FINAL EXAM: Due: Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2 .m.

Here is your final exam.  You can print this and then scan it back in, or write on the exam itself (i think!).  Note that some of the objective questions might have more than one answer.  Be thorough in your answers to the essay questions.

PHILOSOPHY 014—INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS

FINAL EXAM

 

Name________________________________________________________

 

1. According to our text, another word for “maxim” is

___________________________________________________________.

 

2. In a moral argument, which predominates?

a. Disagreements in beliefs.

b. Disagreements in attitude.

c. Disagreements about beliefs about attitudes.

 

3. The hypothetical imperative is a(n) (choose the most complete answer)

a. Command of desire

b. Command that is categorial

c. Command of reason

d. If—then statement.

e. A and C

f. A and D

g. B and D

 

4. An ethical egoist would generally prefer that everyone else is

a. An altruist

b. An egoist

c. Immoral

d. Amoral

 

5.  A duly enacted law is always morally correct.

     a.  True______        b.  False______

 

6.  According to Mill, the agent’s own happiness is the best standard when deciding a moral issue.

     a.  True______      b.  False______

 

7.  The “cultural relativism” (or, the “cultural differences” or “ethical relativism”) argument states that every culture shares at least five basic moral principles; ergo, there is no absolute moral truth.

     a,  True______      b.  False______

 

8.  A categorical imperative is a(n) (choose the most complete answer)

a. Command that is categorical

b. Command of reason

c. Command of desire

d. If---then statemente. A and C

f. A and B

g. B and D

 

9. In deontological ethics the morality of an act is based on

a. Motivation

b. Desire

c. The outcome

 

10.  According to Immanuel Kant, using someone as a mere means is always morally wrong.

     a.  True______      b.  False______

11. Utilitarianism is an example of what kind of ethics?

a. Virtue

b. Nonconsequentialist

c. Consequentialist

d. Relative

 

12. The Greek word telos translatesas

a. Maxim

b. Goal

c. Motivation

d. Duty

 

13.Deion, in Greek means

a. Maxim

b. Goal

c. Motivation

d. Duty

 

14  According to Socrates, popular opinion is generally correct when considering moral matters.

a.  True______      b.  False______

 

15.  Utilitarianethics are teleological.

a.  True______      b.  False______

 

16. Deontology is an example of what kind of ethics?

a. Nonconsequentialist

b. Consequentialist

c. Virtue

d. Relative

 

17. In utilitarian ethics the morality of an act is based on

a. Motivation

b. Desire

c. The outcome

d. The maxim

 

18. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., felt that the clergypersons of the South had been

a. Cautious and courageous

b. Telling their congregations that the Negro is their “brother”

c. Hiding behind the anesthetizing security of stained-glass windows

d. Hiding behind the “white moderate”

 

19. Complete Dr. King’s sentence: “Injustice anywhere is a

______________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________.”

 

20. Dr. King exhorted us to be “extremists in

_________________________________.”

 

21.Kant reasoned that for an act to be truly morally worthy, one should always follow one’s inclinations.

a.  True______      b  False______

 

22.  Religious, social, and legal questions are usually convergent across cultures, but ethical issues are generally divergent.

a.  True _____   b.  False______

 

23. Mill said, “...it is better to be _________________________________ dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.”

 

24.  According to Aristotle, the Buddha, and Confucius, the “mean” of virtue is the same for everyone.

a.  True______      b.  False______

 

25. Aristotle said that virtue must be cultivated; in other words, it must become a ______________________________________________________.

 

30. Confucius discussed the “Five Relations” in his philosophy regarding moral exemplars.  Name the Five Relations.

1.  ______________________________________________________________

 

2  ______________________________________________________________

 

3.  ______________________________________________________________

 

4.  _______________________________________________________________

 

5.  ________________________________________________________________

 

31. The Chinese word li means

a. Altruism

b. Propriety

c. Reciprocity

d. Ancestor worship

 

32. For Confucius, the word Chun Tzu signified a

a. Superior Man

b. Ritual

c. Revered ancestor

d. Noble act

 

33. Confucius said that the Superior Man is watchful over himself even when he is

____________________________________________________________________

 

34. Dr. King said, “This word ____________________ has almost always meant “Never.”

 

35. For Confucius the term jen signifies

a. A nobleman

b. Revered aencestor

c. A self-actualized person

d. Altruism 

 

36.  Dr. King advised his fellow protestors to “purify” themselves by learning how to retaliate against the police.

a.  True______      b.  False______

ESSAYS

37. (20 points) How do Dr. King’s arguments regarding civil disobedience differ from those of Socrates/Plato?

