Ethics midterm

If you speak English (i.e. you have the capacity to speak a language), but you do not speak Russian, we could say that you have the second-order capacity to speak Russian.

true

In John Stuart Mill's work, Utilitarianism, his test or basis for distinguishing "higher" from "lower" pleasures is the preference of those who have experience of both.

true

In the Enlightenment, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill, and Immanuel Kant attempted to ground ethics in reason and not God. Nietzsche thought each of them snuck God in the philosophical back door by assuming value to human beings. Immanuel Kant thought that while reason can explain ethical rules without God, God is ultimately necessary to explain our other ethical intuitions. Namely, the idea of God serves as a completion of our ordinary ideas of ethics. (The ideas being an afterlife where we can continue working towards moral perfection AND the idea that there is moral accountability in the afterlife. In other words, this last problem is that bad people get away with bad deeds (e.g. 50% of murders are unsolved in the United States of America today).

true

On Aristotelian/Thomistic metaphysics, the souls of organisms (e.g. oak trees, humans, and frogs) have tens of thousands of lower-order capacities.

true

On the Aristotelain/Thomistic view of the soul, a person can lose first order capacities (e.g. to walk) because of accidents, but a person can never lose the lower order capacities to walk.

true

One problem that the relativist has is accounting for moral beliefs. When Suzy says, "I think capital punishment is wrong," on cultural ethical relativism she is saying that abortion is wrong just for her culture. But, this doesn't seem right - it seems that her view is broader than her culture. Same problem for a subjective moral relativist like Bart. When he says, "kicking puppies is wrong!" he is, on his view, simply talking about himself. But, it seems that he really does intend to say that this is a wrong thing for all people to do--not just him.

true

One problem with relativism is that every event in history has to be described by either cultures or individuals to know if they were good or evil. So, 9/11 will be moral, if Conventionalism is true, if 51% of your culture thinks it was a moral action. If subjectivism is true, the Nazi Holocaust was a wonderful event if you think it was a good thing to kill millions of Jews as well as kill Gypsies, Christians, Communists, and gay men.

true

Philosophical Naturalism - the worldview that claims only nature exists. So, nothing supernatural exists. Gods, angels, souls, love, beauty are all eliminated or reduced to only physical entities/processes. Philosophical Naturalists are usually physicalists and believe that only matter and energy exists. Another name for philosophical naturalism is scientific naturalism or scientific materialism. ALL OF THE STATEMENTS ABOVE ARE TRUE. True or False?

true

The Ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle (384 - 322 B.C.), was an elitist who believed that people have unequal abilities to be virtuous and that some people are worthless due to poor habituation.

true

The Euthyphro Dilemma: Are the ten commandments good because God commanded them, or does God command them because they are good? The first horn of the "Euthyphro Dilemma" above has this problem for the theist who thinks the ten commandments are good because God commanded them. Theists who believe in this Divine Command Theory seem to make morality into something arbitrary, since God could change his mind tomorrow and make torture, rape, and incest good and right acts. God might be like Loki (the god of mischief) and change the 10 commandments each week for fun.

true

The Scottish skeptic and Empiricist, David Hume (1711-1776), believed that the only reason people are moral is because they have feelings of sympathy towards one another and that morality is a result of those feelings.

true

The following is an example of a Rule Utilitarian (RU): "If the practice of lying is, overall, bad for the world in cases where one is tempted to lie, then one ought not to lie now, even if in this case to lie would actually bring about better consequences."

true

The reason that John Stuart Mill believes that pleasure is the only intrinsic good is because he believes that it is the only thing that everyone desires for its own sake.

true

Let's say a jihadist Islamist says that you need to behead everyone in your classroom, or else he is going to nuke the whole campus and kill thousands. If sacrificing the lives of 25 - 50 innocent people would produce much more pleasure and less pain in the world than not sacrificing them, the ____________ would say the sacrifice is justified because the ends justify the means.

Act Utilitarian (AU)

The following is an example of _____________________ reasoning: In the New Testament, Caiphas, the High Priest, advises the Council to deliver Jesus to the Romans for execution: "You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish" (John 11:49-50).

Act Utilitarian (AU)

Which of the following claims that an action is right if and only if it results in as much good as any available alternative action?

Act Utilitarianism (AU)

The two most popular formulations of the Categorical Imperative are the following: CI1: "Act only according to the maxim by which you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law." CI2: "Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always as an end and never as a means only."

true

Virtues are positive traits of character.

true

William Lane Craig follows the writings of atheist philosophers(viz. Nietzsche, Camus, Sartre, Mackie, etc.) and argues that, on the assumptions of scientific naturalism (including naturalistic evolution), the atheist has a difficult time showing how humans are to be valued more than any other animal. Craig says this: "After all, if there is no God, then what's so special about human beings? They're just accidental by-products of nature which have evolved relatively recently on a infinitesimal speck of dust called the planet Earth, lost somewhere in a hostile and mindless universe, and which are doomed to perish individually and collectively in a relatively short time."

true

Friedrich Nietzsche and Ayn Rand's perspective claims that we have an inalienable right to seek our own happiness and fulfillment. Both of them argued that the following could deny us that right according to their philosophies?

Altruism

The theory that we should sometimes act in favor of other people's interests is known as which of the following?

Altruism

The popular "economist argument" (similar to that of Adam Smith's) for ethical egoism in a capitalist society states that enlightened self-interest leads, as if by _________________, to the best overall situation for all.

An invisible hand

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy involved in the study of _______.

ultimate reality (e.g. whether or not immaterial minds/souls exist, the existence of moral properties like good and evil, free will, when living human organisms become things of value, etc.)

Which of the following claims that it is important not only to do the right thing, but also to have the proper disposition, motivation, and emotion in being good and doing right?

virtue ethics

"Excellence/virtue," ___________ says, "is a kind of mean insofar as it is effective at hitting upon the mean" in actions and feelings, and he describes what is involved in this with respect to feelings, as follows: "To have [such feelings as fear, confidence, appetite, anger, and in general pleasure and pain] on the right occasions, about the right things, towards the right people, for the right end [telos] and in the right way, is the mean and best; and this is the business of excellence/virtue."

Aristotle

On this philosopher's view, God is the Prime Mover of the parts of the universe and the Uncaused Cause that causes everything in the universe (except the choices of organisms) and the source of order and design. On his view, God is so high and distant S/He only thinks about thinking-- God doesn't know or care about humans or listen to their prayers.

Aristotle

Our word "metaphysics" is derived from a Greek term meaning "the books which come after the physics" regarding the writings of ______________ (whom the medievals called, "The Philosopher").

Aristotle

Which of the following is not a property possessed by substances?

Aristotle

Who wrote the Nicomachean Ethics, the Politics, the Categories, De Anima (On the Soul), and Metaphysics?

Aristotle

For Aristotle, this has the following: (1) knowledge of the right action; (2) ability to do the right action; and (3) has a sense of pleasure in doing the right action.

virtuous

______________ said the following: "Actions count as done justly or temperately not merely because they themselves are of a certain kind (i.e. just or temperate) but also because of facts about the agent doing them - first if he does them knowingly, secondly if he "chooses" to do them for their own sake, and thirdly if he does them from a firm and unchanging character."

Aristotle

"Reason is the true self of every man, since it is the supreme and better part. It will be strange, then, if he should choose not his own life, but some other' s. What is naturally proper to every creature is the highest and pleasantest for him. And so, man, this will be the life of Reason, since Reason is, in the highest sense, a man's self." Which philosopher argued this view that reason distinguished humans from other animals and plants and parts of nature?

Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics Book 1.7

Which is NOT one of the reasons given by modern Progressives against Natural Law Theory (which interferes with their goal of a large, central government).

As JFK said, "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country!"

REASON is the only source of knowledge and guide to action - to live by the work of one's own mind. PRODUCTIVE WORK is the process by which man's mind supports and sustains life - encompasses the most complete and purposeful use of the mind. PRIDE is something one earns by working toward one's own moral perfection - we are required to reject any philosophy, doctrine or religion that preaches self-denial as a virtuous moral duty; to reject any role of sacrificial animal. Which "egoist" philosopher claimed that we should care about these things as a way that all human beings will flourish in society if they purse them independently?

