PHL 205
CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES
SPRING 2011
  EXAM 4 STUDY GUIDE

Office hours for Final Exam Week will be the same as regular term and will be as follows: Tu 3-4, W 1:30 - 2:30, Th 3-4 in CEN 410J, Th 5-6 at the Cottage Grove Center and F 5-6 online Moodle messaging only. There are no scheduled activities for the Final Exam listed in the schedule of courses. The exam must be taken between Monday, June 6th at 8:00 AM and Thursday, June 9th at 5:00 PM. You must enter the lab one hour before closing. Most of you will want to take the exam in the Computer Testing Lab on the main campus in CEN 456. Lab hours for that lab are: Monday - Wednesday 8am-8pm; Thursday 8am-5pm. You will be allowed a 3 x 5 card (both sides) for notes. There are no time limits, but you must complete the exam once you start it. The format is multiple choice and true/false questions. See syllabus for other details concerning testing. Note: The instructor reserves the right to ask questions on any material from the assigned readings, class lecture and discussion or guest presentations, even if it's not mentioned in this study guide. To help prepare for the exam, attempt to answer the questions below.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE (Issue5)

What did the U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas (2003) establish? What is the difference between "Gay Marriage" and "Civil Unions" or "Domestic Partnerships"? What legal benefits do heterosexual married couples enjoy which gay couples desire? What arguments does Jordan give against gay marriage? What reasons does society have for supporting heterosexual marriage that it doesn't have for supporting homosexual marriage according to Jordan? How does Jordan oppose the "equality" argument? How does Boonin respond to them? discussed in class? What additional arguments were discussed in class? What do polls and recent elections indicate about what most Americans think about the concept of same-sex marriage? How do State "defense of marriage" ballot measures fare? How might one respond to the idea that if you legalize gay marriage, you will have to legalize polygamy, polyandry and group marriages of various kinds?

SEX AND COMMITMENT (Issue 3)

What arguments does Punzo give for sex only being practiced within a committed relationship? What arguments does Goldman have for considering sex as a biological function, separable from any moral or cultural context? What is the eating analogy? Do men and women have different views on sex and commitment? If so, where do these differences come from?

DRUG LEGALIZATION (Issue 9, Handouts): According to the instructor, what two reasons do people take drugs? What does this show about the efficacy of any attempt to stamp out their usage? What are the moral, legal and practical arguments against drug legalization?  What were the results of alcohol prohibition? What similar results do we see in drug prohibition? What are some of the ways in which the War on Drugs threatens the personal liberties of non-drug users?

How do the health effects of marijuana compare to legal addictive and/or mind-altering substances, such as alcohol or tobacco? How many people die of drug overdoses compared to the deaths due to smoking tobacco, poor diet, lack of exercise, and excess drinking? How might one argue against the contention that marijuana is a "gateway drug" whose use causes the user to go on to harder drugs? How do people who take marijuana differ in the way people behave who are drunk? What medical benefits does marijuana have? What are some of hemp's industrial uses? What is the history of the use of marijuana in the United States? Was it always a taboo substance? If not, what changed? How did racism as well as moralism lead to it becoming illegal? What is the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and what bearing does it have on medical marijuana laws in states like California and Oregon?

How Do Cussan & Block argue that drug prohibition violates basic Constitutional rights? What benefits do they say will come from legalization? How do they argue against the idea that drugs sales violate the values of the community or that legalization amounts of social or governmental approval? What do they mean by the "elasticity" of the demand for drugs? How do they argue against the idea that legalization will lead to more drug users?

What does Dalrymple think of Mill's principle that you should be able to do as you please as long as you're not harming others? What is his public necrophilia example supposed to prove? Why negative qualities does Dalrymple attribute to drug users? What's fallacious about characterizing reducing crime by legalizing drugs as being like reducing theft by making it legal to steal? How does he argue that the unenforcibility of a law is no reason to abandon it?  How does he argue that legalizing drugs would lead to more crime, not less? What other reasons does he give against legalizing drugs? What does his experience with methodone patients and construction workers who had nearly free alcohol? Why does he think legalization will result in even more lost civil liberties?
What was the result of legalizing marijuana in Alaska? What have been the results of legalization in Portugal?

ANIMAL RIGHTS (Issue 15, Handouts)

What's the difference between a vegetarian and a vegan? What is a "lacto-ovo" vegetarian? What sort of diet did human beings evolve to eat? In other words, what sort of diet does it appear we were "designed" to eat: herbivore, carnivore or omnivore? Are there any health risks associated with eating meat, particularly the amount of meat in the typical American diet? How does the health of the typical vegetarian or vegan compare to the health of the typical meat eater? According to evidence presented in class, can a person get all the nutrition they need to be healthy without eating meat? What nutritional deficits if any, are there in a vegan diet?

 How are the animals used to produce the meat you buy in a supermarket or eat in a restaurant typically treated? Are there any arguments against eating "free range" animals which are treated humanely? How does meat-eating affect the environment and consumption of natural resources? What is the alien analogy? What is the pet analogy? What is speciesism? What are some of the arguments presented in Peter Singer's article "All Animals Are Equal?" What does he mean by the moral principle of "equal consideration of interests"? What are some arguments are there in favor of eating meat discussed in class or in handouts? How might one respond to the argument that animals eat each other, therefore it’s OK for us to eat them. What response could one make to the argument that it’s natural for human beings to eat meat, therefore it is morally permissible?

THE DEATH PENALTY (Issue 12): For committing what sorts of crimes can one receive the death penalty? What sorts of people receive it more often, according to Welch? How might the death penalty actually increase the number of murders rather than deter them according to Welch? What sorts of death penalty recipients does Welch find especially troubling? How is it alleged that politics play a role in who is executed?

Is there any definitive evidence that death penalty, as currently practiced in America, a deterrent to murder? Why not? What might be changed to make it a deterrent? What reason does Van Den Haag give for thinning the death penalty is a deterrent? What reasons does he give for it besides any deterrent effect? What does Van Den Haag mean when he says "Unequal justice is better than equal injustice?" What is the speeding ticket analogy? What is Van Den Haag's "trucks" analogy? How does he respond to the arguments that the chance of a mistake makes such a permanent penalty morally wrong, to religious opposition (particularly from Catholics and liberal Protestant denominations), that it is degrading to human dignity or violates the sanctity of life? What's wrong with arguments against religious conservatives that the death penalty is a violation of the Biblical 6th Commandment "Thou shalt not kill."

Why doesn't the death penalty violate the Constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment according to Van Den Haag?

TORTURE (Issue 13): What do Bagaric and Clark say in response to the charge that the "ticking time bomb" scenario is fantastic or unrealistic? What five variables affect whether or not it's acceptable to torture a prisoner? What is the legal status of torture? How widespread is its use according to Bagaric and Clark? How is their argument for allowing torture similar to arguments made about illegal drugs? How does Devine argue against torture? What is waterboarding? What was his and the instructor's view on whether torture was an effective means of getting information?