Study Guide for the 2nd Ethics Quiz
 Spring 2006


 

The quiz will consist of a number of short answer questions. For each of the philosophers we have covered, you should be able to give an account of their basic claims and  the arguments that they offer for these claims.  You should be able to apply these ideas to a concrete situation.  You should also know some major criticisms that can be offered against the arguments of each philosopher.  The exam will include at least two quotations for you to identify and explain. What follows are suggestions that may help with your review. 



There will be at least two review questions covering material from the first part of the class.  There may also be questions that ask you to compare the viewpoints of the new philosophers we have studied with the views of the philosophers we studied in the first part of the semester.  The philosophers from the first part of the class may be the authors of the quotations that you will need to interpret on the exams.


Know the definitions of negative rights, positive rights, and distributive justice.


Kant

  1. The only intrinsic good is the good will, the disposition to act out of duty in accord with rational morality.
  2. There are two formulations of the categorical imperative. Know them both.
  3. The categorical imperative can be used to generate moral rules.  There are no exceptions to these rules.
  4. The social contract added to this structure.
  5. The Hobbesian system does not end the war of all against all; the social contract requires a league of nations to end the state of nature among nations.

     

Mill

  1. The only intrinsic good is happiness.
  2. Happiness must be judged in terms of quality, not just quantity.
  3. The utilitarianism maxim defines justice.  Know how to state this.
  4. There is a vigorous defense of liberty and minority fights
  5. There is a limitation on the scope of government and a rejection of paternalism
  6. Democracy with universal suffrage (including women) is advocated, but even a democracy should not be able to abrogate the rights of its citizens.
  7. The arguments offered by those who deny rights to women are critiqued.
  8. Oppression does not really benefit oppressors.
     

 

Nozick
a. Liberty (negative rights) is upheld with an emphasis on property rights.
b. No taxation to support social welfare or positive rights is justified.
c. A distribution is just if everyone is historically entitled to the portion he or she has and there has been no violation of negative rights.
d. There can be no moral evaluation based simply on the end-state.
e. Economic acts between consenting parties should not be forbidden.

 

Rawls
a. Rawls rejects utilitarianism in favor of a Kantian liberalism.
b. His methodology involves imagining social contract chosen by a rational person behind a veil of ignorance.
c. He advocates two principles of justice: liberty and fairness (inequalities in distribution are just as long as they work out to the advantage of all, and everyone has an equal opportunity to compete). Be able to state and apply these two principles.
d. Positive rights can be used to increase fairness.  This involves a redistribution of resources and property.

 

 There will be some extra credit questions on current events. 

 

  The material assigned from Latin American Philosophy will be on the next quiz.


Author:Hollace Graff
Oakton Community College
Updated: March 1, 2006

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