Ayn Rand in The Virtue of Selfishness

If a man accepts the ethics of altruism, his first concern is not how to live his life, but how to sacrifice it. . . . Altruism erodes men's capacity to grasp the value of an individual life; it reveals a mind from which the reality of a human being has been wiped out. . . . Altruism holds death as its ultimate goal and standard of value--and it is logical that renunciation, resignation, self-denial, and every other form of suffering, including self-destruction, are the virtue of its advocates." Which "egoist" philosopher (who also loved Aristotle and wanted a flourishing, peaceful society) wrote this?

Ayn Rand, author of The Virtue of Selfishness

William Lane Craig argues that, "____________ God is not necessary for objective morality, God is."

Belief in

Progressive American President, Woodrow Wilson, regularly attacked the Declaration of Independence in 4th of July speeches as President of Princeton University and President of the USA. Conservative President, ______________________, seemingly reacted to Wilson's dismissal of the Declaration of Independence with this speech (and argue against the political philosophy of future Progressives in both Democrat and Republican parties in 2017):

Calvin Coolidge

Which are the IMPORTANT questions according to J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig when discussing atheism and morality? Choose 3

Can an atheist say that objective moral properties (e.g., goodness, rightness, wrongness, badness) exist? On atheism, are humans accountable for keeping/not keeping (i.e. obeying/disobeying) the moral law? On atheism, do humans have an obligation (or duty) to obey the moral law, or live in accordance with moral properties?

Which of the following are the UNIMPORTANT questions according to J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig? (choose 3)

Can atheists recognize moral values? Can an atheist live a moral life? Can we formulate a system of ethics without referring to God?

Which of the following is not a question of metaphysics?

Can we have knowledge without absolute proof or absolute certainty?

Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas defended a teleological view of human nature sees humanity and each individual as having a plan (formal and final causes) designed by God or a divine nature and that any deviation from the norm is to be considered morally wrong. This scientist followed the Ancient Greek evolutionists (Democritus and Empedocles) and eliminated teleology from biology (and human natures, or a way humans ought to be), and his view (of matter rearranging) is widely accepted by most Naturalists (scientific atheists) today as the explanation of every part of human organisms.

Charles Darwin

"True law is right reason in agreement with nature: it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. And it does not lay its commands or prohibitions upon good men in vain, though neither have any effect on the wicked - We cannot be freed from its obligations by senate or people, and we need not look outside ourselves for an expounder or interpreter of it. And there will not be different laws of Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one eternal and unchangeable law will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler, that is, God, over us all, for he is the author of this law, its promulgator, and its enforcing judge. Whoever is disobedient is fleeing from himself and denying his human nature, and by reason of this very fact he still suffers the worst penalties, even if he escapes what is commonly considered punishment . . . (De Re Publica, III, xxii) " Which philosopher said this?

Cicero (i.e. Marcus Tullius Cicero 106 - 43 B.C.)

_______________________________ is a criterion that considers how well the various parts of a theory "hang together."

Coherence

Let's assume that a form of moral relativism is true. Which one should we choose? Some philosophers (like the late, Louis Pojman) do not think that rational persons should stick with conventionalism (i.e. cultural ethical relativism). Instead, the cultural relativist should move to individual ethical relativism, or subjectivism. One might give three reasons why this is the case. In the following list, choose the one which is not one of the reasons you would gives for this move

Conventional (Cultural) ethical relativism entails disturbing judgments about the law. On this view, civil disobedience would be morally wrong, since you are acting against the norms decided by the culture. Also, if my subculture (say, the KKK) is substantial enough and if it does not like the laws in question (say, the Civil Rights laws of the 1960s) it has the moral mandate to disobey the laws. (Pojman, 33-34)

Which of the following views claims that there are NO objective moral principles to guide us about sex, love, marriage, etc., but that all valid moral principles are justified or made true by virtue of their cultural acceptance (at least 51%) which recognizes the social nature of morality?

Conventional Ethical Relativism (i.e. Cultural Ethical Relativism)

The Stoics (like those mentioned in Acts 17 of the New Testament) believed that the entire universe is governed by laws that exhibit a rationality that applies to all creatures and creation in the universe. Because of this belief, the Stoics coined the word, "_______________________"

Cosmopolitan

The scientific theory that human beings are animals who evolved from "lower" forms of life and that we are products of chance in our struggle forexistence is known as which of the following? Naturalistic (atheistic) versions eliminate Natural Law Theory, but if God used this process to create human beings, yet instilled non-physical souls/minds in human organisms, things are different.

Darwinian evolution

Biblical ethics discredits an autonomous morality. It gives theonomous ethics in its classic form--the identification of the moral law with the Divine will. In Hebrew-Christian revelation, distinctions in ethics reduce to what is good or what is pleasing, and to what is wicked or displeasing to the Creator-God alone. The biblical view maintains always a dynamic statement of values, refusing to sever the elements of morality from the will of God. . . . The good is what the Creator-Lord does and commands. He is the creator of the moral law, and defines its very nature." --Carl F.H. Henry This is a good statement of __________________________.

Divine Command Theory

Like psychology, ___________________________ is both a descriptive and a prescriptive discipline. In other words, it tells us what is the case, and it tells us what should be the case with regards to knowledge and justification for beliefs.

Epistemology

This is the science of knowledge, or the branch of philosophy that talks about (among other things) the sources of justification for our beliefs.

Epistemology

The following is a(n) __________________ claim: "Technological advances in an science should always be encouraged by society."

Ethical

The philosophy that rejects moral nihilism and moral relativism and says it is morally right for humans to always seek their own self-interest is known as which of the following?

Ethical Egoism

Which of the following is the view that we ought always do those acts that will best serve our own best self-interest even when it conflicts with the interests of others?

Ethical Egoism

_______________________________ claims that we choose to do the act that we perceive is for the best interest of ourselves because we know that is the proper course to take.

Ethical Egoism

The hard sciences (viz. chemistry and physics) cannot answer philosophical questions, in principle. Science and technology cannot determine the difference between a good action and a bad action. In addition to logic, what branch of philosophy is needed to determine the difference between a right action and a wrong action?

Ethics

This is the branch of philosophy that talks about how we should live and the Good (Values), the rules of right and wrong (Morality); and good and bad character traits (Virtues and Vices).

Ethics

For most epistemologists (philosophers who focus on the science of knowledge), knowledge is the same as wisdom.

False

If Darwin was right about the origins of human beings (naturalistic evolution) and everything about humans can be explained by matter rearranging, then it is easy to see how humans have unchanging human natures as well as the cognitive powers to discover this normative Natural Law that tells us how humans should behave (e.g., we should love our children and not eat them).

False

Natural Law Theorists are moral relativists who are either Conventionalists (51% of people's beliefs in a culture decide right and wrong) or Subjectivists (each individual's beliefs are the standard of right and wrong).

False

Physical laws in chemistry and physics are prescriptive (or normative). They tell us how things should be, or how things ought to be.

False

The Natural Law Theory of Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas, Jefferson, and Lincoln is descriptive. It tells us how things are in the world.

False

The anthropological fact of cultural relativism (i.e. different cultures have different moral beliefs about sex, love, and marriage) is by itself able to establish the truth of conventionalism (cultural ethical relativism)?

False

________________ think logic and mathematics are autonomous from God (like morality according to the autonomy thesis). Many Christian theologians (like Saint Augustine, William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, etc.) think that the best explanation of the existence of immaterial entities (abstract objects) like moral properties, mathematical entities, and the laws of logic is to locate them in the mind of God. A similar debate is between the Neo-Platonists and Christian Theists when we ask if these non-physical (immaterial) universals exist on their own or if they are located in the mind of a person--God. ________________ are often polytheists (believe in many gods) like the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. They deny that God or the gods have the "omni" properties (omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, aseity, omnibenevolence).

Finite Theists

The late West Point philosopher, Louis Pojman, gives the following argument by William Lane Craig, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, William Sorley and other personal theists: P1) If there is no God, no moral absolute values exist. P2) Evil exists (which is a negative absolute value and implies that the Good exists as an absolute positive value) C) Therefore, God exists. Pojman writes, "Craig assumes that unless God is the ultimate source and authority of morality, it cannot have absolute or objective status. But if the autonomy thesis is correct, objective moral principles exist whether or not God exists. They are the principles that enable human beings to flourish, to make life more nearly a heaven than a hell. Rational beings can discover these principles independently of God or revelation--using reason and experience alone." (Pojman, 197) How would William Lane Craig respond to Pojman here?

