PHI 3670, Ethical Theory – Midterm Exam Review

Your actual mid-term examination (on 3/9) will be comprised of questions based on these review questions. You may find it helpful to work with others on these review questions. The mid-term will consist of two sections. Section I will have short answer identification questions like those under “Terms and Concepts” (below) and the second section will be composed of 4-5 questions like those in “Essay Questions” (below) out of which you will need to answer two.

Terms and Concepts:

1. Ethical Egoism

2. Psychological Egoism

3. Subjectivism

4. Emotivism

5. Act and Rule Utilitarianism

6. Performative Utterance

7. The Naturalistic Fallacy

8. The Categorical Imperative

9. The Hypothetical Imperative

10. Prima Facie and Actual Duties

11. The Hobbesian and Lockean Laws of Nature

12. Virtue Theory

13. Doctrine of the Mean

14. Deontology

15. Teleology

16. Eudaimonia

17. State of Nature/State of War in Locke and Hobbes

Essay Questions:

1. Rand and Hobbes were both egoists, but of different kinds. What would Hobbes have said, in your considered view, to Rand’s arguments in favor of ethical egoism? Defend your answer.

2. David Hume claimed that reason is, and ought only to be, the slave of the passions. What does that mean? Do you agree with it? Why?

3. Joseph Butler argued against egoism, and so did Hume. What is the essence of their respective positions? Are they right?

4. Searle claimed that there might be a way to defeat the naturalistic fallacy. What is the naturalistic fallacy, and what is the procedure and content of Searle’s argument concerning it? Do you believe that Searle is right? Defend your answer.

5. Kant and Mill disagreed concerning the ultimate principle of morality and what constitutes the essence of the moral. In your considered view, which of these moralists presents the most convincing and applicable theory of morality?

6. W.D. Ross presents an ethical theory of deontological intuitionism. What does this mean, and how does his position regarding our actual and prima facie duties play itself out?

7. John Rawls claimed that his position was a Kantian one. In what ways, in your view, is this the case? Is Rawls’s position concerning our choice of principles upon which justice as fairness will be built convincing? Why or why not? Defend your answer.

8. Locke’s position seems consistent with the notion of a rights-based moral system. Mackie and Raz disagree on the status of rights-based morality. Considering Locke’s position, do you think that Mackie or Raz is right? Defend your answer.

9. What does it mean to say that the virtue theory of Aristotle is based on community, character and consequences? Is Plato’s position describable in essentially the same way? Why?

10. In your considered view, which form of utilitarianism (act or rule) is least problematic? Defend your answer.

11. In your considered view, and comparing the ethical theories of Plato and Aristotle, which of them appears most applicable to actual moral problems and which exemplifies most accurately a position from which we can understand our relationships with each other?

12. Hobbes and Locke both presented social contract theories of government that include a system of ethics, a view of human nature and claims about our relationships with each other. In your considered view, which of them presents the most plausible account of human nature and the most defensible account of morality?

13. The ethical theories of Kant and Mill are considerably different - they differ in focus, in their ultimate principles of morality, and in characterization of what it is we ought to do. Again, in your considered view and writing of these differences, which of these theories of morality is most applicable to practical moral problems, and which one is most logically consistent?