Exam 12: Moral,legal,and Aesthetic Reasoning

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.By the end of the nineteenth century,Bierstadt's painting was condemned as grandiose and sentimental;this is an example of the corruption of critical judgment by retrogressive political interests. b.We must accept that the correctness of aesthetic taste is always an effect of the times.

Answer the question in the following paragraph from one of the perspectives described in the text. Kevin's mother and father are divorced.Kevin is eight,and he lives with his father,John,for three months every summer.The rest of the time,except for occasional weekends,he lives two hundred miles away with his mother.John is the one with the problem:He and Kevin talked a lot last summer about getting a dog.For the first time,John is living in a house that has a backyard big enough to keep a dog and a fence around it as well.John had always used the "no place to keep it" line to avoid making promises,but that no longer applies.John finally promised to get Kevin a dog at the beginning of the next summer,and he knows Kevin is hoping to get one.In fact,John knows that Kevin is expecting a dog with enough confidence that (a)he'll be very disappointed if he doesn't get one,even though he may not say much about it.Furthermore, (b)not getting a dog will deprive both Kevin and John of considerable pleasure,since John knows how happy it would make his son to get one.But the danger of having a dog around is that John lives alone during most of the year,and having a dog means being responsible for another creature.(c)When John travels,as his job requires him to do from time to time,who will look after the dog? He can't leave it with a friend for a week or two at a time.And he has no neighbors close by who could look after it.It looks like a difficult trade-off:Three months a year of pleasure for John,Kevin,and a dog,balanced against what might be nine months a year of frequent unpleasantness for both John and the dog.What should he do?

Given the following position on euthanasia (doctor-assisted suicide),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. Active euthanasia should not be legalized;it is much too dangerous.The consequences could be devastating to our society.If we allow terminally ill people access to euthanasia,what guarantees do we have that such access won't be abused? It would be easy to imagine greedy relatives insisting that it is better for Grandma to die sooner than linger in pain,or to imagine Grandma choosing to die sooner so she won't cost the family a lot of money.Overall,access to euthanasia may cause terrible unhappiness.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. Jim ought to learn to take his hat off when he's in someone else's home.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. The dog was clearly in pain,but nobody was doing anything about it.

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's will stipulates that her son by birth will receive substantially more of her estate than will her adopted son,even though both sons love her equally,have treated her with similar regard,and have lived with her for about the same amount of time.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. Hazel owes Bert one hundred dollars and,according to the contract,was supposed to pay him back last month.

Given the following position on euthanasia (doctor-assisted suicide),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. Active euthanasia should be legalized.After all,what are the overall consequences in terms of happiness or unhappiness? Euthanasia may not make the patient who wants to die happy,but at least it can end his or her misery.And although the relatives may feel unhappy at the assisted suicide,they too have suffered,and they will grieve whether the patient dies assisted or unassisted.As a matter of fact,they may grieve less if they know the patient has been spared a substantial amount of suffering.

Evaluate the issue of human cloning from the viewpoint of a virtue ethicist.

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's twins,Mary and Myron,have different aspirations.Mary wants to be an engineer.She's good at mathematics and has a good chance of winning a scholarship to a good college.Myron is both inept and uninterested in such matters.He shows signs of artistic talent and wants to study painting.For their seventeenth birthdays,Marina got them a computer.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. It is too my turn to deal!

Let's say that person A has a piece of heavy equipment and needs an operator to do a certain job with it.But the equipment has not had a legally required safety inspection.Person B is able to operate the equipment,and he badly needs a job.So B signs a document that says,if there is any harm done as a result of the equipment not meeting safety standards,he assumes responsibility for the harm and that A is not to be held responsible. B goes to work,an accident happens,and B is injured.A refuses to pay for B's medical costs,so B files a suit against him for those costs. Should B collect his medical costs from A? Construct an argument on one side or the other.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. You ought to get to know Samuel.

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. We ought not to leave the showroom model's accessories off the price tag,since that will really mislead customers.

Identify the moral perspective at work here: At the supermarket,Vickie just ran her cart into a display of jars with jams and preserves,and now the aisle is full of broken glass and jam.She feels like leaving the store as quickly as possible.Is that an acceptable course of action? No,it isn't,because a person of integrity and moral responsibility wouldn't act like that.

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 tells her children to tell the truth,but she claims deductions on her income tax return to which she knows she is not legally entitled.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. It is hard to think of any nostrum that has less to recommend it than rent control.

State whether the following item expresses moral value or nonmoral value;or no value at all. The advertising for that "miracle" cleaner is fraudulent.

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. Dr.Shelby is getting away with charging outrageous fees because she is the only physician in town.She really ought to lower her rates so that she won't be taking advantage of the isolation of the community.

Identify the moral perspective at work here: At the supermarket,Vickie just ran her cart into a display of jars with jams and preserves,and now the aisle is full of broken glass and jam.She feels like leaving the store as quickly as possible.Is that an acceptable course of action? Yes,it is.Look,so long as Vickie thinks it's OK to leave,she's right.I,however,think it would be wrong,so I'd have to stay and clean up the mess.