First, this is the argument for God from evil. Second, the "autonomy thesis" (which claims Platonism is true) is unreasonable in light of the live option of personal theism. Thirdly, the "autonomy thesis" would not make any sense on physicalism (the most popular form of philosophical naturalism (atheism) today) since moral properties are not physical properties and the physicalist only believes in the existence of physical properties. In On Guard, he gives three more reasons: (a) atheistic moral platonism seems unintelligible since it seems odd, metaphysically, for abstract entities like "justice" to float around in the universe; (b) this view provides no basis for moral duties; and (c) It is fantastically improbable that the blind evolutionary process should spit forth precisely that sort of creatures who correspond to the abstractly existing realm of moral values.

Before Aristotle critiques Plato's view of the Form/Idea of Good (in Book I.6), he argues piety requires what of philosophers?

Follow the truth even if it requires that we destroy (with rational argument) the views of our close friends and teachers.

Leni Riefenstahl's film, Triumph of the Will, is meant to paint Hitler as the ubermensch or "overman" ("superman") that ___________________________ heralded in the works by this author.

Frederick Nietzsche

Postmodernism or Post-Structuralism is a worldview that is an enemy to philosophy since it denies logic and reason are real things and it denies that truth (meta-narratives) exist. So, everyone believes things as a result of non-rational causes (race, economic status, parents, language, culture, movies, biases, bigotry, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, etc.) and not for rational reasons. Also, all philosophical arguments should be ignored and the psychological reasons why people believe things should be discovered. All humans just try to force their "narrative" on others because there is no truth or meta-narrative. Which philosopher influenced this view?

Friedrich Nietzsche

With the rise of secularism in European society, ______________________________ proclaimed we are no longer bound by supernatural superstitions (e.g. humans are valuable because they bear "God's image")—we are free from the invented moral restraints of the Judeo-Christian traditions that were invented by the weak to protect the weak.

Friedrich Nietzsche

Which "egoist" philosopher thought that Christian morality interrupted our natural state of the survival of the fittest and a brutal (but exciting) world where we live hard and die? This philosopher also praised the Vikings and Homer's Odysseus as virtuous.

Friedrich Nietzsche in Twilight of the Idols and The Anti-Christ

Whither is God?' he cried, 'I shall tell you. We have killed him—you and I. All of us are his murderers. But how have we done this? How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is not night and more night coming on all the while? Must not lanterns be lit in the morning? Do we not hear anything yet of the noise of the gravediggers who are burying God? . . . God is dead. . . . And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers of all murderers, comfort ourselves? Which philosopher wrote this and what was it called and what is the point of this?

Friedrich Nietzsche; The Parable of the Madman; People are saying they don't believe in God, but they do not understand the frightening implications of atheism for human life (good/evil, meaning/purpose, etc.)

Following Aristotle's analysis in Book I.7 of the Nicomachean believed that human beings have an essential rational nature that directs humans to a prescribed view of life (or, our formal cause or "nature"). Distinguishing himself from Aristotle, Saint Thomas Aquinas argued the rational nature of humans was purposely designed by a loving, personal God. Aristotle was a deist who believed what?

God was responsible for goodness, design, and holding the universe in existence but S/He does not listen to prayers of humans

The following is the ____________________________________: "We ought to do that which produces the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people."

Greatest Happiness Principle (GHP)

Friedrich Nietzsche has been critiqued for all of the following reasons except . . .

He was a swashbuckling philosopher and very entertaining to read

Which of the following is false about Aristotle?

He was taught by Socrates.

One puzzling thing is that it is difficult to be a moral relativist and be consistent. Most of cable news shows during the Trump Administration have moral debates about the ethics of building a wall on the southern border and the ethics of a travel ban and President Trump's tweets. In January of 2021, President Trump was permanently removed from Twitter and other social media platforms because they claimed it is wrong to let him tweet. The problem is that many of these same people are operating from a Naturalistic or Postmodern worldview and so it is difficult for them to be anything other than moral nihilists or moral relativists. If moral nihilism is true, than the claims of "right" and "wrong" are meaningless, and if moral relativism (conventionalism) is true, there should be no more debates about what is right and wrong by these politicians, professors, and political commentators. Why?

If conventionalism is true, then the only thing discussed on cable news should be polls of the American culture. 51% of Americans decide right and wrong. There should be no emotions around right and wrong. Polls decide what is right and wrong.

Why did Natural Law Theorists like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison argue that private property rights are a fundamental, God-given right?

If we do not guarantee private property rights, Plato was right (in the Republic) that the poor will always vote for a large government to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor and the larger government becomes the less liberty and freedom individual Americans have.

John Hick tells the story of an ant who wakes up to find himself understanding truths of socio-biology (evolutionary theory) and finding himself possessed of free will . . . Hick says, "Suppose him to be called upon to immolate himself for the sake of the ant-hill. He feels the powerful pressure of instinct pushing him towards this self-destruction. But he asks himself why he should voluntarily . . . carry out the suicidal program me to which instinct prompts him? Why should he regard the future existence of a million million other ants as more important to him than his own continued existence? . . . Since all that he is and has or ever can have his is own present existence, surely in so far as he is free from the domination of the blind force of instinct he will opt for life--his own life." What is the point that theistic philosopher, John Hick, is trying to make?

If we grant the philosophical naturalist the assumptions of atheism and naturalistic evolution (i.e. all living things and all ASPECTS of organisms are the product of the random, unguided forces of nature), then moral sentiments are probably just the product of natural selection. Based on the origin of these moral feelings, we should ignore them and save ourselves. Ethical egoism becomes the most rational view. All we have is this present life. There is no life after death. Our deeds do not "echo in eternity" as Russell Crowe said in the film, Gladiator.

The case of the American spy who betrayed his country and sold information to the Soviet Union, Robert Hanssen, as seen in the movie Breach (2006). He is used to illustrate which objection to Act Utilitarianism?

Ignores duties

Imagine that I need to get $100 to give to cancer research and that I have to get this money from people in the class. I have a choice: (A) Take $10 from every person in the room, or (B) Take $100 from just one student. Act A: 10 people get 5 dolors (negative hedons) each Act B: 1 person gets 50 dolors. A = B. It doesn't matter whether I take it from one person, or take it from ten people in the class. This example illustrates which objection to Act Utilitarianism?

Ignores the distribution of happiness

_________________________ believed in the dignity of rational beings only. While Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) disagreed with him, Kant maintained (as did Aristotle) that the value of humans was grounded in their ability to engage in higher reason (unlike wolves and snakes).

Immanuel Kant

___________________________ never traveled more than 50 miles from his home. Instead, he entertained many international guests at his dinner table and read.

Immanuel Kant

The branch of philosophy known as ethics covers three areas. Choose the area that it does not cover below.

Informal Fallacies (e.g. Red Herring, Ad Hominem, Straw Man, False Dilemma, etc.)

If God does not exist, we find no values or commands to turn to which legitimize our conduct. So, in the bright realm of values, we have no excuse behind us, nor justification before us. We are alone, with no excuses." Which famous atheist said this?

Jean-Paul Sartre

The English, Christian philosopher who influenced the Founding Fathers of America and the Declaration of Independence was __________________.

John Locke

In the lecture, Thomas Hobbes' "State of Nature" was illustrated by saying all humans have ________________________ as examples of basic clothing, possession, and a weapon. In this "state of nature" (if psychological egoism is true) we use the weapon to try to take the possession from every other person until we are killed. Life is, "nasty, brutish, and short," without a social contract that is enforced by a strong hand (Leviathan) with a police force.

Jujubes, loin cloths, and ball peen hammers.

Most Progressive philosophers have denied that there are timeless truths as Natural Law Theory presupposes. Many Progressives have condemned John Locke (the philosopher who influenced the Founding Fathers the most) and the Declaration of Independence. The philosopher that had a significant impact on American education in the 20th Century, John Dewey (1859 - 1952), was one of these philosophers who condemned Locke, the Declaration of Independence, free market capitalism, and private property rights in favor of a large government and redistribution of wealth. Dewey admired the philosopher that inspired socialism and communism, _____________________, and agreed with many of his ideas (except the violent overthrow of the rich by the poor) and encouraged a large, central government run by social scientists that continually engaged in radical social experimentation and engineering from a strong, central government.

