Exam questions – Ethics in Life Sciences
1. Which of the following statements is/are correct?
I. Deontology sees autonomy as a basic prerequisite for moral responsibility.
II. Consequentialism values the outcomes actions have over the autonomy of
those taking the actions.
A. Statement I is correct
B. Statement II is correct
C. Both statements are correct
D. None of the statements are correct
2. Which of the following fits best with the instrumentalist view on science and
technology?
A. Technological development decides how we assess reality
B. Technological development improves human lives
C. Technology is not under human control
D. All answers are correct
3. Is the following statement true or false?
For Kant, human reason is more important in making ethical decisions than
emotion.
A. True
B. False
4. Which moral theory determines the rightness of actions in terms of their
intrinsic nature?
A. Deontology
B. Consequentialism
C. Care ethics
D. Virtue ethics
5. Which of the following statements is NOT consistent with the Safe-by-
Design approach?
A. Think ahead – it is better to prevent harm from taking place, than to make
amends afterwards.
B. Don’t think you know everything or that you can do everything by yourself.
C. Engage all actors in “the chain” and pertinent stakeholders surrounding the
chain, and display contextual awareness.
D. Only make design decisions of which you can will that they become universal
laws.
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, 6. What maxim can be formulated with regard to the action by the police
officer that is described below?
A patient carrying a lethal and highly communicable, airborne disease refuses to
stay within the hospital room in which she is supposed to remain quarantined, and
insists on taking the subway into town. A police officer manages to shoot her just
before leaving the hospital.
A. I should shoot a person in order to keep other people safe.
B. I should shoot this person in order to save all those innocent people from
death by unnecessary infection.
C. I should shoot a person in order to help another person.
D. None of the other answers are correct.
7. “The greatest good for the greatest number” is the central idea of the
utilitarian view. How do opponents criticize this idea?
A. On the basis of this idea, it depends on predictions of outcome what action
one should choose to do. But such prediction might always be wrong.
B. This idea can be used to justify gross inequality or even crime.
C. This idea presupposes that goods and harms are always measurable by the
same standard, but that does not seem to be the case.
D. All answers are correct.
8. What perspective on technology is implied in the following statement?
“Twenty years from now, robots will care for people instead of nurses. This will
lead to unemployment, but it is inevitable.”
A. Technological optimism
B. Non-determinism
C. Pragmatism
D. None of the other answers are correct
9. What philosopher holds the following view on technology?
“Technology is anything but neutral. It opens a specific window onto the world and
determines to a large extent how we observe and assess reality.”
A. Immanuel Kant
B. Jeremy Bentham
C. Aristotle
D. Martin Heidegger
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1. Which of the following statements is/are correct?
I. Deontology sees autonomy as a basic prerequisite for moral responsibility.
II. Consequentialism values the outcomes actions have over the autonomy of
those taking the actions.
A. Statement I is correct
B. Statement II is correct
C. Both statements are correct
D. None of the statements are correct
2. Which of the following fits best with the instrumentalist view on science and
technology?
A. Technological development decides how we assess reality
B. Technological development improves human lives
C. Technology is not under human control
D. All answers are correct
3. Is the following statement true or false?
For Kant, human reason is more important in making ethical decisions than
emotion.
A. True
B. False
4. Which moral theory determines the rightness of actions in terms of their
intrinsic nature?
A. Deontology
B. Consequentialism
C. Care ethics
D. Virtue ethics
5. Which of the following statements is NOT consistent with the Safe-by-
Design approach?
A. Think ahead – it is better to prevent harm from taking place, than to make
amends afterwards.
B. Don’t think you know everything or that you can do everything by yourself.
C. Engage all actors in “the chain” and pertinent stakeholders surrounding the
chain, and display contextual awareness.
D. Only make design decisions of which you can will that they become universal
laws.
1
, 6. What maxim can be formulated with regard to the action by the police
officer that is described below?
A patient carrying a lethal and highly communicable, airborne disease refuses to
stay within the hospital room in which she is supposed to remain quarantined, and
insists on taking the subway into town. A police officer manages to shoot her just
before leaving the hospital.
A. I should shoot a person in order to keep other people safe.
B. I should shoot this person in order to save all those innocent people from
death by unnecessary infection.
C. I should shoot a person in order to help another person.
D. None of the other answers are correct.
7. “The greatest good for the greatest number” is the central idea of the
utilitarian view. How do opponents criticize this idea?
A. On the basis of this idea, it depends on predictions of outcome what action
one should choose to do. But such prediction might always be wrong.
B. This idea can be used to justify gross inequality or even crime.
C. This idea presupposes that goods and harms are always measurable by the
same standard, but that does not seem to be the case.
D. All answers are correct.
8. What perspective on technology is implied in the following statement?
“Twenty years from now, robots will care for people instead of nurses. This will
lead to unemployment, but it is inevitable.”
A. Technological optimism
B. Non-determinism
C. Pragmatism
D. None of the other answers are correct
9. What philosopher holds the following view on technology?
“Technology is anything but neutral. It opens a specific window onto the world and
determines to a large extent how we observe and assess reality.”
A. Immanuel Kant
B. Jeremy Bentham
C. Aristotle
D. Martin Heidegger
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