 

 

 

 

 

38.  Answer the questions at the end of this piece:

A Texas high school student with cerebral palsy fights to reclaim her spot on a cheerleading team.

In this West Texas, football-crazy town, many young girls still long to be high school cheerleaders, reigning happily over the star-lit Friday night games, and Callie Smartt was always one of them. It made no difference to her that she was born with cerebral palsy and moved about in a wheelchair.

Last year, at Andrews High School, her dream came true: She was a freshman cheerleader. The fans seemed to delight in her. The football players said they loved to see her dazzling smile.  And then last spring, at the end of the school sports season, Smartt was abruptly kicked off the squad. Safety reasons, she was told.

The 15-year-old began crying and couldn't stop. Her mother had to pick her up at school, and it took hours to calm her down.

``I hate people treating me like I'm a baby,' Smartt said, making a face. ``No one makes fun of me at school or on the field. They always yell, 'Go, Callie!'

Smartt was relegated this fall to honorary cheerleader on the junior varsity team, and her activities have been sharply curtailed. She is no longer allowed to cheer at away games, no longer allowed to participate in cheerleading fund-raisers, no longer allowed to wheel her chair up and down the sidelines at games.

What's more, she has been told that the honorary cheerleading position is being abolished, and that if she wants to continue, she will have to try out next spring just like anyone else - a rigorous routine involving splits and tumbles that she could never master.

School officials imposed the new strictures at the urging of some of the other cheerleaders and their parents, several of whom appear to resent the extra attention being lavished on Smartt. All this is enough to make Fonda Smartt, Callie's mother, question the critics' motives.

Callie is a familiar and active figure in town, earning the nickname ``Hot Rod' for the speed and skill with which she maneuvers her wheelchair. Never one to get discouraged, she belongs to the school choir and the art club and has won dozens of awards for activities such as baking and pig-raising. An `A' and `B' student, she has often amazed her mother with her daring - she proudly lists bungee-jumping as one of her accomplishments.

Peter Francis, a local businessman whose daughter, Jennifer, is the head cheerleader on the JV team, has led the opposition to Callie's participation. He said last week that his stance has ``nothing to do with the young girl. She's smart, she's intelligent, there's always a smile on her face, she's a fine young lady. It's not her at all, period. There's the safety factor."

On the sidelines, he said, ``if a player comes flying off or a ball is overthrown, a cheerleader can be hit as well as a handicapped girl sitting in a wheelchair. The cheerleader girls who aren't handicapped could move out of the way a little faster. I raised the issue, what about the safety of this person?"

But Fonda Smartt wonders why the safety issue suddenly surfaced, because Callie was never hurt or threatened during her freshman year of cheerleading. Smartt noted that an injured football player was recently carried away by ambulance and that other cheerleaders have suffered sprained ankles and wrists simply from performing their routines.

As she grew increasingly upset by the situation, Fonda Smartt consulted with Stephon Breedlove, an attorney with Advocacy Inc. in Lubbock, a federally funded state agency that fights for the rights of the disabled.

``At first it seems they were making an extra effort to include Callie, and now it seems they're making an extra effort to exclude her,' said Breedlove, who is blind and competed as a wrestler in high school and college.

Perhaps, Breedlove suggested, the cheerleading program is taken a little too seriously at Andrews High. ``Maybe only the few, the proud, can do it,' he said dryly.

1.  (20 points)  What kind of arete (physical or otherwise) does Callie Smartt possess to be a cheerleader?

 

 

 

 

2.  (20 points)  Were the cheerleaders being virtuous in kicking Callie off the squad?  Why or why not?  Use the principles of Aristotle, Confucius, and the Buddha in your answer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3.   (20 points)  Using EITHER Mill's Utilitarian OR Kant's deontological (duty) ethics principles, make an argument as to why or why not Callie should be allowed to be on the cheerleading squad. 

 

 

 

 

EXTRA-CREDIT OPTION:  (10 points possible)

For ten points of extra credit, reflect on what valuable insights you have learned in this class.  What have you learned that you can use in your daily life?