Karl Marx

This nineteenth-century philosopher was an atheist who thought that humans were completely determined by economic forces (not free will choices). He also thought that humans invented God because of economic oppression by the rich. His ideas also led to the death of over 150 million people in the 20th Century in countries like Russia, Cambodia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua, Laos, Vietnam, and some in Africa. Who is this famous philosopher who thought religion was the "opium of the people" (or a drug invented by humans to get through life)?

Karl Marx (1818 - 1883)

Consider the following cases: You are trying to understand the behavior of your significant other or your child You are trying to see if you have enough money in your account to buy a Big Mac You are trying to figure out why there is a traffic jam. You are a juror thinking through the evidence to see if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt In all of these cases, which branch of philosophy is being used in every case?

Logic

Does a non-physical/immaterial mind or soul exist?" is a __________________________ question.

Metaphysical

What philosophers call, _________________, is the same area of study that Aristotle called "first philosophy."

Metaphysics

Morality is a biological adaptation no less than are hands and feet and teeth.... Considered as a rationally justifiable set of claims about an objective something, [ethics] is illusory. I appreciate that when somebody says, `Love thy neighbor as thyself,' they think they are referring above and beyond themselves.... Nevertheless,... such reference is truly without foundation. Morality is just an aid to survival and reproduction,... and any deeper meaning is illusory...." Which famous Naturalist/Atheist said this?

Michael Ruse

If you think that individuals can make serious philosophical progress (even if the truth is not found) by finding out what is false, you believe in this _____________________.

Minimal Goal of Philosophy

____________________________ is the view that morality is a fiction and that there are no existing valid moral principles. It also holds that moral properties such as good and evil or right and wrong have never appeared at any time in the history of the universe.

Moral Nihilism (Ethical Nihilism)

The view that there are one or more universal moral principles or values that are valid for all people in all places (or at least have shown up in one place in history), is known as which of the following?

Moral Objectivism or Moral Realism

All of the following hold that that there has never been an objective moral fact in the universe (e.g. "It was wrong for George Sinalindin to cheat on his wife in Las Vegas") except for ____________________________.

Moral Realism

One of the consequences of both forms of_______________________ (conventionalism and subjectivism) is that moral reformers like Jesus, William Wilberforce, Benjamin Rush, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., are always, from the standpoint of this viewpoint, morally wrong.

Moral Relativism

The view that holds that there are no universally valid moral principles, but rather all moral principles are based on what humans believe (i.e. valid relative to culture or individual choice (about sex, love, marriage, or anything else) is which of the following?

Moral Relativism

On the worldview of Naturalism (scientific atheism), there is no God and no design for the universe. The universe just appeared. Human organisms are just the product of nature (chemistry and physics) working out in the history of the universe. Moral intuitions are also the product of chemistry and physics and have no relationship to reality. Since everything is natural, nothing is wrong in the universe. Good and evil and right and wrong do not exist even if humans think they do (thanks to evolutionary programming). Moral nihilism is true, but it is so awful and it doesn't fit with our evolved moral intuitions (that are false), so the best option is to become ______________________________ to avoid being moral nihilists and seeing the destruction of society.

Moral Relativists (ground morality in human beliefs)

Courage, honesty, benevolence, nonmalevolence, fairness, kindness, conscientiousness, and gratitude are considered which of the following?

Moral Virtues

If conventionalism (cultural moral relativism) is true, then moral debate about anything (redefining marriage, adultery, polyamory, pederasty, how a president or SCOTUS justice or senator should act in office, etc..) becomes meaningless. Why?

Moral debate assumes there is an objective truth to discover, but on conventionialism we only need to look at polls of what people believe. It doesn't matter why people believe something is right or wrong.

"The principles on which we engaged, of which the charter of our independence is the record, were sanctioned by the laws of our being, and we but obeyed them in pursuing undeviatingly the course they called for. It issued finally in that inestimable state of freedom which alone can ensure to man the enjoyment of his equal rights." --Thomas Jefferson to Georgetown Republicans, 1809. ME 16:349 "Man [is] a rational animal, endowed by nature with rights and with aninnate sense of justice." --Thomas Jefferson to William Johnson, 1823.ME 15:441 "A free people [claim] their rights as derived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774. ME 1:209, Papers 1:134 "Under the law of nature, all men are born free, every one comes into the world with a right to his own person, which includes the liberty of moving and using it at his own will. This is what is called personal liberty, and is given him by the Author of nature, because necessary for his own sustenance." --Thomas Jefferson: Legal Argument, 1770. FE 1:376 "Nothing... is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man." --Thomas Jefferson to John Cartwright, 1824. ME 16:48 "The evidence of [the] natural right [of expatriation], like that of our right to life, liberty, the use of our faculties, the pursuit of happiness, is not left to the feeble and sophistical investigations of reason, but is impressed on the sense of every man. We do not claim these under the charters of kings or legislators, but under the King of Kings." --Thomas Jefferson to John Manners, 1817. ME 15:124 From the evidence above it is clear that the primary author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson was a_______________.

Natural Law Theorist

In 1991, during his confirmation hearings in the Senate, Clarence Thomas was attacked (and shamed) for being a ___________________ by some senators. Nevertheless, Thomas became the second African American SCOTUS justice confirmed.

Natural Law Theorist

The philosophy (based on a theological belief that God designed the natural order) that states that morality is a function of human nature (or the way humans ought to be) is known as_________________________.

Natural Law Theory of Aristotle, Cicero, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and the Declaration of Independence

The following is not a popular objection against Natural Law Theory:

Natural Law precludes individuals from believing in both forms of moral relativism (subjectivism and conventionalism)

On this worldview, the following views are usually held: 1) An Epistemology (philosophy of knowledge) of strong scientism or weak scientism (the view that the hard sciences yield all knowledge or the best knowledge). 2) The Grand Story: Naturalistic Big Bang Theory and Naturalistic Evolution explain everything about human beings 3) A Metaphysics: Physicalism or the view that only matter and energy exist in universe (no gods or souls/minds or ghosts exist)

Naturalism (scientific atheism)

The late philosopher from West Point, Louis Pojman, defends Bertrand Russell's view that secular ethics can be saved, since "secular morality based on a notion of the good life is inspiring in itself, for it promotes human flourishing and can be shown to be in all of our interests, whether or not a God exists." (In Pojman's Discovering Right and Wrong) Why do other atheists (Naturalists) like J.L. Mackie, Kai Nielsen, Michael Ruse and others disagree with Russell and Pojman?

Naturalism says nothing is wrong in the history of the universe since everything is matter and energy moving in fields of force according to chemistry and physics. Pojman's defense of Russell's view is in the vein of Aristotle - the problem most Naturalists have with this kind of defense is that the Aristotelian view is unsupportable, metaphysically, in light of current evolutionary biology. The concept of "flourishing" is on the verge of a robust teleological view that says humans have natures and Darwin himself would like to see Louis Pojman (who is a moral realist/objectivist) show how this could fit with a naturalistic worldview that eliminates purposes and right and wrong from biology. Also, to borrow William Lane Craig's argument against "stubborn humanism," this move to "flourishing" is arbitrary - on atheism we could just as well wish our self-destruction.

The term that reflects that we are responsible not only for the consequences of our actions but also the consequences of our non-actions is which of the following?

Negative responsibility

Aristotle's most famous of his two works on ethics is titled ____________________.

Nicomachean Ethics

Utilitarianism is parasitic on a long-forgotten Christian morality. There is no reason to care about the happiness or pleasure of anyone else unless Christianity is true. To do so assumes that human beings are made in God's image (the Imago Dei), and utilitarianism is supposed to be an atheistic moral theory. This idea is behind which objection against Act Utilitarianism?

Nietzsche's critique

The _________________________ states that the best way to get happiness is to forget it--let it be a byproduct of other things and not your focus.

Paradox of Hedonism

The fact that the best way to attain happiness is to sometimes forget about it is known as which of the following? (This is also set forth as a counterexample to Psychological Egoism)

Paradox of Hedonism

Most philosophers think that Natural Law Theory is more at home in the worldview of ____________________, and it is very difficult to explain the existence of a Natural Law if "Nature's God" doesn't exist.

