PHI 2600 EXAM #2

Identify the premise in the following argument: "All moral statements are meaningless because there are no objective criteria for measuring their truth or falsity."

"...there are no objective criteria for measuring their truth or falsity."

Which of the following responses to the roommate in the opening scenario in the text - who said to the sloppy roommate: "Come on, get up. You promised to clean the bathroom" - best exemplifies ethical subjectivism?

"So what? I don't have to keep my promises if I don't feel like it." The roommate rolls over and goes back to sleep.

Unlike most native American religious traditions, Western concepts of god tend to be

Anthropocentric and patriarchal

According to the U.S. Supreme Court's Dred Scott v. Sanford ruling

Blacks are not persons

According to Bellah, the morality supported by mainstream religion in the United States is primarily based on

Cultural Relativism

Cultural relativists reject Darwinism because, unlike social Darwinists, they believe

Darwin's theory of evolution does not imply that primitive cultures are less morally evolved.

Emile Durkheim argued in his book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life, that

Each society creates God in its own image.

Divine Command theory is a type of

Ethical Relativism

A defining feature of cultural relativism is the claim that all moral statements are personal opinions.

FALSE

An ethical subjectivist cannot embrace the claim that the standard of moral truth is grounded in personal feelings.

FALSE

Cultures that claim moral superiority are subscribing to the theoretical assumptions of cultural relativism.

FALSE

Ethical subjectivism correctly assumes that human beings cannot be mistaken in their moral beliefs/

FALSE

Herbert Spencer is the theorist who would most likely say the following: "We recognize that morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits."

FALSE

The relativistic assumption of ethical subjectivism face; states the creation of a "we/they" mentality.

FALSE

Which of the following is a basic tenet of American Civil Religion?

God is actively involved in history and has a special interest in America.

According to divine command theory, if there is a conflict between what is considered to be a universal moral principle, such as "Thou shalt not kill," and God's command to a particular person or group

God's command overrides the universal moral principle

Why did Nazi Adolf Eichmann argue, at his trial, that he had done nothing wrong?

He did not break any laws his country.

"We have seen the adjustments of acts to ends...have been rising to a certain ideal form now approached by the civilized man."

Herbert Spencer

Those who argue that divine command theory is true because others are unable to prove that particular commands are not from God, are committing the fallacy of

Ignorance

Which of the following arguments would a cultural relativist be most likely to use regarding the practice of telling children that Santa Claus is a real living person?

It is morally acceptable because it is a tradition of our culture.

What would a cultural relativist from the United States most likely think of the morality of cross-dressing (men dressing in women's clothing)?

It is morally unacceptable because most people oppose it as a perversion.

According to divine command theory,

It was morally acceptable for the terrorists to bomb the World Trade Center on 9/11, if the command to do so came from God.

"Ethical Subjectivism...is a theory about the nature of moral judgements. It says that no matter what moral judgements we make, we are only expressing our personal feelings, and nothing more."

James Rachels

Which of the following people have advocated the following "law of heart" when making moral decisions?

Jean-Jacques Rosseau

"Nature made man happy and good, and society deprives him and makes him miserable."

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of the heartless world, just as it is the spirit of spiritless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Karl Marx

Which of the following people would a cultural relativist be most likely to label immoral?

Martin Luther King Jr

"If we accept something as a serious moral truth in one culture, we can't refuse to apply it...to other cultures as well, whenever circumstances admit it."

Mary Midgley

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

Rejected divine command theory.

"[God] is actively interested and involved in history, with a special concern for America."

Robert Bellah

"We recognize that morality differs in every society, and is a convenient term for socially approved habits."

Ruth Benedict

Carol Christ and James Cone argue that religion in America tends to promote

Sexism and racism

If a woman sincerely believes that God commands her to kill her children, a Divine Command theorist would most likely respond that

She did the right thing by killing her children.

"Do the gods love holiness because it is holy, or is it holy because the gods love it?"

Socrates

"SR (student relativism) is not the same as some such philosophical position because it is simply not a position at all...To have a position (and especially a philosophical position) it is necessary in some sense to engage with questions and issues."

