Study Guide for Exam 1

The first exam (1 of 3) will be on October 6th, Thursday, in-class, and will be closed-book. The study guide and exam are arranged in such a way that if you can answer all of the following questions satisfactorily, you will do well on the exam. The exam will consist of multiple choice, true/false, and short answer questions (and perhaps some other kinds). There is no essay portion on this exam (there will be on exam 3). I make my exams from the study guide, so there will be no surprises. It also might seem like a lot of questions, but if you had done your readings on time and been attentive in class, you should already know the answer to a majority of them. I recommend that everyone have read all the material twice before the exam. You can email me questions on the study guide, but, please, no questions like 'what's the answer to #5?' This defeats the purpose. I'll answer questions if you write to me what you think the answer is, and put a good faith effort into answering it. Then I'll respond. Ok, here goes:

General/Introductory Questions

1. What is the difference between descriptive and prescriptive/evaluative (or, is vs. ought claims)?

2. What is the difference between (merely) instrumental goods and intrinsic goods?

3. What two points about the nature of morality does Rachels conclude with in chapter 1, section 5? How does he argue for this?

4a. What is the 'minimum conception' of morality that Rachels describes in chapter 1, section 6?

4b. What is the distinction between harming vs. not helping?

Cultural Relativism

4c. What is Cultural Relativism (CR)? While there are many different versions, what theory of CR did we settle on in class?

5. In what ways is CR argued for?

6. What's wrong with the 'cultural differences' argument?

7. What negative entailments of CR are there? (This is the basis for most objections to the view).

8. How does Rachels argue that there are fewer differences between cultures than people often suppose?

9. How does Rachels argue that there is a 'core morality' that almost all cultures share?

10. What problem is there with basing CR on an objective Principle of Tolerance?

Subjectivism

11. What is the rationale behind subjectivism?

12. What is 'Simple Subjectivism'?

13. Are moral claims neither true nor false according to Simple Subjectivism?

14. How does Simple Subjectivism entail that there is in fact no moral disagreement, and that we are all morally infallible?

15. What is Emotivism? How does it differ from Simple Subjectivism?

16. How does Emotivism have trouble in that it cannot account for ethical reasoning?

17. How does Rachels argue that there are proofs in ethics?

18. What is the distinction between 'proving an opinion to be correct' and 'persuading someone to accept a proof', and how does running these two together lead people to mistakenly conclude that there are no ethical proofs?

Psychological Egoism

19. What is Psychological Egoism (PE)?

20. How does it differ from Ethical Egoism (EE)?

21. What argument for PE does Rachels offer? What objections?

Ethical Egoism

22. Why is the argument for EE, 'that altruism is self-defeating,' itself self-defeating?

23. What is Ayn Rand's argument for EE, and how does it offer up a false dilemma/dichotomy?

24. How does EE endorse (or at least not condemn) wickedness?

25. How is EE unacceptably arbitrary?

Social Contract Theory (use handout too, on Blackboard)

26. What is the State of Nature (SON)?

27. Why did Hobbes think that the SON would be so awful?

28. How does Social Contract Theory attempt to construct moral obligation out of solely self-interest?

29. How do we respond to the criminal who says 'I never agreed to any contract'?

30. How do we respond to or treat the criminal who insists that they never even implicitly agreed to a contract? Why are we justified in this?

31. What is the Prisoner's Dilemma?

32. How does the Prisoner's Dilemma show that it can be in our self-interest to sacrifice some of what is in our self-interest?

33. What objections are there to Social Contract Theory? (both in the book, and in-class)

Utilitarianism

34. What is Utilitarianism? What is the Principle of Utility (POU)?

35. What are the three components Rachels and I stressed that all Utilitarian theories have in common?

36. What theoretically pleasing features does Utilitarianism have? (handout)

37. How does the Utilitarian argue that we should treat animals much better than we do?

38. What objections are there to Utilitarianism's contention that only psychological satisfaction matters? (8.2, class examples)

39. What objections are there to Utilitarianism based upon justice and rights, and the contention that only consequences matter for moral assessment?

40. What is the objection from backward-looking reasons?

41. What is the objection that Utilitarianism is too demanding?

42. What reasons are given against the impartiality constraint, notably with regard to personal relationships?

43. What is the distinction between Rule-Utilitarianism and Act-Utilitarianism, and why is Rule-Utilitarianism introduced?

44. What is the main (and quite serious) criticism of Rule-Utilitarianism?

45. What does 'supererogatory' mean, and how can one object to Utilitarianism on the grounds that it eliminates this category? (in class)

Singer - Famine, Affluence, and Morality

45. What is Singer's argument for the conclusion that we should sacrifice our luxuries and give the difference to charity?

46. How is the response that 'there are other people who can help' inadequate?

47. How is the response that 'they are far away' inadequate?

48. What does it mean to say that Singer recommends that we give away to the point of marginal utility?

49. How does Singer respond to the objection that 'this is just too hard'?

50. What is the objection to Singer based upon the idea that not purchasing luxuries undermines our market economy and hence our ability to give?