Personal Theism

This worldview holds that there is a loving personal God who created the world and cares about humans. On most of these worldviews, God designed human beings to be different than nature with minds/souls and the non-natural powers of free will, creativity, and the ability to discover good and evil.

Personal Theism

Assume (for this question) that there is no God. Since mindless evolution produced humans, humans are no more special than are other sentient animals. To claim--as Kant and Aristotle did--that the capacity to reason in humans should distinguish them as the most valuable animals on the planet is question-begging. Of course, humans would pick this unique trait in which to ground our value. But why not choose speed (cheetah) or the ability to swim under water (sharks) or to survive a nuclear winter (cockroaches). All animals have some unique feature to them that would distinguish themselves from other species. Picking RATIONALITY is arbitrary and simply favors humans. No animal on the planet earned value - all animals came from the same mindless, non-rational process--naturalistic evolution. To claim that humans are unique and deserve special consideration is to be a proponent of SPECIESISM! Discrimination against other species for no solid metaphysical reason. Which famous atheist held to the above sentiments?

Peter Singer

This worldview (inspired by Nietzsche) holds that there are no universal truths (or "meta-narratives"). In science, history, religion, and ethics there are only individual views and individual stories (narratives) that we try to impose on others.

Postmodernism (Post-Structuralism)

The author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, as well as Abraham Lincoln, Rev. Martin Luther King. Jr., the Founding Fathers and Framers of the United States Constitution believed in________________________. This view includes a powerful, designer God, the supernatural ability ("divine spark") to discover Natural Law, and the ethic that all men are created equal) as the source of our rights and morality.

Postmodernism/Poststructuralism

If I am reading Plato or listening to a family member speak, and I am on the fence (50/50) about interpreting them as being coherent or incoherent, if I choose to assume the coherent explanation what am I using?

Principle of Charity

This is the ____________________________: "The morally best (or better) alternative is that which produces the greatest (or greater) net utility, where utility is defined in terms of happiness or pleasure."

Principle of Utility

Immanuel Kant believed that every rational individual can regard themselves as a universal lawmaker and that an external authority (like a Bible or government) is not necessary to determine moral law. This is the termed which of the following? _______________________

Principle of autonomy

The theory that states that we always do acts that we perceive are totally in our own best interest and that we cannot be motivated by anything other than what we believe will promote our own self interests is known as which of the following?

Psychological egoism

Which of the following is not an argument for the substantial theory of the self (personhood).

Reality is created by the minds of other people. We are aware that we are not intrinsically valuable. Our value comes from the opinions of others (especially our caretakers) as to whether we are things of value.

On William Lane Craig's view, if personal theism (belief in God) is assumed, three things are guaranteed in the ethical project. Below, click on the one that is NOT one of the three.

Reasons to avoid suicide

Imagine that epilepsy surgery is the same price as knee surgery (to fix a torn ACL and MCL). If a random child in Kansas would derive 1000 hedons from a surgery to help with his epilepsy, and my own son would derive 800 hedons from getting his knee fixed (which would enable him to play ball again), the ethical thing for me to do would be to pay for the stranger's son's surgery. The above case is used to illustrate the following objection against Act Utilitarianism.

Requires too much impartiality

It claims that every decision should maximize pleasure in the world. How can my choice to go see the new Sylvester Stallone movie, John Rambo [a.k.a. Rambo XX], be ethical when I could give that $9.00 to tsunami relief? This question is in line with what critique of Act Utilitarianism?

Requires too much sacrifice of individuals

____________________________ asserts that the best chance of maximizing utility is to follow a set of rules (that cover all similar actions around the world) that will most likely give us our desired results.

Rule Utilitarianism (RU)

Another attack on Natural Law Theory in the late 19th and 20th Centuries was held by the founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, and held by National Socialist leader, Adolf Hitler, in Germany. On this philosophy of _________________________, the strongest of humans should live and breed and weak humans should die off or be killed for human evolution to continue. This led to the _____________ movement which Margaret Sanger and Adolf Hitler encouraged.

Social Darwinism; eugenics

Which famous Ancient Greek philosopher stated, "the unexamined life is not worth living," in Plato's Apology?

Socrates

The cruelty of atheism is hard to believe when man has no faith in the reward of good or the punishment of evil. There is no reason to be human. There is no restraint from the depths of evil which is in man. The Communist torturers often said, 'There is no God, no hereafter, no punishment for evil. We can do what we wish.' I have heard one torturer even say, 'I thank God, in whom I don't believe, that I have lived to this hour when I can express all the evil in my heart.' He expressed it in unbelievable brutality and torture inflected on prisoners." This example (from one tortured by Communists in Romania during the Cold War) was given in the presentation to illustrate what?

Some atheists (like Jeffrey Dahmer) are aware that there is no afterlife where judgment can occur for immoral behavior. In other words, there is no ultimate accountability for doing evil if God [or another source of accountability like karma] does not exist.

According to [the melancholy Dane], _______________, what philosophy can give us is self-understanding. Self-understanding involves knowing who I really am apart from the masks I present to others, the social roles I fulfill, or the labels and descriptions imposed on me by my society and my peers. It also involves understanding my beliefs and values . . . [Selfunderstanding] is something we are often tempted to avoid. It is much easier to be complacent, to be self-satisfied, and to stick with beliefs that are comfortable and familiar than to be painfully and fully honest with ourselves and to subject our deepest convictions to examination." -- William F. Lawhead

Soren Kierkegaard (19th Century Danish Philosopher). Christian existentalist Author of Fear and Trembling and The Sickness Unto Death.

On the basis of what form of ethical relativism could Ted Bundy and Adolf Hilter or a practice like pederasty be considered "moral"?

Subjectivism (Individual Ethical Relativism)

The __________ view of the Self (or Personhood) is the common-sense view of the self that says personhood is grounded in the lower-order capacities of a soul/substance of a human organism. On this view, humans remain the same persons through mental and physical change over the years, and they retain the same value regardless of the degree of development.

Substantial

What does eudaimonia mean?

The "activity of the soul in accordance with arete (virtue)" so the eudaimon (happy) life is the life of virtue. It is not like the American notion of "happiness" but a deeper notion of flourishing for humans.

The Euthyphro Dilemma: If God (or gods) exists, what is the relationship with ethics? 1. Morality does not originate with God (although the way God created us may affect the specific nature of morality). 2. Rightness and wrongness are not based simply on God's will. 3. Essentially, there are reasons for acting one way or the other, which may be known independent of God's will. What is this view called?

The Autonomy Thesis

What document (based on Natural Law Theory) was referenced by Abraham Lincoln and Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. for the philosophical and theological foundation of ending slavery (Lincoln) and ending discrimination based on race (King).

The Declaration of Independence

In Book I.7, we find Aristotle's famous "function argument." Here, he examines what plant, animal, and human souls have in common and what distinguishes them from one another. The function will be to be the good and noble performance of this function. What power of the soul is peculiar to man?

The activity of the soul which follows or implies reason.

For Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804), a universally applicable principle of conduct that is correct for each and every situation to be done by each and every individual is termed which of the following?

The categorical imperative

Which of the following reasons is not one of the reasons that Progressive Socialists (and Communists closest to Karl Marx) give for rejecting Natural Law Theory?

The ethic taught by Jesus (Isa) of loving enemies and forgiving enemies and not rejoicing in the misfortunes of enemies must be followed to end the world's problems.

Some philosophers explain that utilitarians could and would misuse the political, legal, or medical system to carry out their plans if this would benefit their overall goal and that this is one of the criticisms of utilitarianism. Which of the following objections does this worry represent?

The justice objection: That utilitarianism would not care about the rights of individual Americans as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution

Progressive Presidents like Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Obama, and Biden argue that Constitutional limits on the Executive Branch (Article 2) and the Judiciary (Article 3) should be ignored for the greater, Progressive good of society. Which of the following is not a possible illustration of how the Executive Branch and Judiciary exceeded their Constitutional limits in order to advance the Progressive agenda?

The late SCOTUS justice, Antonin Scalia's, view that the only job of SCOTUS is to declare laws Constitutional or not--not to use utilitarian reasoning to fix Congressional laws or to create laws by judicial decisions (the job of Congress) for the greater good. To illustrate his view, he had a stamp on his desk that said, "Constitutional, but stupid."

