PHIL 1100 - Ethics

Study Guide for Exam #2

For Exam #2, you are responsible for three main topics:

• Utilitarianism (AU)
• Kant's Categorical Imperative (KCI)
• Ross Theory of Prima Facie Duties (RT).

You are responsible for seven readings:

• Mill, selection from Utilitarianism
• Feldman, "What is Act Utilitarianism?" (pp. 36-41)
• Feldman, "Act Utilitarianism: Arguments Pro and Con"
• Rachels, "The Debate Over Utilitarianism"
• Kant, selections from Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals
• Feldman, "Kant"
• Ross, "What Makes Right Acts Right?"

The first part of the exam will contain multiple-choice/true-false/very-short-answer questions.  The second part of the exam will contain short-answer questions similar to the Study Questions below.

To prepare for the exam, re-read any readings 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 your the review session in lecture, so that you will know what questions you need to ask.

Many questions below ask you to Present, Explain, and Evaluate some argument. Review the 'How to PEE' document on the website to be sure you know exactly what these questions are asking you to do.

Study Questions

1. (a) State Act Utilitarianism (AU), defining any technical terms. Explain the basic idea of the theory in your own words.
   (b) Give an example involving an act that is intuitively morally right and that AU implies is morally right. Explain thoroughly why AU implies this.
   (c) Give an example involving an act that is intuitively morally wrong and that AU implies is morally wrong. Explain thoroughly why AU implies this.
   (d) Present, Explain, and Evaluate the "Lack of Time" Argument against AU.
   (e) Present, Explain, and Evaluate the Organ Harvest Argument against AU.
   
   
2. (a) State Kant's Categorical Imperative (KCI), defining any technical terms. Explain the basic idea of the theory in your own words.
   (b) Give an example involving an act that is intuitively morally right and that KCI implies is morally right. Explain thoroughly why KCI implies this.
   (c) Give two examples involving an act that is intuitively morally wrong and that KCI implies is morally wrong. Make one of these examples correspond to one of the ways in which an act can be wrong on KCI, and make the other example correspond to the other way in which an act can be wrong on KCI. In each case, explain thoroughly why KCI implies that the act is wrong.
   (d) Present, Explain, and Evaluate the Argument from Innocent-But-Non-Universalizable Maxims against KCI.
   
   
3. (a) Define 'prima facie duty'. Illustrate the idea by means of an example.
   (b) Present Ross's list of seven basic prima facie duties. For each duty, say in a sentence what the duty is.
   (c) State Ross' Theory (RT). Explain the basic idea of the theory in your own words.
   (d) Present, Explain, and Evaluate Ross' Argument from Promises against Utilitarianism.
   (e) Present, Explain, and Evaluate the "Is Deontology Irrational?" Argument against Ross' Theory.