Ethics Exam 3

As an attack on a literally defenseless enemy, torture appears to violate the moral principle that war be:

A) a fair "fight".

B) waged for a just cause.

C) conducted by a legitimate authority

D) all of these.

Torture is incapable of satisfying the constraint of possible compliance when:

A) its purpose is to extract information.

B) its purpose is to intimidate people other than the victim.

C) it is inflicted by nongovernmental agencies.

D) it violates the Kantian principle that no person may be used only as a means.

Which of the following categories of possible victims of torture could not be provided even in principle, with a legitimate escape from torture? A)innocent bystanders.

B)ready collaborators.

C)dedicated enemies.

D)neutral parties.

According to Shue, existing legal prohibitions against torture should be:

A) strengthened

B) relaxed

C) applied selectively

D) abolished

Hill believes that it is not morally permissible to inflict severe pain or harm on someone unwilling when it is intended:

A) for the victim benefit

B) for the greatest happiness of the greatest number

C) as a punishment

D) as part of the pursuit of a legitimate war

Berns believe that the law must punish the wicked in order to:

A)rehabilitate them and get them to change their ways.

B)satisfy the anger of law-abiding citizens.

C)set a good example and discourage others from breaking the law.

D)stop them from breaking the law in the future.

According to Berns, anger is:

A)a dangerous destructive force.

B)a personal feeling.

C)the right response to a terrible criminal act.

D)the motivation for criminal acts.

Berns thinks we can become angry and stay angry with:

A)any human beings.

B)human beings and other living animals, such as dogs.

C)human beings, except for those who are insane and not responsible for their actions.

D)humans, animals, and inanimate objects.

Why does Berns think that anger we feel at criminals is important?

A) The anger encourages us to punish the criminal and stop them from doing any further harm. B) Criminals make the community less safe, and our anger is a sign of our concern for keeping ourselves and our families safe.

C) Criminals hurt the whole community, not just the victims, and our anger is a sign of how much we care for that community.

D) Anger from the community lets the criminal know that their actions are not acceptable and encourages them to change their ways.

Berns argued that the death penalty would encourage people to feel reverence towards criminal law. What is Nathanson's objection to this point?

A) Killing is not necessary to encourage reverence.

B) Killing won't help to encourage reverence.

C) Encouraging reverence toward the law might be unwise, if the law is unjust.

D) Both (A) and (C)

Which of these is one the symbolic messages Nathanson believes we would convey, if we abolished the death penalty?

A) The moral order is more important than the law.

B) Actions that flow from anger are not morally right.

C) All human lives deserve respect, regardless of what they have done.

D) Forgiveness is better than vengeance.

The second message that Nathanson sees in abolishing the death penalty is:

A) Violence is only acceptable in self-defense.

B) If someone's acts have provoked you to be very angry, then violence is acceptable.

C) Although individuals may kill, the state can be trusted not to do so.

D) Anger is not an acceptable response.

According to Regan, what is most fundamentally wrong about the way we treat animals?

A)the assumption that they are our resources.

B)the suffering it causes them.

C)the ecological damage it causes.

D)the brutalizing effect it has on us.

Which of the following statements expresses an "indirect duty view" of animal welfare?

A) Our direct obligation to respect the rights of animals is as the same time an indirect duty to the natural environment.

B) We owe nothing to animals themselves, but we do have duties, such as respecting private property, that indirectly bear on our treatment of animals.

C) The moral standing of animals is equal to that of human beings.

D) None of these is correct.

What does Regan sees as a deficiency of even the most sophisticated form of contractarianism?

A) It denies that we have direct duties to those who do not possess a sense of justice.

B) It puts too much weight on the accidental features of birth.

C) It does not recognize the important moral distinction between human beings and animals.

D) It asks us to entertain the implausible idea that human beings once upon a time got together to deliberate about what sort of rules they would all agree to follow.

According to utilitarianism, Regan says:

A)every individual has equal inherent value.

B)human happiness matters more than animal welfare.

C)individuals have no value in their own right.

D)some people's interests count more than others'.

What is the problem, in Regan's eyes, of arguing that animals have less inherent value than human because they do not possess reason?

A)It is factually incorrect: Some animals also possess reason.

B)It relies on the overly vague notion of reason.

C)It requires that the mentally retarded child has less value than the adult with normal mental capacity.

D)None of these is a problem.

Warren thinks that Regan's concept of inherent value is:

A)useful.

B)obscure.

C)pointless.

