The Fundamentals of Ethics - Chapter 17

What is a moral exemplar?

A person who serves as a role model.

What is a tragic dilemma?

A situation in which a good person's life will be ruined, no matter what she does.

In the West, virtue ethics traces its origins back to:

Aristotle

Why is the contradiction problem a threat to virtue ethics?

Because different virtuous people might act differently in the same situation.

According to virtue ethics, how do we become more insightful in selecting moral exemplars?

By becoming morally wiser.

What is the relationship between duty and virtue, according to virtue ethics?

Duty is defined as what a virtuous person would do.

What does moral understanding require, according to virtue ethics?

Emotional maturity.

What do people seek above all else, according to Aristotle?

Eudaimonia.

Which of the following does virtue ethics have a hard time explaining?

How we can know who our role models should be.

What notion should be at the heart of ethical theory, according to virtue ethics?

Moral character.

According to virtue ethics, the simple formula for right action is:

None of the above--there is no simple formula.

Which of the following is a statement of the priority problem?

Virtue ethics wrongly defines duty in terms of virtue instead of vice versa.

How did Aristotle think that virtue could be acquired?

Virtue is acquired through education and training.

According to virtue ethics, the fundamental moral question is:

What kind of person should I be?

How do virtuous people differ from vicious people?

a)In their behavior. b)In their thoughts. c)In their perceptions. ***d)All of the above.

Which of the following are possible objections to virtue ethics:

a)it is too demanding. b)it doe not give adequate guidance about what we should do. c)it does not provide a way of determining who our role models should be. ***d)all of the above.

Virtue ethics is a form of:

ethical pluralism.

According to Aristotle, the ultimate good is:

eudaimonia.

According to the text, the best way for the virtue ethicist to reply to the argument from tragic dilemmas is to maintain that:

in some extraordinary circumstances, normally vicious actions are virtuous.

Aristotle believed that virtue:

must be acquired through training.

According to virtue ethics, emotions:

play a crucial role in moral understanding.

According to virtue ethics, moral understanding is a species of:

practical wisdom.

The priority problem is a problem:

that is shared by virtue ethics and the Divine Command Theory.

According to virtue ethics:

the concept of duty is defined in terms of the concept of virtue.

According to virtue ethics, actions are right just because:

they would be performed by a virtuous person.