This objection against cultural (ethical) relativism states that it is notoriously difficult to define the boundaries of a culture or society. Should it include the West (Western Europe and North America), or should it include each state in the U.S.A.? What about little isolated cultures within the boundaries of the state (e.g. Amish)? Maybe we should define cultures by city limits (e.g. Cincinnati). But, some neighborhoods might be weird and want their own moral autonomy. So, let's draw the boundaries around neighborhoods. But what if a guy has a big house and land in the neighborhood and wants to make his culture where his property ends? You get the point. What is this objection called?

The objection from sub-groups

In the pdf of Chapter 6 of On Guard, William Lane Craig uses three examples to show that moral relativism is false. Which of the following is not one of the examples Craig used to argue that objective moral values exist?

The practice of topless sunbathing on European beaches

__________________ claimed that people will never live decent lives (in the "state of nature") without the imposition of morality upon the culture by a social contract enforced by a Leviathan (king or government). Humans have to come together to invent rules of morality (right and wrong) and give people power to keep us from living in a wild, "survival of the fittest," world that is "nasty, brutish, and short," where we are always watching our backs in fear of death.

Thomas Hobbes

A second problem for thinking Moral Relativism is true because of "tolerance" is that this seems to appeal to tolerance as a universal moral principle (viz. "Everyone should be tolerant") that should be affirmed by all humans. In that case, relativism is false. Why?

To show relativism to be false, you simply need to affirm one universal moral principle or find one instance in history of an objective good or evil to exist (one moral fact).

The anthropologist Melville Herskovitz used the following argument to claim that ethical relativism entails intercultural tolerance: P1. If morality is relative to its culture, then there is no independent basis for criticizing the morality of any culture but one's own. P2. If there is no independent way of criticizing any other culture, then we ought to be tolerant of the moralities of other cultures. P3. Morality is relative to its culture. Moral Realists/Objectivists see problems with this argument. What is one critique of this argument?

Tolerance is certainly a virtue, but this is a bad argument for it. If morality is simply relative to each culture, then if the culture in question has no principle of tolerance (like Nazi Germany, contemporary Venezuela, or any Communist country of the 20th century), its members have no obligation to be tolerant. Herskovits treats the principle of tolerance as an absolute moral principle. This is inconsistent with his relativism.

For want of a nail The shoe was lost; For want of a shoe The horse was lost; For want of a horse The rider was lost; For want of a rider The battle was lost; For want of a battle The Kingdom was lost; And all for the want of a horseshoe nail. This poem illustrates which objection to Act Utilitarianism?

Too much calculating to apply

Aristotle claimed that virtues are somewhere in between the vice of excess and the vice of deficiency.

True

Finite theists (e.g. those who hold the LDS Mormon worldview and who think our God does not have all of the "omni" properties) think logic and mathematics are autonomous from God (like morality according to the autonomy thesis). Many Christian theologians (like Saint Augustine, William Lane Craig, J.P. Moreland, etc.) think that the best explanation of the existence of immaterial entities (abstract objects) like moral properties, mathematical entities, and the laws of logic is to locate them in the mind of God. A similar debate is between the Neo-Platonists and Christian Theists when we ask if these non-physical (immaterial) universals exist on their own or if they are located in the mind of a person-God.

True

For Kant, when an action is morally valuable it always must have an accompanying good will.

True

If something is teleological it is goal-directed. In Aristotle's language it is a final cause or design of something be it an artifact (like a house) or an organism (like a frog, oak tree, or human). Naturalistic (non-theistic) evolution is non-teleological (i.e. without goals our purposes). Darwin's theory eliminated final causes from biology.

True

It is difficult for humans to use reason because of emotional and psychological obstacles. "Group Think" can stop the rational exploration of arguments against your view, since we like to insulate ourselves with people who believe the same things. Because of this, we must be very careful when we think we have the truth and we are unaware of the arguments against our view. John Start Mill said the #1 reason why we should know our opponents' arguments better than our own is because they might have the truth and we might be wrong.

True

Louis Pojman says, "If theism is false, then it may be doubtful whether all humans have equal worth, or any worth at all, and it may be more difficult to provide an unequivocal response to the question 'Why be moral even when it is not in my own best interest?' . . ." Discovering Right and Wromg, p, 202) Friedrich Nietzsche, Peter Singer, and many other philosophers (both atheists and theists) think that this is the biggest problem in constructing an ethical theory--finding good reasons to believe in the objective worth (or value) of human beings.

True

On the basis of subjectivism, Adolf Hitler, Ted Bundy, Osama bin Laden, and Jeffrey Dahmer could be considered as moral as Mother Theresa of Calcutta because each of those four lived by their own standards.

True

Philosophy is also a practical, instrumentally valuable means to many ends (goals). In fact, everyone uses philosophy all day long and it is a second-order discipline since every discipline in the academy (physics, chemistry, sociology, history, etc.) philosophical assumptions.

True

The first formulation of Kant's categorical imperative would prohibit suicide based on the premise that if everyone had that option, it would have a negative effect on all human beings.

True

The optimistic atheist, Bertrand Russell, thinks that there is no problem to thinking that human beings evolved into rational, thinking, moral beings with immense powers of perception. Naturalists (scientific atheists) like D.M. Armstrong, J.L. Mackie, Michael Ruse, Alex Rosenberg and Richard Dawkins claim that Russell's belief in objective moral principles (which are non-physical) makes no sense if human beings are produced by naturalist evolution (a completely physical process that produced the bodies and brains of human organisms).

True

It's possible for a valid argument to have false premises. Why?

Validity is about the structure of an argument. If the conclusion follows from the premises, the argument is valid.

The Greek word arete is the root of which of the following words?

Virtue or excellence

Which of the following questions is least likely to be asked while studying metaphysics?

When is testimony (by an eye witness or a scientist) most reliable for providing good evidence for a conclusion (e.g. the guilt/innocence of a murder suspect, or the truth/falsity of a theory of quantum mechanics)?

______________________ argued that the best hope for a rational, unified view of reality is to postulate God as the ground of both the natural and the moral orders. ______________________ maintains that there is an objective moral order, which is as real and independent of us as the natural order of things. Just as we assume the reality of the world of objects on the basis of our sense experience, so we assume the reality of the moral order on the basis of our moral experience. In _______________'s view both the natural order and the moral order are part of reality. The question, then, is: What worldview can combine these two orders into the most coherent explanatory form? _______________ argued the best explanation is God. There must be an infinite, eternal Mind who is the architect of nature and whose moral purpose man and the universe are gradually fulfilling.

Wiliam Sorley

The late philosopher at West Point, Louis Pojman, thought he had the Hebrew or Christian Divine Command Theorist in a corner with the "morality is arbitrary" problem that adherents of the DCT (Divine Command Theory) have. Pojman thinks that there is no way around the moral instability that would result if the DCT is true. Many problems surface. For instance, Pojman thinks that the Divine Command Theorist is left with the epistemic problem of figuring out if the Judeo-Christian Scriptures (i.e. the Bible) are true. Also, if morality is arbitrary then moral commands from God might be the same as moral commands from the devil (depending upon the day). Finally, a God of love seems inconsistent with the ability to make it right to rape, torture, and kill people. (Pojman, Discovering Right and Wrong, p. 196) What response would Divine Nature Theorists say in response to Pojman's analysis?

Yes, there is a problem to discover if God has spoken through prophets or through showing up on Earth (viz. Jesus), but it is not insurmountable--the New Testament may provide more evidence, historically and existentially than other ethics revealed to other prophets. Pojman is blowing rhetorical smoke on his readers by dismissing Divine Nature Theory. Also, he alludes to the Divine Nature Theorist's answer (the third way out of the Euthyphro Dilemma) in his accusation. Pojman says that the Christian is committed to the view that God is love (I John 4:7-8), and "Divine Nature Theists" think that is the key for the Christian to know that God's character can be trusted to design morality so that it is not just arbitrary, but intelligently designed so that what is right and good allows human beings to flourish. Jesus' ethics (e.g. forgive enemies and take care of poor and weak) is testable in real life.

