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1. Which of these would certainly fail the minimal requirements for moral agency

ID: 2268541 • Letter: 1

Question

1. Which of these would certainly fail the minimal requirements for moral agency?

A person with a family (to whom he or she has a prima facie obligation)

A highly intelligent monkey (one with the ability to reason)

A brain dead perso

Hitler (or any other person who willingly and repeatedly commits immoral actions.

2. According to Utilitarianism, in order to act rightly, we must...

maximize utility

do things for the right reasons.

choose the action the produces the best consequences (in terms of pleasure and pain) for us personally.

choose the action that a virtuous person would choose.

3. What would a Kantian have said about Ford's desision to release the Ford Pinto?

It was morally permissible. Companies are responsible to their customers and shareholders. It costs less over all for the consumers to release it as is, than update it to make it more safe. So the right thing to do was to release the car without the update.

It was morally permissible because it was in accordance with the "Universal Law" version of the categorical imperative.

It was morally impermissible because it violated the consumer's autonomy in the sense that they did not have all of the relevant information for making a fully informed decision.

It was morally impermissible because it failed to maximize utility.

4. Mill's Freedom Principle states that every individual should be allowed to strive for pleasure so long as they do so within the bounds of the law.

True

False

5. Objectivism requires the existence of God because it says that human beings do not create moral truth.

True

False

6. What was Mill talking about when he wrote about the quality of pleasures?

Mill never discussed the quality of pleasures, he though that only the quantity mattered.

He was talking about how much you enjoy a particular pleasure---Mill said that the more pleasure that results from an action, the better.

He was referring to types of pleasure: specifically intellectual versus physical pleasure.

Talking about the quality of pleasure wasn't part of mills theory, it was part of Aristotle's.

A person with a family (to whom he or she has a prima facie obligation)

A highly intelligent monkey (one with the ability to reason)

A brain dead perso

Hitler (or any other person who willingly and repeatedly commits immoral actions.

2. According to Utilitarianism, in order to act rightly, we must...

maximize utility

do things for the right reasons.

choose the action the produces the best consequences (in terms of pleasure and pain) for us personally.

choose the action that a virtuous person would choose.

3. What would a Kantian have said about Ford's desision to release the Ford Pinto?

It was morally permissible. Companies are responsible to their customers and shareholders. It costs less over all for the consumers to release it as is, than update it to make it more safe. So the right thing to do was to release the car without the update.

It was morally permissible because it was in accordance with the "Universal Law" version of the categorical imperative.

It was morally impermissible because it violated the consumer's autonomy in the sense that they did not have all of the relevant information for making a fully informed decision.

It was morally impermissible because it failed to maximize utility.

4. Mill's Freedom Principle states that every individual should be allowed to strive for pleasure so long as they do so within the bounds of the law.

True

False

5. Objectivism requires the existence of God because it says that human beings do not create moral truth.

True

False

6. What was Mill talking about when he wrote about the quality of pleasures?

Mill never discussed the quality of pleasures, he though that only the quantity mattered.

He was talking about how much you enjoy a particular pleasure---Mill said that the more pleasure that results from an action, the better.

He was referring to types of pleasure: specifically intellectual versus physical pleasure.

Talking about the quality of pleasure wasn't part of mills theory, it was part of Aristotle's.

Explanation / Answer

1. All the options except the family man fail to be the minimum requirements of a moral agency.

2. According to Utilitarianism, we must choose the action the produces the best consequences (in terms of pleasure and pain) for us personally.

3. It was morally permissible because it was in accordance with the "Universal Law" version of the categorical imperative.

4. True.

5. True.

6. He was referring to types of pleasure: specifically intellectual versus physical pleasure