D)mistaken

What is Warren's objection to deciding which animals are "subjects of a life"?

A) The concept "subject of a life" is unclear and meaningless.

B) It is impossible for us ever to know what it is like inside an animal's head.

C) It is morally irrelevant whether an animal is the subject of a life.

D) It is impossible to draw a sharp line between which animals are, and which are not, subject of a life.

According to Cohen, an entity can be considered the bearer of rights if it possesses:

A) sentience.

B) the ability to make and respond to moral claims.

C) an interest in feeling pleasure and avoiding pain.

D) legally recognized citizenship in a political community.

In which of the following relationships would Cohen recognize an obligation?

A)parents to their children.

B)children to their pets.

C)researcher to their lab animals.

D)all of these.

"Anthropocentrism" holds that:

A)men are superior to women.

B)human interests are the measure of value.

C)endangered species have an inherent right to exist.

D)suburban sprawl is contrary to fundamental human interests.

What does Sober regard as the main conceptual problem for environmentalism?

A) justifying the preservation of species or ecosystems on the basis of their instrumental value.

B) undertaking a revolutionary reassessment of ethical norms to bring them in line with environ- mentalist policy objectives.

C) justifying the belief that species and ecosystems ought to be preserved for reasons additional to their known value as resources for human use.

D) refuting the arguments of the animal liberationists.

Which of the following expresses Sober's purpose in discussing the widespread willingness of travelers to fly on airplanes when safer but less convenient alternative forms of transportation are available?

A) to demonstrate the irrationality of accepting small chance of great disaster in return for the high probability of a modest benefit.

B) to show the inadequacy of the "argument from ignorance".

C) to underscore the challenges presented by the climate crisis.

D) to emphasize the indispensability of every species in the ecosystem.

Which of the following does Sober see as an important reason for environmentalists to resist simply grounding their ethics in what is "natural"?

A) If we are part of nature, then everything we do is natural - including destroying the environment.

B) Domesticated species have as much right to protection as wild or "natural" ones.

C) The appeal to nature easily leads to melancholy and sobering attitude toward existence.

D) Appeals to nature tend to rest on an insufficiently critical embrace of post-Darwinian biology.

Which of the following similarities does Sober see between environmentalism and aesthetic values?

A)an interest in rarity.

B)a concern for preserving context.

C)an attachment to objects that goes beyond the experiences they facilitate.

D)All of these

Preferential affirmative action policies require that ____ be given compensatory advantages.

A) individuals who have been victim of discrimination.

B) all members of groups that have been victims of discrimination.

C) descendants of individuals who were victims of discrimination.

D) no one.

Which presidential administration was the first to use the term "affirmative action"?

A)Kennedy

B)Johnson

C)Nixon

D)Carter

The goal of what Cahn calls "procedural" affirmative action is:

A) to bring minorities and women into the workforce in numbers proportional to their availability in the population.

B) to remedy past injustices.

C) to ensure that job applicants would be judged without any consideration of their sex, race, religion, or national origin.

D) all of these.

According to advocates of preferential affirmative action, why is "diversity" a goal we should pursue?

A)because it enriches society as a whole.

B)because it makes reparation for past discrimination.

C)because it gives a head start to those not prepared to compete.

D)all of these.

According to Cahn, it is reasonable to value which of the following sorts of diversity most highly?

A)gender

B)racial

C)sexual orientation

D)none of these

If there could be a morally permissible instance of torture, it would have to satisfy which of the following conditions?

a. The torture would have to serve a demonstrably and supremely important purpose.

b. The torture would have to be the least harmful means to a supremely important goal.

c. The torture would have to have a clearly defined and reachable endpoint.

d. all of these

Shue argues that an instance of morally acceptable torture is unimaginable.

a. True

b. False

Shue denies that betrayal of one's ideals and comrades can be considered as escape from torture.

a. True

b. False

Shue suggests that only angels could use terroristic torture within the only constraints that would make it permissible.

a. True

b. False

Shue argues that severe interrogational torture would be likely to be inflicted only on the innocent and the seriously committed.

a. True

b. False

Shue believes that torturers should be forced to justify their actions in a public trial.

a. True

b. False

Hill believes that one completes an action when: a. its effects come about.

b. one finishes the basic action that ultimately leads to the effects.

c. one has made a firm resolution to act.

d. one witnesses the outcome of the action.

Hill cites the Roman Catholic “seal of confession”:

a. as an example of innocent motives behind noncooperation with the authorities.

b. as justification for the infliction of pain in the Withholding case.

c. as evidence of widespread religious opposition to torture.

d. to cast doubt on the analogy between self-defense and interrogational torture.

