretations of religious revelations often conflict with one another and thus provide no definite
basis for making moral judgments and have no persuasive power for non-believers.
c. some religious beliefs (even those based on the Scriptures) are not only factually wrong but, if
followed, would result in immoral behavior.
d. religious teachings are usually interpreted and enforced through civil laws that become the bases for
personal or social morality.

4. According to Plato, no one would choose to act immorally if he/she knew how acting immorally is
really not in his/her self-interest. But it is apparent that evil people appear (at least on the surface) to
benefit from their immorality. So how can acting morally really be in one's own self-interest? Plato's
answer:
a. Immoral behavior may in fact be in one's own self-interest; but morality is not immediately
 concerned with the individual as much as with society.
[b.] Harmonious integration or balance of the parts of one's personality is what makes someone truly
happy and constitutes human excellence and moral virtue.
c. Since there is no objective moral standard (as the ring of Gyges story shows), whatever someone
believes is in his or her self-interest is morally acceptable.
d. Virtue is the ability to do what one does well, so if someone is able to promote his or her self
interest (even through immorality), then that person is virtuous.

5. According to Plato, we never consciously choose to do that which we know to be immoral, because to
do so would be to act contrary to our own self-interests. Knowing what is in our own self-interest,
however, requires that we recognize which things are truly in our best interests; and that requires
that we recognize:
a. how those in power determine what is moral or immoral depending on whatever they choose to
believe.
[b.] how personal integrity (i.e., getting the parts of our soul into harmony) is linked to knowing our
function in society.
c. how wisdom is possible only for the ruling class, courage is possible only for the military or law
enforcers, and moderation is possible only for the working class.
d. how morality is less concerned with doing what is actually right than with doing what seems to be
right according to one's society: that is what the Gyges ring story is about.

6. For most Greeks, the question "why be moral?" is much more important than the question "what is
moral?" Plato's parallel between the parts of the soul and the parts of society collapses the two
questions into one by:
[a.] showing why someone should care about having an integrated personality or contributing to the
harmonious operation of society.
b. understanding how ethics is more concerned with intellectual judgments about actions and their
consequences, and less with moral motivation.
c. recognizing that personal morality has little or nothing to do with social morality; that is, one's
private moral judgments have no social parallels.
d. indicating how the judgments of society concerning who is happy and who is not should be used in
telling who is moral and who is not.

7. To say that Plato's question "Why be moral?" is not a moral, but rather a meta-ethical question means
that it is a question about:
a. what makes certain actions moral or immoral.
b. how individuals should or should not be held responsible for the ways in which their consciences
have been formed.
[c.] why someone should behave in certain ways, even when he agrees that it is the morally acceptable
way to act.
d. why someone chooses to act in ways that conflict with the recommendations of others.

8. "Why be moral?" is a metaethical question rather than an ethical question insofar as it is concerned
with:
a. why someone would want to have a balanced personality or be a superior individual.
[b.] non-moral reasons for why someone should be moral.
c. how it is morally wrong for someone to be immoral.
d. what makes actions moral or immoral, right or wrong.

9. If psychological egoism is true, then no ethical system (including ethical egoism) is possible because:
a. ethics would then be merely a means by which individuals impose their values on others.
[b.] if we are determined to act only in our self-interest, then it makes no sense to say we ought to
act either in our self-interest or, for that matter, in any other way either.
c. psychological egoism is a theory of why people are motivated to act morally, whereas ethical
egoism is a theory of how moral distinctions are determined.
d. without some means to decide which acts are morally good or bad, there is no way to explain why
 people act the way they do.

10. Moral virtue, for Aristotle, entails acting in accord with the dictates of reason as determined by:
a. an objective, shared standard of right and wrong equally applicable to all people.
b. a mean or point of moderation between the extremes of morally good and morally evil behavior.
[c.] the mean or point of moderation between the extremes of possible alternative ways of acting.
d. the denial of one's own interests in favor of the good of one's community.

11. According to Aristotle, a happy life is a life of virtue, one in which the individual contributes to the
good of his or her community and is respected for such contributions. At the heart of his description
of the morally good life is one's honor in a society, because being an honorable individual means
being someone who:
a. recognizes how his or her own well-being is intimately linked to the good of the community.
[b.] appreciates how moral values vary from culture to culture and from individual to individual.
c. can live a life of moderation without having be sensitive to or involved in social or civic affairs.
d. contemplates philosophical principles in order to understand the truths of nature.

