PHL 205 - CONTEMPORARY MORAL ISSUES
FIRST MIDTERM STUDY GUIDE
SPRING 2014

MAKING MORAL ARGUMENTS: What problems are there with moral relativism? What premise about the nature of morality is being assumed for the purposes of class discussion? Why is making this assumption helpful in discussing moral issues?

Be able to define and identify the following fallcies: ad hominem, tu quoque, ad populum, straw man, red herring, lack of proportion. What is the difference between a fundamental moral premise, empirical premise and legal premise in an argument? (you may be asked to identify particular examples).

Often people will say that they don't care about "ideology" but just want politicians to "work together" to "get things done" and "put aside partisan bickering." What did the instructor suggest about this point of view and the possibility of doing politics pragmatically or making particular value-neutral political judgements?

HEALTHCARE: What are the arguments for and against government healthcare? What is insurance and what is its function? How is health insurance analogous to car insurance? How is it not analogous? How is the need for food, without which one also can't live, treated differently than medical care? How is it treated similarly?

What solutions do Bernie Sanders, John Mackey, Ann Coulter and your instructor suggest for health care? According to evidence produced by the instructor, what are the biggest health problems facing Americans and their causes? How much does the health and mortality of Americans have to do with being able to receive appropriate medical services? What other more effective things might the government do besides force people to buy insurance and provide subsidies for it out of taxpayer dollars? What was the "may I shave my beard?" example about and how does it relate to healthcare?

What does the article about the healthcare experience of the former head of the British medical system suggest about government healthcare? According to the instructor, why are World Health Organization statistics about U.S. infant morality misleading?

What is a right? What is difference between deontology and consequentialism and how do they treat individual rights differently? What are the arguments for and against health care being a right in Busch, Sanders and Peikoff? What's the difference between a positive and a negative right? If healthcare is a right, which kind would it be? Which kind are the rights protected by the Constitution? What are the "four freedoms discussed in FDR's famous speech? Which "freedom" is not like the others?

What led to our current health care system? Why the cost of health care premiums rising? What was in the latest health care bill commonly known as "Obamacare?" What are some practical problems with it? What are some Constitutional issues surrounding it?