In which of the following circumstances would Hill see the failure to inflict pain as a breach of a positive duty?

a. a police officer refusing to shoot a terrorist in the foot to force him to deactivate a bomb

b. an interrogator refusing to torture an accomplice of a known terrorist in order to discover the location of a devastating bomb

c. a police officer refusing to shoot a terrorist in the foot when that is the only way to prevent him from detonating a bomb

d. all of these

According to Hill, interrogational coercion but not interrogational torture may be morally permissible.

a. True

b. False

Hill takes the difference between stopping a terrorist from inflicting harm and trying to get him to give information as morally significant.

a. True

b. False

According to Hill, some morally evil actions do not license the infliction of severe pain, even in self-defense.

a. True

b. False

Hill does not see the distinction between positive and negative duties as morally significant.

a. True

b. False

What does Berns mean by a “moral community”? a. Members of the community trust one another to obey the laws.

b. Leaders of the community enforce the laws with rewards and punishments.

c. The community has no crime and no need for punishments.

d. The community has moral standards and laws.

Berns argues that anger is a selfish passion.

a. True

b. False

Berns expects the law-abiding person to feel happy when a criminal is punished.

a. True

b. False

Berns believes that to be angry with someone is to acknowledge their human dignity and moral responsibility.

a. True

b. False

Berns argues that our anger at criminals is a selfish and mean calculation.

a. True

b. False

Berns is in favor of capital punishment because killing criminals is a statute enacted at the will of the majority.

a. True

b. False

Nathanson and Berns agree that:

a. capital punishment is wrong.

b. capital punishment symbolizes our values as a society.

c. capital punishment is right.

d. capital punishment is right in the case of “moral monsters.”

Nathanson argues that actions performed in the name of righteous anger:

a. are selfish.

b. are inappropriate.

c. are morally justified.

d. may or may not be morally right.

Berns thinks that the death penalty is a symbolic issue, but Nathanson disagrees.

a. True

b. False

Nathanson uses the example of the automobile accident to show that feeling angry at someone doesn't prove you are justified in killing them.

a. True

b. False

Nathanson believes that the law always deserves complete reverence and respect.

a. True

b. False

According to Nathanson, by abolishing the death penalty, we express our respect for human dignity.

a. True

b. False

Nathanson thinks that moral monsters like Hitler and Stalin deserve the death penalty.

a. True

b. False

Regan's rights theory most closely resembles (without being identical to) the view of which of the following moral philosophers?

a. Rawls

b. Kant

c. Aristotle

d. Hobbes

According to Regan, it is immoral to use animals in science for any purpose whatsoever.

a. True

b. False

Regan argues that the idea of animal rights neither has nor requires a foundation in reason.

a. True

b. False

Regan believes that we have direct duties to animals.

a. True

b. False

Utilitarianism, according to Regan, could be used to justify murder.

a. True

b. False

Regan believes that animals have as much inherent value as humans.

a. True

b. False

Cohen believes that human beings alone possess rights.

a. True

b. False

Cohen denies that we have moral obligations to animals.

a. True

b. False

Obligations entail rights.

a. True

b. False

According to Cohen, a lion has the right to eat a baby zebra.

a. True

b. False

Warren's view is a “weaker” animal rights view because:

a. her arguments are weaker than Regan's.

b. the arguments apply to fewer kinds of animals.

c. she argues that animal rights are not as strong as human rights.

d. Both (B) and (C).

Aristotle argued that in order to be free moral agents, people must be able to:

a. do philosophy.

b. be sentient.

c. solve problems.

d. listen to reason and change their behavior accordingly.

What kinds of things can have rights, according to Warren?

a. Beings capable of sentience, including humans and many animals.

b. Elements of the natural world, such as rivers, trees, and mountains.

c. Species or ecosystems, abstractions that contain living beings.

d. All of the above.

Warren agrees with Regan that some nonhuman animals have rights.

a. True

b. False

Warren argues that some things may have inherent value but not have rights, such as trees.

a. True

b. False

According to Warren, all animals are subjects of a life.

a. True

b. False

Rationality is morally relevant because it allows humans to cooperate nonviolently to resolve conflicts.

a. True

b. False

According to Warren, an anti-cruelty view about animals is insufficient because it would still allow animal suffering and killing.

a. True

b. False

Modern agriculture is increasingly “monocultural” in that:

a. a particular crop is grown on the same land year after year.

b. farmers have increasingly come to share the same basic assumptions about the best way to grow food.

c. agricultural producers in the United States tend to be white, politically conservative Protestants of northern European ancestry.

d. more and more fields are left to lie fallow.

