7.1 Utilitarianism Too Demanding?

Utilitarianism implies that many actions are supererogatory. True or False

False

Utilitarianism implies that you must always determine precisely what will happen as a result of your actions in order to make a decision about what to do. True or False

False

Which of the following responses to the objection that utilitarianism is too demanding are available to the utilitarian? (There is more than one correct choice.) -"No it's not; the principle of utility is just a rule of thumb. You aren't doing anything wrong if you don't obey it." -"No it's not; morality is very demanding!" -"No it's not; if you focus constantly on maximizing well-being, you'll wind up doing less good than you would if you took a day off every now and then." -"No it's not; you only think it is because you have been brought up in a relatively wealthy society where people have a lot of discretionary income."

"No it's not; if you focus constantly on maximizing well-being, you'll wind up doing less good than you would if you took a day off every now and then."

Peter Singer argues that if someone is physically distant from you, you don't have any moral obligations toward them. True or False

False

Suppose that action A would produce more well-being than action B. For a utilitarian, that means you have to do A instead of B, except when: -doing A would violate your conscience -doing A would lead to your death -A is an intrinsically immoral action -None of the above

None of the above

Utilitarianism implies that you can put your family and friends' interests ahead of the interests of strangers, but only when: -they are well-meaning, decent people -doing so maximizes overall well-being -their well-being would be severely compromised if you did not -none of the above

doing so maximizes overall well-being

If your action is _____, that means it goes above and beyond the call of duty. -altruistic -optimific -impartial -supererogatory

supererogatory

Utilitarianism implies that: -you're acting immorally whenever you do something that doesn't maximize well-being -you're acting immorally whenever you do something that makes things worse than they were before -you're acting immorally whenever you aren't motivated by purely altruistic desires -none of the above

you're acting immorally whenever you do something that doesn't maximize well-being