PHL201 ETHICS
SECOND MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE
Egoism and Social Contract Theory (Ch. 5)

What's the difference between psychological egoism and ethical egoism?
How might Glaucon be interpreted as an ethical egoist?
Explain how although egoism is classified as a form of ethical absolutism it might also be considered to be equivalent to moral nihilism.
What are some objections to psychological egoism?
What does the doctrine of "ought implies can" mean?
If we accept "ought implies can" and psychological egoism, what limits does this place on what sorts of ethical theories we can have?
What is Calvinism? Are Calvinists, psychological egoists, ethical egoists, both or neither?
Explain Ayn Rand's version of egoism. How is it different from Glaucon's version?
What sort of political philosophy does it endorse?
What are some arguments for and against Rand's views.
How might someone like Glaucon attack Rand as a closet deontologist?

What is Social Contract Theory?
What does Hobbes mean by life in a "state of nature."
What would life in a state of nature be like?
How does Hobbes argue that following rules of conventional morality enshrined in most legal systems serves each individual's enlightened self-interest?
How is what's moral related to what's legal in Hobbes' theory?
What system of government did Hobbes favor?

An alternative to Hobbes' strong monarchy is the idea of a strong representative democracy such as Europe or the United States, with a Constitution to guarantee certain rights, an executive branch to run the country, a legislative body to make laws and police and courts to artibtrate disputes and enforce the laws. What are some flaws inherent in this system?
John Locke and the founding fathers proposed the idea of a limited, decentralized government, such as the above but much smaller in scope and size, sometimes described as Minarchy. What are some advantages to this form of government?

Utilitarianism (Ch. 6)

Under which broader ethical theory does utilitarianism fall? (absolutism? relativism? nihilism? divine command theory? egoism?)
 What is Utility?
What's the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic value?
What is utilitarianism's theory of (intrinsic) value?
What was Robert Nozick's "experience machine" example supposed to show about utilitarianism's theory of value?
 What is utilitarianism's theory of action?
How would utilitarianism define a right action?
Who founded utilitarianism?
Who developed it into a popular moral theory?
Explain Bentham's "hedonic calculus".
 How is utilitarianism more of an empirical theory than other moral theories?
Give an example of a higher pleasure and a lower pleasure.
What motivated Mill to make the distinction between higher and lower pleasures--what objection was he attempting to rebut?
What did Mill mean when he said, "It is better to be a man dissatisfied than a pig satisfied, better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied"?
What reasons does Mill give for believing people will gravitate towards higher pleasures?
What are some criticisms of Mill's distinction between higher and lower pleasures?
How might he respond to the objection that people are simply attracted to the sort of pleasures they are conditioned to respond to by their upbringing and backgrounds?

What objections to utilitarianism does Mill discuss in the text selection and how does he respond to each?
How does Mill argue against following charges (each objection counts as a question):
According to Peter Singer, what implications does third world poverty have on the morality of our day to day decisions in a first world country like the United States?
What is the "child in a pond" example and what is it supposed to prove?
How do the examples of Bob and Dora support Singer's case?
According to utilitarianism, what role does the motive of the agent have on the moral value of an act?
Is doing harm worse than allowing harm to occur according to the utilitarian theory? Why or why not?
What value does sacrifice have in itself in the utilitarian system?
How does Mill attempt to prove utilitarianism is true? What criticisms could be made of this argument?

 What would a utilitarian have to say about the hypothetical cases below. Which examples seem to clearly support the utilitarian view and which seem to create problems with it?