Exam 7: Plato Why Should We Be Good

For the purposes of his argument, how does Socrates describe the human soul or creature?

According to Wong, "A reason why relativism has been feared is the thought that it could easily slide into moral nihilism."

Kant says, "The two parts of moral philosophy are distinguished as treating respectively of ..."

According to Nietzsche, "One must subject oneself to one's own ______ that one is destined for independence and command, and do so at the right time."

Explain what is meant by the following passage: "If we respect individuality and see every human being as unique in his own way, we might want to reject a society in which it appeared that individuals were seen merely as interchangeable units in a structure, the value of which lies in its having as many healthy units as possible."

Explain what Singer means when he says, "Should I consider that I am less obliged to pull the drowning child out of the pond if on looking around I see other people, no further away than I am, who have also noticed the child but are doing nothing? One has only to ask this question to see the absurdity of the view that numbers lessen obligation."

Explain what Marquis means when he says, "Of course, this value of a future-like-ours argument, if sound, shows only that abortion is prima facie wrong, not that it is wrong in any and all circumstances."

According to Wong, "Speculative relativism is the doctrine that it is morally wrong to pass judgment on or to interfere with the moral practices of others who have adopted moralities different from one's own."

According to Nietzsche, "we succeeded in explaining our entire instinctive life as the development and ramification of one fundamental form of will-namely, Will to Escape."

Explain what Rachels means when he says, "If one simply withholds treatment, it may take the patient longer to die, and so he may suffer more than he would if more direct action were taken and a lethal injection given. This fact provides strong reason for thinking that, once the initial decision not to prolong his agony has been made active euthanasia is actually preferable to passive euthanasia, rather than the reverse."

According to Harris, "to remove the arbitrariness of permitting doctors to select their donors from among the chance passers-by outside hospitals; Y and Z put forward the following scheme: they propose that everyone be given a sort of ..."

Explain the doctrine of descriptive relativism.

Explain what Thomson means when she says, "If anyone does wish to deduce 'he has a right' from you ought,' then all the same he must surely grant that there are cases in which it is not morally required of you that you allow that violinist to use your kidneys, and in which he does not have a right to use them, and in which you do not do him an injustice if you refuse."

According to Harris, if two people, X and Y, have diseased organs, then "Why, they might argue, should their living or dying be left to chance when in so many other areas of human life we believe that we have an obligation to ensure the survival of the maximum number of lives possible?"

According to Harris, "To opt for the society which Y and Z propose would be then to adopt a society in which ____________ would be mandatory."

According to Hanley, a very common intuition concerning the putative wrongness of human cloning is "the description of cloning as 'replication' rather than 'reproduction,' with the implication that cloning is a threat to uniqueness." What is Hanley's criticism of this position?

Huxley says, "Let us understand, once for all, that the ethical progress of society depends, not on imitating the _______________, still less in running away from it, but in combating it."

Kant says, "the power and resolved purpose to resist a strong but unjust opponent is called ..."

According to Kant, "in ethics the notion of duty must lead to ends, and must on moral principles give the foundation of maxims with respect to the ends which we ought to propose to ourselves."

Explain the doctrine of normative relativism.