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PHIL 201 ETHICS SECOND EXAM
REVIEW WINTER 2002

The exam will be this coming Tuesday,
February 26th. Bring a No. 2 pencil, and a
good eraser to the exam (no points will
be given for errors due to poor erasures).
Also remember that you are allowed a
single 3 x 5 card (both sides) for notes.
To prepare for the exam, be sure you can
answer the questions below. Also make
sure to look at the book and movie
synopses at the end of the Rosenstand
chapters and the fiction excerpts in
Pojman which may not have been
specifically discussed in class. Make
sure you know the general point the
author is trying to get across or the
issues he or she is attempting to deal
with. You will not only be asked questions
about definitions and criticisms of
theories, but also questions about how
the theories would apply to concrete
ethical situations, i.e. "consider the
following case...what would a utilitarian
say you should do?" Disclaimer: The
instructor reserves the right to ask a
question on any material from the text or
covered in class.

What is Divine Command Theory? What
are some criticisms of it discussed in
class? What is the Euthyphro dilemma
and how does it present a problem for
basing ethics on God. Can you solve the
dilemma by claiming that God is by
good? Layman suggests that the atheist
or agnostic has no satisfactory answer to
the "Why be moral?" question. What
controversial hidden assumption does
this point. How can an atheist answer
"Why be moral?" What does Arthur
suggest is the nature of morality? How
does his theory allow for the importance
of religious beliefs in some people's
moral decision making while rejecting the
idea that religion must be the foundation
of morality?

Which ethical points of view do Bentham,
Mill and Kant represent? What is the only
thing which is intrinsically good according
to Bentham and Mill? ? What's the
difference between intrinsic and extrinsic
(instrumental) value?

What is Utility What is utilitarianism's
theory of value? What was Nozick's
"experience machine" example supposed
to show about value? What is
utilitarianism's theory of action? How
would utilitarianism define a right act.
Explain Bentham's "hedonic calculus".
How is it supposed to work?

What is the difference between Mill's
higher and lower pleasures? What
motivated Mill to make the distinction. Be
prepared to give an example of each kind
of pleasure. What did Mill mean when he
said, "It is better to be a man dissatisfied
than a pig satisfied, better to be Socrates
dissatisfied than a fool satisfied"? What
criticism did the instructor suggest of
Mill's distinction between higher and
lower pleasures. What criticism does
Rosenstand bring up? Does
utilitarianism have a place for rules
similar to those used by deontologists?

Be prepared to answer questions about
the various criticism of utilitarianism
brought up in class as well as actual and
possible responses by Bentham, Mill and
other utilitarians. This includes Kai
Nielson's defense of utilitarianism in the
Pojman book. How does he attempt to
defend against the charge that
utilitarianism is too permissive and as if it
could, under certain circumstances,
condone the murder of innocent people to
benefit the majority? How might appeals
to bad side effects (long-term
consequences resulting from an act)
affect how it should be assessed from a
utilitarian standpoint? Must utilitarianism
necessarily conflict with our moral
intuitions? What is "the publicity
requirement" and how might it make
utilitarianism look like it clashes with our
moral intuitions after all? What is Bernard
Williams' criticism of utilitarianism? What
are the points of the story "The Ones Who
Walk Away from Omelas" and the excerpt
from Brave New World?

What is the naturalistic fallacy and how is
Mill accused of committing it?

What's the difference between act and
rule utilitarianism? What are some
criticisms of rule utilitarianism?