Chapter 5 Self Quiz

. All the following are true of utilitarianism except

the act that brings the most happiness is sometimes morally wrong.

it recognizes the right act as that which maximizes well-being.

everyone'swell-being matters equally.

utilitarianism sometimes conflicts with conventional morality.

. Act utilitarians believe that the right-making features of an act

are the consequences of that particular act, not the hypothetical effects of some set of rules.

include the consequences of the act for everyone affected by it from the time it is performed until the end of time.

depends on how well the consequences of that act rank when compared to the consequences of all alternative acts available to the agent.

All of the above

. Which of the following best fits with the claim that the rightness of an act requires summing its consequences across more than one domain of value?

Egalitarianism

Prioritarianism

Multidimensionalism

Hedonism

. Suppose a healthy patient requiring minor surgery is at the hospital, and the surgeon realizes this patient is a donor match for five patients dying of organ failure and decides to let the scalpel slip and kill the patient to maximize utility by harvesting his organs. How might John Rawls object?

If the practice of killing healthy patients to harvest organs were followed as a general rule, it would reduce utility as healthy patients would avoid the hospital, causing their conditions to worsen.

If the killing could be done such that no one but the surgeon knew, then the killing would maximize utility and be morally necessary. The problem is that this contradicts conventional morality.

The requirement to kill this patient to make others well alienates the doctor from his larger practical project of healing people.

The calculation of consequences treats the individual patients as mere containers for valuable experiences and fails to factor in that the loss of one person cannot be replaced by saving another.

. Which of the following best describes ethical egoism?

The ego emerges from the initial internalization of other people's moral judgments as a small child.

People are going to always act in their own self-interest.

The moral act is the one that maximizes consequences for oneself.

The most important aspect of the ethical life is taming the ego and self-interest.

. John Stuart Mill proposed the following argument for utilitarianism: "No reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable, except that each person, so far as he believes it to be attainable, desires his own happiness." How might one criticize it?

This argument is problematic because Mill seeks to derive an "ought" from an "is."

This argument is problematic because Mill was a well-known supporter of duty ethics.

This argument is problematic because the conclusion is a factual statement, not a moral one.

This argument is problematic because Mill confused happiness with Aristotle's notion of Eudaimonia.

. A common objection to ethical egoism is that the theory is self-defeating.

The essence of this objection is that if all of us do what is best for ourselves, then this would entail a version of utilitarianism, so ethical egoism defeats itself.

The essence of this objection is that if all of us do what is best for ourselves, then everyone will end up in a situation that is worse from an egoistic point of view.

No, ethical egoism is not self-defeating, but the utilitarian theory is.

No, ethical egoism is not self-defeating, but Kant's duty ethics is.

. Utilitarianism is

a general ethical theory that is applicable to all decisions made by engineers as well as others.

the view that an act is right just in case it bring about the greatest sum total of pleasure or well-being for everyone affected by the act.

incompatible with the political slogan "America first!" when interpreted in the intended way.

All of the above

. Rule utilitarians believe that we ought to act per a set of rules of that would lead to optimal consequences in society if they were to be accepted by

everyone, or almost everyone.

the agent throughout his life.

the agent at the point in the action is performed.

the agent and the people directly affected by the agent's actions.

. John Stuart Mill proposed the following argument for utilitarianism: "No reason can be given why the general happiness is desirable, except that each person, so far as he believes it to be attainable, desires his own happiness."The argument

violates Hume's is-ought thesis.

would be valid if we were to add the following bridge premise: "If everyone desires X, then X is desirable."

would be valid if we were to add the following bridge premise: "If at least one person desires X, then X is desirable."

All of the above

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