Midterm Review Guide -- Spring 2005

Last updated: March 2, 2005

Anticipated Date of Midterm: Tuesday, March 8

The exam will probably consist of:

  • multiple choice, matching, or other objective (about 40 points)
  • two short essays at 10 points each.
    See Short-Answer Questions (partly revised for 2005)
  • two longer essays at 20 points each.

    On the essays it is good strategy to try to show what you know as it relates to the question(s) you are addressing. More information and reasoning is better than less, so long as it has a clear relationship to the essay topic. Keep in mind, however, how much time you have for each essay and how much each essay is worth.

    You are responsibile for

  • the parts of Chapters 1, 2, and 6 that we have discussed in class, plus the material on consumer privacy (in Chapter 6) that we may not have time to discuss. Study Questions for chapters 2 and 6 are available in Section D of the course website.

  • the ideas on handouts that we have discussed

  • Lakoff on metaphor and family moral models (Section G 1,3)

  • the key concepts we have discussed
    (see the section of the web site on key concepts; we have not discussed all these concepts, but these pages can help you review; most of the key concepts for whose definitions you are responsible are listed in the last section of this review page)
  • the ideas and reasoning of John Rawls that we have discussed

  • any other ideas or reasoning presented in lectures related to the above.

    You should be familiar with these items under F on the website (Normative Ethical Theories):

    2a, 2b (parts 2-5, 8-10), 2c (recommended), 2d,
     and "Strange Angels" (http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/parables/strange1.htm)
    3,
    4a, 4b, 4c
    7 (lots of overlap with chapter 2)
    (possibly) 9

    There will be an objective section.

    Possible 20-point essay questions.

  • When are human beings or corporations responsible for the consequences of participating in a multi-party activity? Combine your reflections on this question with a normative ethical theory of your own choosing and discuss how far a firm H.B. Fuller or The Gap is responsible for the fact that its activities are causally linked to the misery of groups of persons with which it has no direct contractual relationship, such as street kids in Central America or the workers in sweatshops that the Gap does not own.

  • Explain the similarities and differences between hedonistic and preference utilitarianism. What are strengths and weaknesses of each?

  • A question on virtue ethics.

  • Briefly explain the Due Care view of producers' duties to consumers or the idea of a right to privacy. Then use John Rawls' approach to justice or his two principles of justice to defend (a) the Due Care view or (b) a strong right on the part of consumers to privacy.

  • If everyone in society accepted and practiced the libertarian approach, what result would probably occur over time that many political philosophers in the past have regarded as a sign of injustice and social instability. What feature of Rawls' philosophy of social justice is designed to counteract the tendency toward this result? Explain.

    Vocabulary or Concepts to Study

    morality
    ethics
    moral standard
    moral development, main stages, in Kohlberg and Gilligan
    responsibility--different meanings
    two conditions required for a moral agent to be morally responsible for something

    relevance to moral responsibility:

    freedom, knowledge, ability to do otherwise, excusing conditions, mitigating circumstances, duress, uncertainty, seriousness, size of contribution to cooperative act

    Morality and Conceptual Metaphor

    conceptual metaphor / folk theory

    moral notions based on social accounting metaphors

    retribution / revenge /restitution
    rights / fairness / karma
    other metaphors
    moral strength / moral boundaries/ rights (in terms of boundaries)
    moral essence / health
    nurturance / empathy / self-nurturance

    Strength Group / Nurturance Group
    Strict Father Family model
    Nurturant Parent Family model Family of Humanity metaphor
    Conservative categories of moral action
    Liberal categories of moral action
    Basic differences between the models

    Kant's categorical imperative (two versions)
    rights--basic definition
    rights--related to three kinds of duty
    legal rights vs. moral (or human) rights
    contractual rights vs. moral rights
    vital needs justification for human rights

    Contract Theory of Manufacturers' and Marketers' Duties--four duties associated with it
    Due Care Theory--how it relates to design, production, information
    Assumptions behind these two theories
    How Safety is handled in each
    Negligence
    Common criticisms of Contract and Due Care theories
    Deception (three part definition)
    Advertisement (how defined)
    Moral issues concerned with (a) author, (b) medium, (c) audience of advertisement
    Mental Equipment
    Puffery

    Privacy
    Right to privacy
    Functions of privacy--two main types, with examples
    Guidelines to respect right to privacy

    normative ethical theories

    Consequentialism: Theories based on the metaphors of a person or society as a [something]-maximizing entity

    (ethical) egoism
    (ethical) hedonist egoism
    social consequentialism
    utilitarianism
    hedonistic utilitarianism
    preference utilitarianism

    Related concepts and issues:

    benefit and cost,
    net benefit,
    what is the unit of measurement?
        the population under consideration?
    can all values be reduced to one?
    distorted preferences
    challenges to utilitarianism based on justice and rights
    justice nonconsequentialism (Rawls)

    Rawlsian terms and concepts:

    basic social order (or structure)
    just social order
    two moral powers
    sense of justice
    conception of the good
    original position
    veil of ignorance
    task of the beings in the original position (see "strange angels")
    why the original position represents a fair procedure
    principle of liberty
    second principle: equal opportunity clause
    second principle: inequality linked to empowerment of least advantaged

    rights-centered nonconsequentialism
    forfeiture in rights theories
    universalism in rights theories
    objects of rights
    first-generation and second-generation rights

    libertarianism

    non-interference rights
    libertarian view on beneficence (no duty)
    --- on proper role of government
    --- on equal opportunity
    --- on types of voluntary transfer --- on original acquisition
    --- on wage contract within libertarianism
    autonomy-centered liberalism
      (similar to Rawls but without the emphasis on derivation from The Original Position)
    --- def. of basic autonomy
    --- on enhancement of autonomy
    --- on objects of human rights
    --- on equal opportunity
    --- on growth of rich-poor gap
    --- on material underpinning of liberty, security, and political participation rights
    Comparison of Libertarianism and Autonomy-Based Liberalism
    virtue ethics
    distinguished from theories that stress rules of conduct and maximizing good consequences
    virtues as related Aristotle's theory of the soul (reason, emotions, appetites)
    disposition=state=habit (metaphorically a possession, a long-term one)
    distinctions between physical, intellectual, and moral dispositions
    Aristotle's three-level schema:
       potentiality, first actuality, second actuality (and how it relates to the preceding)
    virtue
    vice
    when an act is right according to virtue ethics
    virtue as a mean, vice as an extreme
    how virtues are related to actions and to feelings
    self-control
    weakness of will