THESE QUESTIONS ARE BASED ON THE COURSE NOTES FOR THE ABOVE TOPICS THAT CAN BE FOUND HERE AND HERE.
THIS TEST (AND MANY OF THE OTHERS ON THIS SITE) MAY ALSO BE OF USE TO STUDENTS FOLLOWING OTHER ADVANCED LEVEL RELIGIOUS STUDIES COURSES.
BEAR IN MIND THAT THESE TESTS ARE MEANT TO BE DIFFICULT. FOR THIS REASON THEY SHOULD BE ATTEMPTED AFTER THE AFOREMENTIONED NOTES HAVE ALREADY BEEN CAREFULLY REVISED. HAVING SAID THAT, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT ERRORS MIGHT HAVE BEEN MADE DURING THE CREATION OF THE TEST. PLEASE USE THE CONTACT FORM TO LET ME KNOW IF YOU THINK YOU HAVE SPOTTED ONE.
THE LANGUAGE USED IN ALL BLOG POSTS AND IN THE FOLLOWING TEST HAS NOT BEEN SIMPLIFIED. THIS IS BECAUSE EXPANDING YOUR PERSONAL VOCABULARY IS IMPORTANT IF YOU WISH TO ACCESS THE HIGHER GRADES AT ADVANCED LEVEL.
FOR THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS, SCROLL DOWN TO THE END OF THIS BLOG ENTRY.
1. Which of the following is the best definition of deontology?
a. A deontological theory is one that suggests that the act that produces the greatest good is the right one.
b. A deontological theory is one that recognises that there are no right answers to ethical questions.
c. A deontological theory is one that maintains that the result that best fits with common sense is the right one.
d. A deontological theory is one which maintains that certain acts are right or wrong regardless of their consequences.
2. The theory of ____________ states that if an act produces more good than bad outcomes then the act is ethically right.
a. Natural Moral Law
b. Kantian Ethics
c. Consequentialism
d. Utilitarianism
3. An ethical system that is based entirely on the feelings of pleasure produced by a moral decision could be described as:
a. Hedonistic
b. Relativistic
c. Absolutist
d. Objective
4. An ethical theory is said to be ___________ if it involves rules that are to be followed by all people at all times in all circumstances.
a. Right
b. Absolutist
c. Teleological
d. Wrong
5. An ethical theory is said to be objective when…
a. It recognises that morality is nothing more than the expression of individual opinions and points of view.
b. It recognises that morality is something that exists independently of human beings and is real or true regardless of individual opinion.
c. It recognises the teleological aspects of a situation.
d. It encourages us to use reason to make moral decisions.
6. TRUE or FALSE? A teleological ethical theory is one that is based on the predicted consequences or outcomes of moral decisions.
7. TRUE or FALSE? Kantian Ethics is an example of a teleological (consequentialist) system of ethics.
8. TRUE or FALSE? A weakness of an absolutist, deontological ethical system is that it does not allow for possible exceptions to a general moral rule.
9. TRUE or FALSE? The term ‘moral relativism’ refers to the idea that there are no universal or absolute moral principles.
10. TRUE or FALSE? Divine Command Ethics (based on a sacred text like the Bible or the Qur’an) is an example of an absolutist, deontological ethical system.
11. TRUE or FALSE? A possible strength of an absolutist ethical system is that it allows different societies to share common goals.
12. TRUE or FALSE? Situation Ethics is an example of a relativistic ethical theory.
13. TRUE or FALSE? A possible weakness of moral relativism is that it assumes that the morality of one society is no better or worse than any other. This makes criticism of what one society gets up to by another more difficult e.g. we would not be in a position to condemn the Japanese for eating whale meat, or the practice of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) by some cultures around the world.
14. TRUE or FALSE? A strength of relativism is that it encourages tolerance and respect for other people’s societies and the ethical basis for those societies.
15. TRUE or FALSE? Normative ethics is a word used to describe the attempt to devise theories that tells us how we ought to live. Utilitarianism and Kantian ethics are examples of normative theories.
16. TRUE or FALSE? Meta-Ethics is an example of a normative ethical theory.
17. Which of the following statements about Meta-Ethical perspectives is false?
a. A Cognitivist is someone who believes that ethical statements may be either true or false.
b. A moral realist is someone who believes that morality is something that is dependent on human beings and a matter of opinion.
c. A non-cognitivist is someone who believes that ethical statements are incapable of being shown to be true or false.
d. An anti-realist is someone who believes that moral facts do not exist.
