Q&A Hero

Q: Consider this rule-utilitarian argument against legalizing euthanasia: Passing a law to permit active voluntary euthanasia would inevitably lead to abuses such as more frequent use of nonvoluntary euthanasia and unnecessary killing; therefore, no such law should be passed. Such an argument is characterized as a. abductive. c. a slippery slope. b. Kantian. d. equivocation.

Q: Objectivism is the view that a. moral principles are rigid rules that have no exceptions. b. there are no objective moral principles. c. some moral principles are valid for everyone. d. moral utterances are neither true nor false.

Q: According to the dominant reading of natural law theory, euthanasia is wrong primarily because a. it amounts to using a person as a means and not as an end. b. it always results in less overall happiness. c. we have a moral duty to preserve life. d. scripture condemns it.

Q: The obligation to ease the agony of another when we can do so without excessive cost to ourselves is called the duty of ________. a. maleficence c. cooperation b. beneficence d. justice

Q: Some opponents of active euthanasia argue that euthanasia is uncalled for; a dying patient in the grip of unimaginable pain, for example, does not have to be killed to escape her agony. Modern medicine offers dying patients unprecedented levels of pain relief. A common reply to this argument is a. although it is possible to manage even severe pain well, too often pain is not well managed. b. in arguments about euthanasia, pain is irrelevant. c. although it is possible to manage even severe pain well, physicians do not try to do so. d. pain is a fact of life that patients must learn to live with.

Q: The principle of autonomy (the right of self-determination) can be used to argue for a. active euthanasia. b. a ban on active euthanasia. c. the Roman Catholic view of active euthanasia and suicide. d. restrictions on autonomy for dying patients.

Q: A key premise in the argument for active euthanasia is that the right of self-determination includes the right of competent persons to decide the manner of their dying. This premise is a. accepted by virtually all parties to the euthanasia debate. b. clearly false. c. incoherent. d. controversial.

Q: In 2009 Jeffrey Locker was found tied up in his car and dead as a result of multiple stab wounds. Kenneth Minor was arrested and charged with his murder, but Minor claimed that Locker had hired him to assist in his death so that his family could receive a life insurance payment that would eliminate Lockers large debts. Assume that Minors claim was true. A natural law theorist would determine that Minors action was a. morally permissible, because it was a legitimate application of the doctrine of double effect. b. morally impermissible, because it was not a legitimate application of the doctrine of double effect. c. morally permissible, because Jeffrey had consented and Minor had respected his autonomy. d. morally impermissible, because the law does not allow for citizens to assist others in committing suicide.

Q: Those who oppose capital punishment are known as ________.

Q: If money is instrumentally valuable, then having a paying job is also instrumentally valuable.

Q: ________ involves taking a direct action to kill someone (i.e., to carry out a mercy killing). a. Involuntary euthanasia c. Active euthanasia b. Passive euthanasia d. Nonvoluntary euthanasia

Q: ________ are those people who want to continue the policy of capital punishment.

Q: According to the author, if ones religious moral code gives conflicting advice on whether it is permissible to drink alcohol, then moral philosophy cannot provide any guidance because the conflict can only be resolved by interpreting religious texts.

Q: If you believe that there is no moral difference between killing someone and letting someone die, you might reason that a. active and passive euthanasia are not morally equivalent. b. in neither active nor passive euthanasia is the patients death caused. c. in both active and passive euthanasia the patients death is caused, but this has no moral significance. d. in both active and passive euthanasia the patients death is caused, and they are therefore morally equivalent.

Q: Punishment by execution of someone officially judged to have committed a serious crime is called ________.

Q: Nowadays machines can keep an individuals heart and lungs functioning long after the brain permanently and completely shuts down. Thus, we can have an individual whose organs are mechanically operated while he is in a coma or persistent vegetative state. To some, these facts suggest that the a. conventional notion of death is still adequate. b. conventional notion of death is inadequate. c. cessation of breathing and blood flow are not signs of death. d. conventional notion of death has always seemed inadequate.

Q: The view that offenders deserve to be punished, or paid back, for their crimes and to be punished in proportion to the severity of their offenses is known as ________.

Q: A study released in 2014 suggests that an untold number of innocent people have been executed since 1973. Retentionists would reply to these statistics by insisting that this does not show anything intrinsically wrong with capital punishment, but only how it is administered.

Q: When you strictly follow the moral rules passed down to you from others, you are doing ethics.

Q: Underpinning many retributive views of capital punishment is a Kantian emphasis on respect for persons.

