PHL of love and sex quiz 2
5. According to Nussbaum both Kant and feminist critics of objectification are especially bothered by a particular kind of 'objectifying' attitude. Which attitude is this? (a) Instrumentality: treating a person as a mere means. (b) Ownership: treating a person as property. (c) Inertness: denial of a person's agency or activity. (d) Utilitarianism: always seeking to maximize overall happiness.
(a) Instrumentality: treating a person as a mere means.
1. Jacobsen claims that appetites (a) are objectless states. (b) are unaroused desires. (c) can reach cognitive closure. (d) None of the above.
(a) are objectless states.
6. Which of the following statements is one of the principles of Jacobsen's 'minimal theory of desire'? (a) Every object of desire is desired in virtue of some feature of that object. (b) Every agent who has a desire to do X will have a disposition to do X or to do things as a means to X. (c) Every desire is a particularly intense appetite. (d) Every desire could (at least in principle) reach cognitive closure
(b) Every agent who has a desire to do X will have a disposition to do X or to do things as a means to X.
2. You always wanted to see the CN Tower. In which situation does your desire achieve cognitive closure? (a) You see the CN Tower but you mistakenly believe it is the Sears Tower. (b) You believe that you are seeing the CN Tower but in reality it is the Sears Tower as a result of your belief that you are seeing the CN Tower you no longer desire to see it. (c) After a while you just don't care about seeing the CN Tower anymore though you never actually see it or believe that you have seen it. (d) None of the above.
(b) You believe that you are seeing the CN Tower but in reality it is the Sears Tower as a result of your belief that you are seeing the CN Tower you no longer desire to see it.
4. According to Nussbaum objectification always involves (a) treating an object as an object. (b) treating something that is not an object as if it were an object. (c) treating a person as if that person had no feelings. (d) treating an object as if it were a subject. (e) treating a person as if that person were a piece of property.
(b) treating something that is not an object as if it were an object
3. You want to drink a glass of water because you're thirsty. How would Jacobsen characterize your desire? (a) The object of your desire is drinking a glass of water. (b) The object of your desire is the thirst-quenching quality of water. (c) The feature in virtue of which you desire to drink a glass of water is the thirst-quenching quality of water. (d) All of the above. (e) Both a and c. (f) None of the above.
(e) Both a and c.
8. Which of the following is a statement that Nussbaum would accept? (a) It is always wrong to treat a person as a means. (b) It is always wrong to treat a person as non-autonomous. (c) Autonomy is the same thing as agency. (d) Objectification is always wrong. (e) None of the above
(e) None of the above.
7. Suppose we are sorting desires by their features rather than their objects. Which of the following pairs of desires would then count as desires of the same kind? (a) A desire to have sex in order to make a baby a desire to have sex in order to express love. (b) A desire to eat spinach in order to be healthier a desire to lift weights in order to be healthier. (c) A desire to drink a glass of water in order to cool down a desire to drink a glass of beer in order to relax. (d) A desire to visit India in order to see the Taj Mahal a desire to visit China in order to see the Great Wall of China.
A) or?? (b) A desire to eat spinach in order to be healthier, a desire to lift weights in order to be healthier.
Q3: Kant's famous moral principle is sometimes misstated as follows: "It is always wrong to use a person as a means to an end." What is wrong with this statement of his idea?
It is not always wrong to use a person as a means end, as instrumentalization does not seem to be problematic in all contexts. What is problematic is not instrumentalization per se, but treating someone primarily or merely as an instrument. The overall context of the relationship thus becomes fundamental.
9. Jacobsen says that the object of sexual desire is 'whatever turns you on' but not 'being turned on'. Which of the following express his reason(s) for saying this? (a) Being turned on is just one of many possible objects of sexual desire. (b) If being turned on were the object of every sexual desire it would be impossible to explain how all sexual desires count as sexual desires. (c) There is no particular object of all sexual desires since these desires are not classified by their objects but only by the features in virtue of which such objects are desired. (d) All of the above. (e) None of the above.
b) If being turned on were the object of every sexual desire it would be impossible to explain how all sexual desires count as sexual desires.
Q1: What is an example of a desire being fulfilled but not satisfied? (Be sure to describe a specific desire in a specific situation.)
fulfilment can be seen in the realms of appetite, where for example, a woman could have the desire to eat because she is hungry, but for whatever reason, is not aware that she is eating. Her desire is now fulfilled because she has eaten, but the desire is not satisfied as she still has the desire to eat and therefore has not reached cognitive closure. A person's desire to do X is fulfilled if and only if that person does X. Or if one wants to see the empire state building, and does see it, but thinks she is seeing the cn tower, her desire is fulfilled, but not satisfied because she still wants to see the empire state building. One's desire is only satisfied if it is fulfilled and has reached cognitive closure.
Q2: Suppose that A desires to kiss B for the purpose of expressing love. How would Jacobsen characterize this desire? (In other words, how would he apply his object/feature distinction to this example?)
the object of the desire is to kiss b, yet the feature of virtue of the agent's objection is to express love through the kissing.