18. Which of the following statements is false?
a. A.J. Ayer was a non-cognitivist who argued that moral statements are neither self-evidently true nor capable of verification. They are therefore meaningless. He is the author of Boo-Hurrah theory, which maintains that such statements are mere expressions of emotion. Those who take contrary positions on an ethical issue are therefore like cats hissing at each other.
b. CL Stevenson argued that ethical language is also designed to persuade others to agree with the speaker, while Hare thought that such language is prescriptive: it proffers advice in the form of ‘ought’ and ‘should’ statements.
c. RM Hare combined his meta-ethical perspective with normative theorising. He suggested that whenever we have a moral decision to make we should put ourselves in the position of those affected by it. If it is something that we would still prescribe from their point of view then it is an action that we should perform.
d. GE Moore was a non-cognitivist who argued that words like ‘good’ are indefinable but that right moral actions can be intuited.
e. An ethical naturalist is someone who believes that there are ethical facts to be known about the natural world and especially the human beings and societies that are part of that world. Ethical naturalists hold a cognitivist and realist position on ethical statements and maintain that they can be objectively true or false.
19. TRUE or FALSE? Ayer was the philosopher who first drew attention to what is known as the naturalistic fallacy, namely, that one cannot argue from an ‘Is’ to an ‘Ought’, from the facts that are relevant to a moral issue to a moral judgement about that issue. E.g. from the mere fact that people commit adultery one cannot go on to claim purely on the basis of such behaviour that adultery is wrong.
20. Which of the following statements about various meta-ethical theories about the nature of moral language is false?
a. Ayer’s emotivism entails that one can still condemn the very worst moral atrocities (e.g. genocide) even if this is only a matter of consensus e.g. that most people consider what the Nazis did to be wrong.
b. Moore’s theory is questionable as it has been demonstrated that people’s moral intuitions are culturally variable e.g. in response to the famous Trolley Car dilemma, people from the Far East have been shown to be reluctant to intervene in any way.
c. The naturalistic fallacy spells trouble for normative theories e.g. from the fact that most people seek pleasurable experiences one cannot go on to argue that morality ought to be based on pleasure, or from the fact that people can be rational one cannot go on to maintain that rationality should be the foundation for a sound ethical theory.
d. Hare’s prescriptivism does not take account of fanatical prescriptions e.g. an Islamic terrorist adopting Hare’s system could not be shown to be morally inconsistent if they came out with a statement like ‘All infidels should either convert to Islam or be killed and please kill me if I ever renounce my faith.’
ANSWERS
- d
- c
- a – Classical Utilitarianism (the form of the theory as developed by Bentham and Mill) is hedonistic. But Preference Utilitarianism is not (though the satisfaction of preferences may give rise to feelings of pleasure).
- b – Kantian Ethics and Divine Command Ethics are examples of absolutist systems.
- b – Note that Situation Ethics is meant to be a teleological theory based on decisions that produce the most loving consequences for those affected by them. However, Fletcher insists that love is ‘objectively valid’ in his book Situation Ethics: the New Morality. This is worth remembering as it implies that SE is not 100% teleological (as Barclay seems to want to suggest). According to the terminology of Meta-Ethics, an objective theory would also be realist in nature and any ethical assertions that arise from the theory (e.g. ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery’ in the case of Divine Command Ethics) can be described as cognitivist.
- True – Utilitarianism, Situation Ethics and Virtue Ethics are teleological in character. Even Strong Rule Utilitarianism is: you stick to the rules once you have made them because doing so produces the greatest happiness for the greatest number.
- False
- True – though note that for supporters of exceptionless, absolutist deontological systems this lack of flexibility is regarded as a strength as it ensures moral consistency e.g. think of Kant’s insistence that we must always tell the truth because to lie would be to deviate from the Moral Law that is inherently rational. However, critics of deontological theories would draw attention to their inflexible character e.g. like Joseph Fletcher when he condemns legalistic thinking within the Christian Church, and points out that telling the truth in the case of Kant’s would-be killer might lead to someone being charged as an accessory to murder. So technically, the correct answer to this question is ‘neither true nor false.’
- True – so moral decisions have to be made ‘relative to’ the situation, as in Situation Ethics which includes relativism as one of Fletcher’s four presumptions.
- True
- True – for example, a lot of people (especially Christians, Jews and Muslims but also atheists) would support the ideas about preserving life, sociability and the educational nurturing of children that underpin Natural Moral Law.
- True – but don’t forget Fletcher’s insistence that only love (agape) is ‘objectively valid’. So it is a sort of guiding beacon that can be used to navigate the way to the right moral decision, and some might go so far as to say that it introduces a deontological element into his system.
- True
- True
- True
- False – Meta-Ethics is concerned with the nature and purpose of ethical language. However, Hare’s prescriptivism is also normative in character as it includes suggestions as to how correct moral decisions can be made on a non-cognitivist basis.
- b – A moral realist is someone who believes that there are moral facts to be known (cognized) in the same way that there are facts about reality that can be known e.g. that the earth goes around the sun.
- d – Moore was a cognitivist, specifically an ethical non-naturalist.
- False – it was David Hume.
- a – Ayer’s emotivism does not seem to permit anyone to take the moral high ground in order to say that what anyone else gets up to is morally wrong e.g. the Nazis. It would appear to lead directly to ethical relativism.