Aristotle considered ethics to be _____________________.

a branch of politics

For Immanuel Kant the only acts that can truly be considered morally valuable acts are those actions that are accompanied by:

a good will

The (rare) philosopher who believes that there are moral principles (e.g., "Thou shall not kick puppies!") that should never be violated or overriden and that the corresponding moral laws are exceptionless is known as __________________________.

a moral absolutist

The late philosopher from West Point, Louis Pojman, says that having an adequate moral system that never produces conflict and having basic moral principles that can never be changed or overriden describes this (rare) view: ______________________.

a moral absolutist

This person believes that the properties of good and evil exist in the world independent of the beliefs of humans and independent of the majority opinion in a culture. She also believes that there are real, moral principles that have universal objective validity, but she denies that moral principles are exceptionless. The philosophy she holds would be described as __________________.

a moral objectivist or moral realist

Immanuel Kant was considered to be both a moral realist/objectivist and an absolutist and he held the following epistemological view: _____________________.

a rationalist

When we claim that good consequences make an action aright we are responding with:

a teleological answer

One way we can silence the free speech of others and eliminate true philosophy is to use the postmodernist (or post-structuralist) trick of deconstruction or finding non-rational reasons to explain away an argument. For instance, "Ignore that argument he just gave for a wall--he just wants to build a wall because he is a rich, white, racist." What is another name of this kind of attack that we see every day in this country?

ad hominem - circumstantial

Any action taken for the benefit of others is good, and any action taken for one's benefit is evil. Thus, the beneficiary of an action is the only criterion of moral value--and so long as the beneficiary is anybody other than oneself, anything goes. This is Ayn Rand's definition of ______________________.

altruism

For English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes (1588 - 1679), and author of The Leviathan, all humans are egotistical so it makes no sense to ask them to be which of the following?

altruistic

Immanuel Kant believed that we do not have any direct obligations to animals because they _____________________________. He only thought we should treat animals with respect as an analogy to how we act towards other humans.

are not rational beings

A(n) _________________ in the philosophical sense is a set of statements in which one or more of the statements attempt to provide reasons or evidence for the truth of another statement. In other words, a(n) ________________________ consists of reasons to believe some claim.

argument

Many Natural Law Theorists appeal to the mechanism of _________________ (encouraged by Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Ayn Rand) which preserves individual liberty and freedom instead of government control by experts to solve many of the problems in the United States.

capitalism and free markets

The setting of "The Walking Dead", the Mad Max films (post-apocalyptic Australia) and the island where the children live in William Golding's The Lord of the Flies are examples where individuals did not do this (as Hobbes' advised): ____________________________.

come together and form a "social contract" and establish someone with power to keep the rules by force

Utilitarianism is a form of __________________ along with universal ethical egoism (e.g. Ayn Rand's philosophy).

consequentialism

Imagine the case of a person who has a 1/2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts set in front of him. He knows that he shouldn't eat them, and he resists eating them, but he curses and moans and grits his teeth because he isn't eating them. Aristotle would describe this person as ________________.

continent

Which of the following words is derived from the Greek words meaning "duty" and "logic," and means that the locus of value is in the action or kind of action?

deontological

Psychological Egoism is a ______________ theory and Ethical Egoism is a ______________ theory.

descriptive, normative

The Stoics were among the first of the Ancient Greeks to deal with the idea of natural law and claimed that all human beings have a _________ (or supernatural ability) within them that distinguished them from other parts of nature and enabled them to discover the invisible Natural Law.

divine spark

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844 - 1900) wrote that humans should strive to satisfy our own will to power even if we exploit and dominate others, because others would:

dominate us if they could

Which of the following (epistemological) theories states that all knowledge and justified belief is based in human experience?

empiricism

Which of the following theories denies that we have innate ideas and argues that all knowledge comes from our sensory experience?

empiricism and positivism

Of the major categories of philosophy, this is the philosophy of knowledge concerned with discovering sources of knowledge and defining knowledge itself.

epistemology

The doctrine that states that no valid moral principles exist (e.g. "It is wrong to have sex with rats," or "It is good to be kind to your spouse") and that morality is completely fictitious is known as:

ethical nihilism

In NE I.4, Aristotle argues that political science aims at the highest of goods, ______________.

eudaimonia (happiness)

Immanuel Kant. the absolutist, believed that reason tells us the moral law is sacrosanct and _________________.

exceptionless

While Aristotle thought that a truly flourishing individual following the contemplative life of reason and who has developed the moral virtues and intellectual virtues, will still need some of these in order to truly experience eudaimonia.

external goods and circumstances

According to Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), the moral worth of an act is determined by its consequences.

false

According to Immanuel Kant, moral obligations are hypothetical in nature.

false

According to Kant, an obligation or "ought" is categorical when it is something we ought to do in order to achieve some ends or goals (like graduating college or building your own house) that we have.

false

According to Kant, the shopkeeper who charges an equal price of all her customers because she likes them is acting "out of duty."

false

According to Kant, to act with a "good will" means to do what will benefit others.

false

According to utilitarianism, an act that makes some people happy and others unhappy can never be morally right.

false

Aristotle believed that animals and children could experience true flourishing and eudaimonia.

false

Aristotle is a relativist. He believes that all of us will flourish (have eudaimonia) regardless of the kind of life that we choose: the life of pleasure, the life of wealth, the life of honor in politics, or the contemplative life. He does not think that there is an objective human nature--any life is as good and as happy as any other.

false

Atheist philosophers, Ayn Rand, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Thomas Hobbes all agreed that their egoist philosophies would cause everyone in society to flourish and reach true happiness (eudaimonia).

false

Both Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill hold that some pleasures are better in kind than others.

false

Deontological (or rule-following) ethical theories are that good consequences make an action right.

false

Empiricists claim that our ability to discern moral truths is based in the notion that moral knowledge is only given to us by God's "special revelation" through prophets and through Jesus (Isa).

false

For John Stuart Mill, the spiritual or achieved pleasures tend to be short lived and temporary.

false

Frederick Copleston (Christian philosopher) debated the famous atheist, Bertrand Russell, on BBC Radio in 1948 and Copleston famously dismissed the moral argument (axiological argument) for God's existence and instead appealed to the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.

false

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) believed that morality changes when the beliefs of the majority of people in society change.

false

PLATONISM is the view that the world is composed of only physical particles. No non-material entities (like souls, gods, love, etc.) exist. A future physics will describe all of reality.

false

The belief that what is right in some circumstances is not necessarily right in others cannot be held by moral realists (or ethical objectivists).

false

The consequentialist principle states that it is the means (particularactions) to the end (or goal) that counts.

false

The opposite of virtue is weakness.

false

The reason why it is wrong to make a lying promise, according to Kant, is because if everyone did that the results would be bad.

false

Utilitarianism is not a form of moral realism or moral objectivism. Instead, Utilitarianism is a relativistic moral theory, for it recognizes that what is good in some circumstances is not always good in others.

false

We normally know all of the long-term consequences of our actions (e.g. Choosing one college over another, choosing to marry so and so, investing in Facebook stock, etc.).

false

Immanuel Kant and David Hume disagreed about the foundation for our moral theory. The Scottish philosopher, David Hume, stated that human morality is really founded on and guided by our __________________.

feeling of sympathy with other people (i.e. emotions and "moral sentiments")

According to Immanuel Kant (1724 - 1804), one should perform moral duty solely:

for the sake of the duty alone

Thirteenth-century Christian philosopher/theologian, Thomas Aquinas, combined Aristotle's theories (viz. in the Nicomachean Ethics I.7 (1097b1 -1098a15)) with his own and stated that human beings, like other natural objects (oak trees, frogs, etc.), have a specific nature, purpose, and ________________.

function

Which of the following terms did Aristotle associate with living well and virtue?

habit

In lecture, we talked about the job of the parent in helping develop the child's soul into moral virtue (e.g. in teaching the child to express affection-love, or storage, to a grandparent). What is this process called?

habituation (into continence, and, hopefully, virtue)

For Aristotle, which of the following is necessary to achieve a state of well-being or eudaimonia?

habituation by good parents, good friends, and proper social institutions (e.g. schools)

Jeremy Bentham invented a scheme to measure pleasure and pain to assist in making proper ethical decisions. What is it called?

hedonic calculus

The Nuremberg Trials (1945-1949) of the Nazi leaders only make sense if there is a more fundamental law than civil law to which people are accountable. Otherwise, if moral relativism is true, the Western leaders were simply ____________________________ on the Nazis who had a consistent ethic (non-Aryan peoples like Jews and other sub-humans and those who disagreed with the Third Reich's philosophy and the disabled should be killed for the greater good and perfecting the human race).