Q: An example of moral reasoning is avoiding actions whenever you feel disgusted by them.

Q: Some retentionists contend that if the administration of the death penalty is biased against blacks, then the death penalty itself is unjust, because there is no way to apply the death penalty fairly.

Q: All divisions of ethics concern both values and obligations. These two topics are similar in that they both concern things that we care aboutthings that we can favor or oppose.

Q: ________ is allowing someone to die by NOT doing something (i.e., by withholding or withdrawing measures necessary for sustaining life). a. Passive-active euthanasia c. Nonvoluntary euthanasia b. Passive euthanasia d. Active euthanasia

Q: Isabella has adopted the view that abortion is always (or almost always) permissible. She therefore holds the ________ view.

Q: Suppose the state of Ohio wanted to execute a boy who was fifteen when he murdered his parents. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, such an execution would be unconstitutional.

Q: In arguing against the divine command theory, many critics insist that a. God has the power to will actions to be morally permissible. b. if an action is right only because God wills it, then all actions are right. c. if an action is right only because God wills it, then many evil actions would be right if God willed them. d. if an action is right only because God wills it, then many evil actions would be right for believers but wrong for nonbelievers.

Q: Ahmed rejects the claims that abortions are almost never permissible as well as the notion that they almost always are. Thus, he holds the ________ view.

Q: Evidence conclusively shows that the death penalty is recognized by would-be criminals as a more severe punishment than life in prison. It therefore follows that the death penalty indubitably deters murderers better than life in prison does.

Q: Why does Leibniz, the great theistic philosopher, reject the divine command theory? a. because it implies God is beyond our understanding b. because it implies God is unworthy of worship c. because it implies a utilitarian conception of morality d. because it implies God plays no role in morality

Q: Doctrine of Double Effect

Q: Some argue that the death penalty could encourage violent crime instead of deterring it, that violent criminals who know they are likely to get the death penalty may commit murder to avoid being captured. This argument is put forth by utilitarian abolitionists.

Q: For many retentionists, the only necessary justification for the type and degree of punishment is what the criminal deserves.

Q: Which of these best describes the purpose of the books discussion of ethics and religion? a. to convince religious believers of the value of doing ethics b. to convince the reader that religious moral codes and theories are unacceptable c. to convince the reader to question everything about morality d. to convince religious believers that ethics is a replacement for religious beliefs

Q: The dominance of moral norms suggests that if a speed limit on a highway conflicts with a persons moral duty to rush a dying man to the hospital, then a. the moral duty would be as weighty as the legal duty. b. neither the legal duty nor the moral duty would apply. c. the moral duty would take precedence over the legal duty. d. the moral duty would sanction any method whatsoever of getting the dying man to the hospital.

Q: At about twenty-three or twenty-four weeks, the state referred to as ________, the fetus may be able to live outside the uterus.

Q: Most retentionists believe that, in a large majority of cases, wrongdoers should not be punished at all.

Q: Which of these illustrates the need for moral reasoning when applying religious moral codes? a. My religious moral code includes a general rule not to kill, but sometimes killing might be the only way to defend myself. b. My religious moral code includes a general rule not to lie, but some people lie frequently. c. My religious moral code has many rules that are not relevant to me. d. My religious moral code is difficult to follow because it is very strict and demanding.

Q: ________ is the term used to refer to the beginning of fetal development when a sperm cell enters an ovum and the two merge into a single cell called a zygote.

Q: A man plans to kill his wife, waits for the right opportunity, and does the deed. He would therefore be guilty of first-degree murder.

Q: When religious adherents claim that murder is wrong because God says that it is, they are implicitly espousing the a. legal theory of divine justice. c. religious demand theory. b. greatest happiness principle. d. divine command theory.

Q: Which of the following is a consequence of the principle of universalizability? a. If harming someone is wrong in a particular situation, then harming someone would be wrong for anyone in a relevantly similar situation. b. If harming someone is wrong in a particular situation, then harming someone would be wrong in all situations. c. The moral rules implied by your behavior apply to everyone, even in dissimilar situations. d. A persons morality is dictated by his or her culture-wide morality.

Q: The conservative can argue that Mary Anne Warrens view of personhood leads to an absurdity: if a fetus is not a person, then neither is a newborn. Thus, killing a newborn would be permissible.

Q: The issue of forgiving a criminal (for example, commuting a death sentence to life in prison) forces us to confront a contradiction between mercy (giving someone a break) and a. justice (giving someone what he deserves). b. utility (giving someone what will make him happy). c. love (giving someone unconditional acceptance). d. fallibility (the tendency to err).

