Exam 12: Moral,legal,and Aesthetic Reasoning

In this pair of cases,the first may serve as precedent for the second.Decide whether the second case is so relevantly similar to the first that it should be decided identically.Explain your decision. First case:Federal and local officers,seeking to arrest Mr.J on a narcotics charge but having no warrant or search warrant,knocked on the door of his apartment.He asked,"Who's there?" and the reply was,"Police." He opened the door partly,keeping the chain latch on,asked what they were doing there,but,before they answered,he tried to close the door,whereupon they broke in and arrested him,seizing as evidence marked money from a narcotics sale.The court ruled that the arrest was unlawful and therefore that the money was unlawfully seized:The authority of officers to break the door of a home to make an arrest is limited;the officers must first state their authority in demanding admission.Mr.J's reaction in attempting to close the door did not show with certainty that he knew that the officers were there to arrest him. Second case:Mr.A was unlawfully arrested on a burglary charge without probable cause and placed in jail.There he was observed attempting to swallow something;he was seized and forcibly searched,and a moist narcotic packet was found on the floor.He was charged with illegal possession of narcotics.

For the following,try to come up with an additional premise that will turn the passage into a deductively valid or an inductively strong argument.Usually this requires adding a general moral principle and,sometimes,an extra nonmoral claim as well.The idea is to guarantee that the "ought" claim follows from the "is" claim. The computer programs we recently received are all "shareware"-they are accompanied by notices saying that anyone who keeps and uses the program should send a small fee to the author.I think it's only right that we send a check to two of the program authors,since we've started getting a lot of use out of two of the programs.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. There ought to be a law against doing what Selena has done to her hair.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. If you don't get rid of your dog's fleas,it's going to be miserable.

Suppose that the following pair of statements appears in a review of the same work of art.Identify which of the aesthetic principles referred to in the text each statement in the pair appeals to.Then state whether the principles are compatible and thus form the basis for a consistent review,or whether they are incompatible and cannot both be used in a consistent review. a.Phillis Wheatley's poetry is important art because it convinced her eighteenth-century contemporaries of the artistic abilities of Africans and contributed to the antislavery movement. b.Phillis Wheatley's poems are exemplary expressions of Christian values.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. It is bothersome to be telephoned after 9:00 p.m.

In the following,discuss whether Marina is treating relevantly similar cases in sufficiently similar fashions;identify instances in which the cases are not relevantly similar. Marina calls it to the clerk's attention when she is overcharged,but not when she is undercharged.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the best football team of the 1970s,and the Forty-Niners were the team of the '80s.The Redskins were the best of the '90s.But the Patriots will turn out to be the best of the 2000s.

In the following,discuss whether Marina is treating relevantly similar cases in sufficiently similar fashions;identify instances in which the cases are not relevantly similar. Marina votes against a tax increase for maintenance of her city park even though she uses the park and plans to continue using it whether or not the measure passes.

Answer the question in the passage below from one of the perspectives described in the text. Shelley and Maurita are both disturbed by their C+ final grades in Mr.Carlton's geography class,and they request that he recheck his grade book.He does so and finds that,indeed,he had made mistakes.Maurita was supposed to get a B- and Shelley was supposed to get a C-.He gives Maurita the B- and allows Shelley to keep the C+. Should he have lowered Shelley's grade to a C-? Construct one argument whose conclusion is that he should,and construct one argument whose conclusion is that he should not.Be sure to spell out clearly any moral principles in the arguments.

Given the following position on abortion,identify which of the three major ethical theories discussed in the text-utilitarianism,duty theory,or virtue ethics-it follows.Note that each theory may encompass several possible viewpoints on an issue. Abortion should be allowed.It doesn't matter whether one,as an individual,is for or against it;what matters is that women will be dying in back alleys again if their access to abortion is taken away from them.

Given the following position on abortion,identify which of the three major ethical theories discussed in the text-utilitarianism,duty theory,or virtue ethics-it follows.Note that each theory may encompass several possible viewpoints on an issue. Abortion should be allowed.It is up to the individual to decide whether abortion is the right thing to do for her.Not everybody is ready for parenthood,and it is better that children not be raised by individuals who have no love for them,no stability in their lives,or no sense of responsibility for their actions.

In the following,discuss whether Marina is treating relevantly similar cases in sufficiently similar fashions;identify instances in which the cases are not relevantly similar. Marina says she believes in equality,but she tells lots of ethnic and racial jokes.

For the following,try to come up with an additional premise that will turn the passage into a deductively valid or an inductively strong argument.Usually this requires adding a general moral principle and,sometimes,an extra nonmoral claim as well.The idea is to guarantee that the "ought" claim follows from the "is" claim. If the Simmonses don't begin teaching their son some discipline,he's going to grow up to be an irresponsible adult.That would amount to moral irresponsibility on the part of the Simmonses.

In this pair of cases,the first may serve as precedent for the second.Decide whether the second case is so relevantly similar to the first that it should be decided identically.Explain your decision. First case:The owner of an amusement park,believing that homosexual activity was taking place in its pay toilets,authorized police to use an observation pipe leading from the roof to the booths.Officer H regularly visited the roof for surveillance.If he observed illegal conduct,he would notify officers below,who would make the arrest.A court ruled that the evidence of Officer H was illegally obtained and set aside the information. Second case:The management of a department store authorized police to observe suspected illegal homosexual activity in the men's room.An officer did observe such activity and arrested the participants.But in this case,the officer looked through a legitimately installed vent instead of a special spypipe.Furthermore,in this case,the booths,unlike those in the first case,were not pay toilets (and thus were not in the same sense "private").Finally,unlike in the first case,the observed behavior was committed in the space below the partition,and thus was observable by anyone who might have been in the public,or common-use,portion of the men's room at the time,though nobody was.

Answer the question in the following paragraph from one of the perspectives described in the text. The water pump in Michelle's car isn't working,and her friend Felipe replaces it for her as a favor.Michelle decides to repay Felipe's kindness by promising to buy him a six-pack of beer.Unfortunately,Michelle isn't quite old enough to buy beer legally,so she asks her friend Carol,who is,to buy the beer for her and explains why.Felipe,too,is slightly under the legal age,but Carol knows Felipe and regards him as a responsible and mature individual.Further, (a)Carol knows that Michelle will be embarrassed if she has to tell Felipe she cannot get beer for him after all,and (b)Michelle has recently done something nice for Carol,and Carol owes her a favor.However, (c)Michelle is aware that if Felipe drinks the beer all at once and goes driving-an unlikely event in Carol's opinion-he could be injured or injure others.Carol could be held liable in that event.But (d)Carol knows Michelle's other friends and doubts that any of them are old enough to buy beer for Michelle.If Carol turns Michelle down,Michelle will have to live without getting Felipe the beer she promised to give him.Should Carol get the beer for Michelle,everything considered?

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. She was really hurt by the way he treated her.

For the following,try to come up with an additional premise that will turn the passage into a deductively valid or an inductively strong argument.Usually this requires adding a general moral principle and,sometimes,an extra nonmoral claim as well.The idea is to guarantee that the "ought" claim follows from the "is" claim. The dog has been out so long she's probably freezing.You ought to let her in.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. The paint job on Linda's car is awful-looks as though somebody did it with a brush.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. Everybody should be as fair as Mario tries to be.