PHIL 1100 – Ethics (honors)
Fall 2021
Prof. Chris Heathwood
University of Colorado Boulder

Study Guide for Exam 2

For Exam 2, you are responsible for four main topics:

• Act Utilitarianism, including
• the Suffering Principle
• difficulties in formulating Mill's theory
• AU, including the underlying technical concepts
• how "everyone matters equally" on AU
• problems for Act Utilitarianism: the Promise-to-the-Dead-Man Objection; the Footbridge Objection; the Punish-the-Innocent Objection; the Demandingness Objection
  
• Marquis on abortion, including
  
• his Future-Like-Ours (FLO) Theory of the Wrongness of Killing
• his Main Argument
• the "Initial Objection" to this argument and replies to it
  
• Rights Theory, including
• a possibly common root to the Footbridge, Punish-the-Innocent, and Demandingness objections to AU
• negative rights vs. positive rights
• Utilitarianism of Rights (UR) and its implications for Footbridge, Punish-the-Innocent, and Demandingness
• RT
• Rationalism about who has rights and Minimalism about what rights there are
• Nozickian Rights Theory (NRT) and its implications for Footbridge, Punish-the-Innocent, Demandingness, and Promise-to-the-Dead-Man
• Problems for NRT: Underdemandingness; "Clean Hands"; Animals, Newborns, the Severely Mentally Disabled
  
• Thomson on abortion, including
• The Standard Anti-Abortion Argument
• Thomson’s Objection to this argument
• Thomson’s Positive Argument
  

To prepare for the exam, re-read any readings that you found challenging, study your notes, study the lecture slides, and, most importantly, write out your answers to the questions below, as if it were the exam.  Do this before the review session, so that you will know what questions you need to ask during the review session.

Study Questions

Utilitarianism

1. (a) Carefully state Act Utilitarianism (AU).  Be sure to define all the technical terms.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (b) Illustrate AU by explaining how it implies these two things: that it would have been wrong for my doctor to give me my 2004 appendectomy without anesthesia, but it would not have been wrong for a doctor in the 1800s, before the invention of anesthesia, to give their patient an appendectomy without anesthesia.  In doing so, you may find it useful to make charts listing alternatives and hedonic utilities.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. State a defective formulation of utilitarianism and explain in detail why it is defective.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Explain the Promise-to-the-Dead-Man objection to AU.  Doing so will require telling the story behind the objection, and presenting the relevant line-by-line argument.  Also give the rationales for both premises.  (In devising line-by-line formulations of this argument and the arguments below, a good bet is to use this argument form:
        P1. If theory T is true, then ____________ .
        P2. But it’s not the case that ____________ .
        C. Therefore, theory T is not true.)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Explain the Footbridge objection to AU.  Doing so will require telling the story behind the objection, and presenting the relevant line-by-line argument.  Also give the rationales for both premises.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Explain the Punish-the-Innocent objection to AUh.  Doing so will require telling the story behind the objection, and presenting the relevant line-by-line argument.  Also give the rationales for both premises.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Explain the Demandingness objection to AUh using the case of the cabinetmaker.  Doing so will require telling the story behind the objection, and presenting the relevant line-by-line argument.  Also give the rationales for both premises.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Marquis on Abortion

1. (a) What is Marquis's main thesis?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (b) Explain the meaning, in that thesis, of 'prima facie'.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (c) At about what level of seriousness is meant in "seriously wrong"?  You can answer this by using an analogy (i.e., it is the same level of wrongness as what?).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (d) What work is the term 'normal' doing?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. (a) What is Marquis's theory of the wrongness of killing?  Be sure to explain what is meant by the main technical term in it.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (b) Why, according to Marquis, would it be seriously prima facie wrong for me to kill you?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. State Marquis's Main Argument, and give the rationale for the premise that mentions the fetus.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Rights Theory

1. Explain the difference between a negative right and a positive right.  Give a possible example of each.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. (a) State and explain the Utilitarianism of Rights theory (UR), one that includes only negative rights.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (b) Apply this theory to Footbridge and explain how it gets the desired result.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (c) What does UR say is the right thing to do in the Punish-the-Innocent case, and why?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (d) Is UR unreasonably demanding?  Discuss.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. (a) State and explain our Nozickian Rights Theory (NRT).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (b) What doctrine on the topic of who has rights does this theory endorse?  Explain this doctrine in detail. 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (c) What rights does this theory recognize?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. (a) What does NRT say is the right thing to do in the Punish-the-Innocent case, and why?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (b) What does NRT say is the right thing to do in the Promise-to-the-Dead-Man case, and why?
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (c) Is NRT unreasonably demanding?  Explain.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (d) Is NRT unreasonably undemanding?  Explain the underdemandingness objection to NRT using the case of Singer's shallow pond.  Doing so will require telling the story behind the objection, and presenting the relevant line-by-line argument.  Also give the rationales for both premises.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   (e) Adding positive rights to NRT appears to solve the underdemandingness problem.  Explain how.  But it creates a serious problem in a case like Footbridge.  Explain that problem.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Thomson on Abortion

1. Present the Standard Anti-Abortion Argument and give the rationale for each premise.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Present Thomson's objection to this argument.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Present Thomson’s Positive Argument for the permissibility of abortion and give the rationale for each premise.