imposing their subjective ideas of justice

Imagine this scenario: A first-grader (named "Tuffer") sees his buddy's "Pink Pet" eraser in his desk and envy overcomes him. Little Tuffer knows that it is the wrong thing to do to steal Jason's Pink Pet, but once Jason is gone for a minute Tuffer has no choice but to run over to the desk and pocket the eraser. He knew it was the wrong thing to do, but he had no power to resist his urges to do the wrong thing. Aristotle would describe Tuffer as:

incontinent

The distinction between instrumental value and inherent value has been discussed since the time of Plato's Republic. It can apply to everything humans value (e.g. the value of human organisms and dentists). The value of pursuing knowledge or wisdom for its own sake is known as its ____. This is the opposite of having simply __________ value.

intrinsic value; instrumental

Objectivists (moral realists) do not usually appeal to the following act as an example of something that is always wrong regardless of culture, time period, or circumstances.

killing someone

Philosophers don't argue so much about whether particular things exist, but about what _______________ of things exist.

kinds

Jeremy Bentham's concept of utilitarianism is simply to maximize pleasure and:

minimize pain and suffering

In the branch of philosophy known as logic, informal fallacies are discussed. Which of the following is not a fallacy in logic?

modus ponens (If p, then q. p. Therefore, q.)

The reason why a moral relativist cannot believe in ____________________ is because this concept assumes there exists a real goal or some objective truth about reality to achieve (e.g. liberty for all persons, etc.).

moral progress

Imagine that Al Qaeda takes over the world and everyone in the world submits to their brand of Islamism. As a result, 99% of people on the planet praise those who carried out the 9/11 attacks as just and honorable. If you are a ______________________ who thinks that those acts of terrorism against innocent civilians were wrong, you may argue against everyone on the planet that they are wrong about the moral facts. If you are a _______________________, then you are forced to agree with the masses that 9/11 was a great good.

moral realist/objectivist; conventionalist

_____________________ refers to the worth of a person or action, whether it is good or bad.

moral value

Aristotle divided the virtues into _________ virtues and ___________ virtues. (choose 2)

moral; intellectual

Natural Law Theorists emphasize that we should not talk about how much money individuals ___________, but in terms of individual rights and the freedom to make as much money as you want and save, invest, give away, or spend it on whatever you want. Progressive-Statists and Marxist (socialists and communists) and Democratic Socialists disagree and say we should talk in terms of __________ and not individual liberty and freedom in order to help the poor in society by government taxing the rich and redistributing their wealth to the poor. They believe that government should intervene because individuals cannot be trusted with their money.

need; needs

J.L. MACKIE (famous atheist philosopher): "If...there are...__________ values, they make the existence of a god more probable than it would have been without them. Thus we have a...defensible...argument from morality to the existence of a god."

objective

Aristotle critiques Plato's Theory of Forms/Ideas in Book I.6 of the NE. Plato believed there was the unchanging, non-physical world of being which contained the Form/Idea of the Good (and other universal Forms/Ideas like Beauty, Redness, Triangularity, Evenness, Oddness, etc.) and the visible world of becoming. Objects in the visible world of becoming ______________ to a certain degree with the Forms/Ideas in the unchanging world of being.

participate

Most Naturalists (scientific atheists) tend to hold to a metaphysics of __________________ which holds that only physical entities exist in the universe. This metaphysical view follows from the scientific theory that naturalistic evolution explains everything about human organisms. Since this theory says that humans are simply produced by matter rearranging over millions of years, it becomes more difficult to believe in Natural Law Theory which holds that an immaterial, non-physical moral law exists in addition to non-physical human natures.

physicalism

Immanuel Kant, the deontologist, disagreed with Aristotle on this point. Aristotle thought that _________ should accompany virtue and well being.

pleasure

Epistemologically, Friedrich Nietzsche was a ________________ who denied that any universal truths exist and that what we know is simply the product of the stream of experience in our senses (analogous to whatever is in our virtual reality goggles). Based on this philosophy, it is easy to claim that the idea of a common human nature and Natural Law Theory is an illusion. John Stuart Mill, in On Liberty, rejected this epistemological view along with the Natural Law Theorists.

positivist

The ___________________ against both forms of moral relativism is that it seems to go against the common practice of wondering what the right and wrong thing to do is in a certain case. On conventionalism (or cultural ethical relativism), people need to take a poll of the culture/society to determine right/wrong actions (e.g. If I should have sex with this person). On subjectivism, an individual has to ask himself what he thinks is right/wrong to do in this case (e.g., whether to have sex or abstain in this instance).

problem of moral inquiry

The story of Abraham Lincoln saving the little piglets in the stream (for his own benefit) was supposed to illustrate the truth of _________________ egoism.

psychological

According to English Philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, all altruistic actions and behaviors done by human beings are really at their core disguised acts of __________________.

selfishness

Your instructor, Hammons, believes that all of us can discuss the "taboo" topics of religion and politics if we follow the example of the Stoics, Epicureans, and Christian Paul in Acts 17 and use _________________.

sharp minds and tender hearts with each other

Barcalow's objection from "green-skinned babies" is the __________________ objection reformulated for Rule Utilitarianism.

some actions are inherently wrong

_____________ is "a prejudice or attitude of bias in favor of the interests of members of one's own species and against those of members of other species." British psychologist and philosopher Richard D. Ryder coined the term in 1970, and it was later picked up by many animal rights activists, including Peter Singer.

speciesism

In contrast to fellow utilitarian, Jeremy Bentham, John Stuart Mill argued that the higher, or more refined, pleasures are:

superior to the "lower" ones

For the English Christian, John Locke (1632 - 1704), and the Scottish Skeptic, David Hume (1711 - 1776), the human mind is an empty slate upon which experience imposes lessons to us. The mind in this case is termed which of the following?

tabula rasa

Which of the following words is derived from the Greek word meaning "having reached one's end [or goal]" and places the locus of value on the outcomes or consequences of the action?

teleology

The author of Miracles (which contains a famous argument against the ability for a materialist/physicalist to rationally believe in atheism, C.S. Lewis, expressed this minimal goal of philosophy with the following quote:

"Good philosophy must exist, if for no other reason, because bad philosophy needs to be answered."

One objection against CONVENTIONALISM (Cultural Ethical Relativism) is "The Problem of Sub-Groups." At the heart of this objection, there is a notorious problem in clearly defining ________________________.

the relevant people (city, state, country, continent, etc.) to take the moral opinion poll

Metaphysics, in modern philosophy, refers to ________________________________

the study of the most fundamental principles of the nature of things.

In metaphysics, what is a substance for Aristotle?

the underlying, metaphysical entity. The thing that has properties

A lot of college students adopt moral relativism because they find this view to be more _________________ than other theories. One problem with this reasoning is that _______________ might not be a virtue shared by any moral culture in the world--intolerance might be the primary virtue of every society. In that case, it is unreasonable to use _____________ as a criterion for accepting relativism.

tolerant

According to Act Utilitarianism (AU), if it produces more net utility or pleasure to give money that I had promised to return to a friend to the latest hurricane Relief instead, then I ought to give it to the Hurricane Relief fund.

true

According to Bentham, some pleasures may be more valuable than others but only in so far as they are of a greater intensity or duration.

true

According to Kant, because persons are ends they should never be used as means to ends. So, even if sacrificing one person saves millions it is not moral. For example, if jihadist Islamist terrorists say that if you kill one person, he will not detonate a dirty bomb in Starkville, it is not a moral action to kill the person to save the thousands.

true

According to Kant, one can do what is right (e.g. tell the truth or clean up a child's mess) and not enjoy it (or even hate it), but that action will still have "moral worth."

true

According to individual ethical relativism (subjectivism), I cannot be objectively mistaken in my moral judgments about sex with rats and farm animals.

true

After William Lane Craig establishes that an objective moral law (and objective moral properties) exists, he thinks that we have to decide if Platonism is true (and the moral law just exists without explanation in the universe), or if a Personal God is behind the moral law.

true

An empiricist is one who believes that all knowledge and justified beliefs are based in human experience.

true

Aristotle holds that you cannot have full virtue/excellence of character without practical wisdom (or, phronesis). He also claims that you cannot have practical wisdom, or phronesis, without virtue/excellence of character.

true