Acid rain is caused by:

a. greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide.

b. oil spills.

c. industrial emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides.

d. all of these.

Which of the following does Regan cite as a principal contributing cause of endangering species? a. hunting

b. urban growth

c. meat production

d. all of these

Regan dismisses as groundless the fear that pesticide residues on our food may be seriously harmful to our health.

a. True

b. False

The law prohibits chemicals known to be carcinogenic from being used in pesticides.

a. True

b. False

Pollution is a public evil.

a. True

b. False

Darwinian biology sees which of the following as goal-directed?

a. species

b. individual organisms

c. ecosystems

d. all of these

Sober thinks that justifying environmentalist policy objectives requires the wholesale jettisoning of most familiar moral judgments.

a. True

b. False

For the environmentalist, the life situation of individual members of species is of primary importance.

a. True

b. False

Sober believes that every species is crucial to a balanced ecosystem.

a. True

b. False

Sober recognizes the distinction between “wild” and “domesticated” as ethically important.

a. True

b. False

Sober regards preference utilitarianism as better suited than hedonistic utilitarianism to the task of securing ethical status for endangered species.

a. True

b. False

Which of the following presidential administrations did NOT implement preferential affirmative action policies?

a. Kennedy

b. Johnson

c. Nixon

d. None of these administrations implemented preferential affirmative action.

Which of the following is NOT one of Cahn's objections to preferential affirmative action?

a. It tends to promote erroneous and derogatory assumptions.

b. It assumes that victims of discrimination deserve to be compensated.

c. It treats people not as individuals but as members of a group.

d. It grants special consideration to criteria that should be irrelevant to hiring decisions.

Which of the following has been an outcome of preferential affirmative action, according to Cahn?

a. increased social harmony

b. doubts about the abilities of those chosen

c. hiring decisions based on relevant criteria only

d. socially beneficial diversity

Cahn is in favor of procedural forms of affirmative action.

a. True

b. False

Procedural affirmative action declares sex, race, religion, and national origin to be irrelevant criteria for employment.

a. True

b. False

Cahn believes that victims of discrimination deserve compensation.

a. True

b. False

According to Cahn, preferential treatment should be given only to victims of sexual and racial prejudice.

a. True

b. False

Cahn believes that procedural affirmative action is the best way to maximize equal opportunity for all.

a. True

b. False

Which of the following arguments for affirmative action does Thomas find the least convincing?

a. the diversity argument

b. the role model argument

c. the past injustices argument

d. the counterfactual argument

What is Thomas's objection to the counterfactual argument from qualifications?

a. It presumes that affirmative action is and should be a permanent policy.

b. It suggests that minorities and women will never be as qualified on the whole as white men.

c. It makes irrelevant criteria central to employment decisions.

d. It overlooks the built-up biases that act against women and minorities.

What is Thomas's view of the idea that a teacher's race and gender matter?

a. He rejects it on the grounds that knowledge is color-blind.

b. He accepts it on the grounds that knowledge is inevitably shaped by life experiences.

c. He rejects it on the grounds that it leads to social disharmony.

d. He accepts it on the grounds that racism often undermines the trust students must have in their mentors.

Why is it often harder to convince a woman or a minority person that we are committed to racial and gender equality than it is to convince ourselves?

a. Women and minorities have deep-seated suspicions that come from a long experience of discrimination.

b. Our nonverbal behavior, which we are not in a position to see, often belies our explicit commitments to equality.

c. Women and minorities have a vested interest in finding racism and sexism around every corner.

d. We are in a better position than others to know the true nature of our own intentions and attitudes.

Thomas finds the commonly expressed wish for more minorities and women in the academy to be:

a. insincere.

b. deliberately destructive.

c. well-intentioned but misguided.

d. encouraging.

Thomas is in favor of affirmative action in educational institutions because it ensures that minorities and women will have role models to look up to.

a. True

b. False

Thomas detects hypocrisy in the counterfactual argument from qualifications.

a. True

b. False

Thomas believes that knowledge is color-blind. a. True

b. False

Thomas considers the success of many minorities in the modern world grounds for abolishing affirmative action.

a. True

b. False

Thomas argues that the number of women and minorities on a university's faculty should be proportional to their numbers in society.

a. True

b. False