12. For Aristotle, "Moral states are the results of activities like the states themselves. It is our duty,
therefore, to keep a certain character in our activities, since our moral states depend on the
differences in our activities." This "certain character" is:
[a.] activity in accordance with reason (i.e., sensitive to the social and personal dimensions of human
existence).
b. the point at which the individual's "golden mean" rule cancels out the society's own definition of
"moderation."
c. neither excess nor deficiency, but rather the alternation of the two (where one takes over
sometimes, and the other at other times).
d. the point of moderation in action between virtue and vice, the individual's good as opposed to the
social definition of the good.

13. Bentham's utilitarianism is different from J. S. Mill's version in virtue of Mill's emphasis on:
a. the happiness of all creatures affected by actions, versus the happiness experienced by humans.
b. how actions done to achieve happiness are in fact desired as opposed to being desirable.
[c.] the concern for the qualitative character of happiness versus simply the quantitative.
d. the number of people affected versus the intensity of pleasure experienced by those affected.

14. Though J. S. Mill agrees with Bentham that happiness is the goal of ethical behavior, he points out
that "it is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied." By this remark he indicates
how:
[a.] some kinds of happiness are more desirable or valuable than others for social or cultural reasons.
b. according to the utilitarian principle, the greatest happiness is determined by the greatest number.
c. happiness ought to be desired (and thus is desirable) because people, in fact, desire to be happy.
d. uncultivated people are as competent to judge what happiness is as are cultivated people.

15. According to Mill, "Of two pleasures, if there be one to which all or almost all who have experience
of both give a decided preference, that is the more desirable pleasure." The decision about which
pleasures are qualitatively desirable should thus be made by those familiar with different kinds of
pleasures based on:
[a.] what those persons generally desire.
b. each expert's opinion considered individually (without having to consult others).
c. whether that which is, in fact, desired by those persons is what they ought to desire.
d. the consensus of everyone in the community.

16. In deciding how far we have to calculate the consequences of our actions, Mill says that the
utilitarian recommends that we should realistically consider only:
a. the rules of desire determined by the person of practical wisdom.
[b.] those persons most likely to be affected by our actions.
c. how our behavior follows necessarily from human nature itself.
d. the motive of the agent, and not necessarily the consequences of our actions.

17. One objection raised against utilitarianism is that we can never know what we are morally obliged to
do since we can never know all the consequences of our actions. Mill and other utilitarians reply to
this by:
a. pointing out that no moral theory is ever able to indicate what we should not do.
[b.] agreeing that we may not know perfectly what the consequences will be, but we can determine
them well enough to know what to do.
c. rejecting the claim: we, in fact, can know all of the consequences of our actions if we investigate the
matter well enough.
d. redefining "consequences" so that they are limited to what we intend to do and not to what
actually happens.
18. Some theorists argue that the utilitarian claim that we are morally obligated to contribute to famine
relief ignores one central fact about human nature, namely, that we are more inclined to help
members of our own family or culture than others, and therefore should not be expected to do what
we are not inclined to do in the first place. To this the utilitarian responds:
a. taking care of those near us produces more overall happiness than taking care of others.
b. the amount of need in some cultures is greater than in others; our own needs are greatest.
[c.] while such feelings may be significant psychologically, they are irrelevant morally.
d. our moral obligations to promote the happiness of our family, friends, and immediate culture are
more important than even obligations to protect the lives of others.

19. Critics sometimes claim that, for utilitarianism, motive seems to have nothing to do with the
morality of an action. Mill responds to this by pointing out that:
a. good consequences cannot follow from an act done by someone with an evil motive.
b. bad consequences often follow from actions which are done with the best motives in mind.
[c.] consequences determine the morality of an action; the person's motive affects only our judgment
of
the person doing the act, not the act itself.
d. the only way to determine what motive I have in acting is to determine the consequences of my
action.

20. According to Kant, an action which has a motive or intention that cannot be successfully
universalized:
a. might be moral or immoral, depending on the consequences of the action.
[b.] might be moral or immoral, depending on whether the act is considered acceptable in the person's
society.
c. is immoral.
d. might be moral or immoral, depending on whether the action is done freely.

END