Ethics Quizzes 1-2

The famous experiments by social psychologist Solomon Asch show

Even temporary groups can pressure people to conform

"Etiquette" designates a special realm of morality.

False

A hypothetical imperative tells us to act as we would want everyone to act in that situation.

False

According to Immanuel Kant, moral reasoning is based on factual knowledge.

False

Adam Smith made the point that individual pursuit of self-interest (egoistic conduct), even when subject to rules and constraints, always undermines the utilitarian goal of producing the most good for all.

False

Ethical egoism says that human beings are, as a matter of fact, so constructed that they must behave selfishly.

False

In a broad sense morality is the moral code of an individual or of a society (insofar as the moral codes of the individuals making up that society overlap).

False

Nonconsequentialist theories of ethics never consider the consequences of an action or rule when making a moral judgment.

False

Organizational norms always and inevitably lead to groupthink.

False

Our relationship with the law is best described by which of the following?

To a significant extent, law codifies a society's customs, norms, and moral values.

Bystander apathy appears to result in part from diffusion of responsibility.

True

In business and elsewhere, your only moral obligation is to act within the law.

True

In ethics, normative theories propose some principle or principles for distinguishing right actions from wrong actions.

True

Our conscience evolved as we internalized the moral instructions of the parents or other authority figures who raised us as children.

True

Rule utilitarianism applies the utilitarian standard, not to individual actions, but to moral codes as a whole.

True

The connection between rights and duties is that, generally speaking, if you have a right to do something, then someone else has a correlative duty to act in a certain way.

True

Utilitarianism is appealing as a standard for moral decision making in business. Which of the following provides a reason for this?

Utilitarianism provides an objective way of resolving conflicts of self-interest.

Which of the following represents a utilitarian belief?

We should bring about the most happiness for everyone affected by our actions.

The statement that best defines rights is

a right is an entitlement to act or to have others act in a certain way.

Accepting a moral principle

generally involves a desire to follow that principle for its own sake.

A tangible truth about having moral principles is

if you do the right thing only because you think it will pay off, you are not really motivated by moral concerns.

If you adopt egoism as your moral code, then

you believe that it is morally right to do whatever promotes your best interest.

Jeremy Bentham thought that a community is no more than the individuals who compose it and that the interests of the community are simply the sum of the interests of its members.

. True

Which of the following characteristics distinguishes moral standards from other sorts of standards?

Moral standards take priority over other standards, including self-interest

According to Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, pleasure is the one thing that is intrinsically good or worthwhile.

True

According to divine command theory, if something is wrong, then the only reason it is wrong is that God commands us not to do it.

True

Business ethics is the study of what constitutes right and wrong, or good and bad, human conduct in a business context

True

Utilitarians believe that

an action that leads to unhappiness is morally right if any other action that you could have performed instead would have brought about even more unhappiness.

Rule utilitarians

believe that the optimal moral code would consist of only one rule, namely, always act so as to maximize happiness.

A practical basis for discussing moral issues involves taking account of

effects, ideals, and obligations.

Consequentialism

states that the moral rightness of an action is determined solely by its results.

When religion and morality are considered:

the moral instructions of the world's great religions are often general and imprecise

Philosophical discussion of moral issues typically involves

the revision and modification of arguments.

According to W. D. Ross's theory

we have various moral duties that cannot be reduced to a single, overarching obligation.

A key idea of Immanuel Kant's ethical theory is that:

we should treat people as ends in themselves, never merely as means.

Ethical relativism supports the theory that:

what is right is determined by what a culture or society says is right.

For philosophers, the most important issue is not where our moral principles came from, but:

whether those moral principles can be justified