Stephen Satris

Because cultural relativism does not need to offer any justification for imposing a particular cultural value on people, other than to say that it is the way things are done, it can become legalistic and oppressive.

TRUE

Because of the pluralistic nature of modern society it is more difficult to uncritically embrace the claim of anthropologists like Ruth Benedict that there is general agreement within each culture regarding moral values.

TRUE

The claim that human beings are not infallible in the discernment of the internal moral voice is a critical challenge to ethical subjectivism.

TRUE

The theoretical assumptions of cultural relativism are antidotes to ethnocentrism.

TRUE

Which of the following documents has been used to support the belief in American Civil Religion?

The Declaration of Independence

Which of the following sources of information would probably be most important to college students who is a cultural relativist in deciding whether to ban hate speech?

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution

What event led to the general disillusionment with the theory of cultural relativism?

The development of Social Darwinism.

Both Gottfried Leibniz's and John Hick explain the problem of evil and suffering by arguing that

The purpose of suffering is the perfection of our souls

On what grounds does philosopher David Hume argue that God does not exist?

There is evil and suffering in the world.

If there is no God then, according to Divine Command theory

There would be no morality.

During their exploration of Mars, American scientists discover what they label a "stone age" society of humans living in caves just under the surface. The people, who are peace loving and welcoming toward the visitors from Eart, have no written language or organized religion; nor do they have weapons or a concept of war. Which of the following assessments would a social Darwinist most likely make regarding the morality of this society?

They are clearly more morally inferior to our culture because their culture is primitive and lacks both technology and a brief in God.

According to philosopher Gottfried Leibniz,

This is the best of all possible worlds.

If there is a conflict between what two people claim God command them to do

We have no means of resolving the conflict.

According to anthropologist Clyde Kluckholn, which of the following moral values is transcultural?

a prohibition against discriminating lying

Identify the fallacy in the following argument: "You shouldn't take Wollstonecraft's criticism of Rosseau too seriously. After all she was abused by her father and no doubt had a grudge against all men."

abusive

Jean-Jacques Rosseau supported ethical subjectivism because he believed that people

are basically good and will do the right thing if not corrupted by society.

The following argument is sometimes confused with ethical subjectivism: "Whatever a person believes is true for himself or herself is what that person believes is right for him or her." Which fallacy is committed in this argument?

begging the question

When asked whether there are universal moral principles, Carlos replied that he didn't know because there was not, as yet, any convincing evidence either way. Carlos is an

ethical skeptic.

An opinion is a statement that

expresses how a person feels.

The Kitty Genovese syndrome is characterized by

indifference to others distress

According to Steven Satris, the ethical relativism espoused by many college students

is used as a defense mechanism to avoid thinking about moral issues

Sociological relativism states that

moral norms vary from culture to culture

Ethical subjectivist differ from emotivist in that ethical subjectivists believe that

moral truths exist.

Mary Wollstonecraft criticized Rosseau's ethical subjectivism on the grounds that

moral truths must be the same for both men and women.

One of the weaknesses of cultural relativism as an explanation of morality is that

people tend to behave more morally when they are alone

A person who lacks a moral sense is known as a

psychopaths.

You see a laptop computer on a table in the library. None is around. You would love to have a laptop but can't afford one. If you were a cultural relativist you would most likely

refrain from stealing because it's against the law.

According to both Eagle Man (Ed McGaa) and Ibn Khaldun

some cultures are more moral than others

Which of the following is most likely to follow as a result of adopting cultural relativism?

suspicion and distrust of the norms and values of different cultures.

According to ethical subjectivists

there are no objective moral standards.

Which of the following is a logical consequence of people adopting ethical subjectivism as a moral theory?

there is no moral obligation for a sadist to refrain from torturing people.

According to anthropologist Ruth Benedict, which of the following do(es) not exist?

universal moral principles

Which of the following approaches to ethics educations based, in part, on the assumptions underlying ethical subjectivism?

values clarification

According to Mary Midgely

we should make moral judgements.

Which of the following beings, if any, would cultural relativists in the United States include in their moral community?

women