Q: Which statement would the author most likely agree with, based on what he states in this chapter? a. If your moral beliefs depend on your religious views, it is important to be able to convince others of your religious views before presenting your moral beliefs. b. Because we live with people who have different religious views, we need standards for moral reasoning that do not depend on any particular religious views. c. Religious believers tend not to think about morality as much as nonbelievers do. d. Religious believers tend to have more detailed moral beliefs than nonbelievers do.

Q: Mary Anne Warren suggests that being genetically human is the same thing as being a person in the moral sense.

Q: The idea that the punishment should match the crime in kindthat justice demands an eye for an eye, a life for a lifeis called ________. a. abolitionism c. proportional retributivism b. paternalistic retributivism d. lex talionis

Q: Which of the following correctly applies the principle of impartiality? a. A mass murderer deserves the same treatment as a heart surgeon. b. You cannot fairly punish one member of a group unless you punish all of them. c. All moral judgments must be made on a case-by-case basis, setting aside all personal biases. d. Everyone deserves the same treatment, unless there is a morally relevant reason to favor someone.

Q: Applied ethics is the a. application of normative ethics to metaethics. b. application of societys rules to ones own life. c. study of the principles and rules that everyone accepts. d. application of moral norms to specific moral issues or cases.

Q: Judith Jarvis Thomson argues that abortion may sometimes be permissible whether or not the fetus is a person.

Q: An act-utilitarian would say that an abortion is morally wrong whenever the fetus is a person.

Q: Delma Banks Jr. was charged with murder; his lawyer failed to vigorously cross-examine an informant testifying against Banks or to investigate the case. Consequently, Banks may not have received a fair trial because of poor representation. If so, a retentionist would argue that the injustice in the conduct of the trial would a. show that capital punishment was also unjust. b. be irrelevant to the justice or injustice of capital punishment. c. be relevant to the injustice of capital punishment. d. be strong evidence against the death penalty.

Q: Which field concerns questions such as Was this abortion permissible? or Was this instance of mercy killing immoral? a. applied ethics c. normative ethics b. metaethics d. descriptive ethics

Q: Some conservatives have argued that the fetus becomes a human being at conception because it receives the human genetic code at that point.

Q: Suppose a friend of yours says that shes glad a murderer was recently sentenced to the gas chamber, because murderers deserve to die. Her comment implies that she accepts the ________ theory of punishment. a. utilitarian c. retributive b. deterrence d. preventive

Q: The preeminence of reason refers to the a. times when our emotions overwhelm our reason. b. gap between our feelings and our reason. c. overriding importance of critical reasoning in ethics. d. guidance that conscience gives to our reason.

Q: Premise 1: The unborn is an innocent person from conception. Premise 2: It is wrong to kill an innocent person. Premise 3: Abortion is the killing of an innocent person. Conclusion: Therefore, abortion is wrong. This argument is valid.

Q: Consider this assertion, common in debates on capital punishment: the unjust administration of a punishment does not entail the injustice of the punishment itself. This view is most likely espoused by a. abolitionists. c. retentionists. b. utilitarians. d. natural law theorists.

Q: A utilitarian who wants to argue against the death penalty might be expected to say that a. capital punishment has a civilizing effect on society. b. more net happiness is created in society by executing criminals than by sentencing them to life in prison without parole. c. life in prison without parole is not a better deterrent than capital punishment. d. more net happiness is created in society by sentencing murderers to life in prison without parole than by executing them.

Q: What does normative ethics study? a. theories that explain why people behave as they do b. normative standards in different disciplines c. the meaning and logical structure of moral beliefs d. principles, rules, or theories that guide our actions and judgments

Q: Robert is a Kantian theorist and also believes that fetuses are persons from conception. Suppose Robert is trying to determine whether abortions are morally permissible in situations where the womans life is in danger as a result of continuing the pregnancy. Which of the following should be the focus of Roberts deliberations? a. whether aborting the pregnancy will have the best consequences overall b. whether aborting the pregnancy will be an instance of violating a persons right to life c. whether aborting the pregnancy would be legally allowed d. whether aborting the pregnancy would be a justifiable instance of overriding a persons right to life

Q: Suppose a utilitarian abolitionist argues that the death penalty is too costly to implement in a democratic society. A plausible nonconsequentialist reply is that a. the death penalty is indeed too costly and should be abolished. b. if the death penalty is a just punishment, then the costs involved dont matter. c. justice doesnt matter; only cost does. d. more net happiness is created by getting rid of the death penalty.

Q: Which of these questions belongs to metaethics? a. What moral beliefs do cultures embody? b. What does it mean for an action to be right? c. What theories of ethics do individuals endorse? d. What is the meaning of life from a moral perspective?

Q: Is abortion morally right? is primarily a legal question.

Q: According to Mary Anne Warrens criteria for personhood, a self-motivated space alien that was conscious, able to reason and communicate, and was self-aware would be a. a person. c. unclassifiable. b. not a person. d. morally equivalent to an Earth primate.

Q: Consider these two premises in a well-known argument: (1) everyone has a right to life (a basic moral principle), even hardened criminals; (2) the death penalty is a violation of this right. The conclusion to this argument is a. executing criminals is wrong. b. executing criminals is permissible. c. executing criminals is costly. d. executing criminals generates less happiness than life in prison.

Q: A man does not plan to kill his wife and has no intention of doing so, but one night he becomes enraged at her for insulting him, and he stabs her to death. He would therefore be guilty of a. second-degree murder. c. third-degree murder. b. manslaughter. d. first-degree murder.

Q: What is a major difference between descriptive ethics and normative ethics? a. Normative ethics concerns moral beliefs, whereas descriptive ethics concerns moral behaviors. b. Normative ethics implies that some peoples moral beliefs are incorrect, whereas descriptive ethics does not. c. Descriptive ethics cannot be done properly before doing normative ethics. d. Descriptive ethics is not a scientific topic of study, whereas normative ethics is.

Q: Judith Jarvis Thomsons position is argued without a. reference to the rights of women. c. admitting that the fetus has a right to life. b. relying on thought experiments. d. relying on the issue of personhood.

Q: A common utilitarian argument in favor of capital punishment is that the death penalty a. prevents the criminal from striking again. b. reduces the severity of crimes. c. makes the general public feel safe. d. is endorsed by all religions.

Q: Morality refers to beliefs about a. praise and punishment. c. legal and moral standards. b. right and wrong, good and bad. d. typical behavior in ones society.

Q: With the violinist scenario, Judith Jarvis Thomson tries to show that a. the fetus is not a person. b. in pregnancy, the body of the mother can always be exploited. c. the mother has a right to defend herself against the unborns use of her body against her will (a right to have an abortion). d. the mother has no right to defend herself against the unborns use of her body against her will.

Q: Suppose there is strong scientific evidence showing that the execution of criminals deters serious criminal behavior better than lesser punishments such as imprisonment. This data would suggest that the deterrence argument is a. weak. c. irrelevant. b. strong. d. logically sound.

Q: Believing that you can establish all your moral beliefs by consulting your feelings is an example of a. subjectivism. c. reliabilism. b. objectivism. d. critical scrutiny.

Q: Suppose Katrina is a rule-utilitarian and believes that following the rule Girls under the age of eighteen should not be permitted to to have abortions without notifying a parent or guardian would maximize happiness. Which of the following would be the best reason for Katrinas view? a. Some young women are abused by their parents. b. A parents guidance tends to be helpful and needed, and some young women have regretted having abortions. c. Even females under the age of eighteen have a right to medical privacy and confidentiality. d. No girl under the age of eighteen has regretted having an abortion.

Q: In arguments over abortion, both the conservative and the liberal agree that a. abortion is the killing of an innocent person. b. abortion before birth would not be the killing of an innocent person. c. it is wrong to kill an innocent person. d. the unborn is not a person until birth.

Q: The deliberate and authorized causing of pain or harm to someone thought to have broken a law is known as a. vigilantism. c. legalism. b. punishment. d. attributivism.

Q: Which of the following is the overall point of the authors discussion of doing ethics? a. Doing ethics is difficult, but not doing it is foolish. b. Doing ethics requires many years of careful study. c. Most people should rely on wiser authorities to do ethics for them. d. Doing ethics is unavoidable for everyone.

Q: The liberal argues that if the unborn is not a person until birth, and it is wrong to kill a person, then a. infanticide is permissible. b. abortion before birth would be impermissible. c. abortion before birth would not be the killing of an innocent person. d. abortion is permissible before and after birth.

Q: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that if a jury were to impose the death penalty without any legal guidance, the practice would constitute a. a legal prerogative. c. a legal precedent. b. deserved punishment. d. cruel and unusual punishment.