PRINCIPLES OF ETHICS FINAL
EXAM ETHICS 445 COMPLETE
WITH ANSWERS
What are the five traits of moral principles?
Prescriptivity: Moral principles are intended to guide human behavior.
Universalizability: Moral principles can be applied to all similar people in
similar situations.
Overridingness: Moral principles take precedence over other kinds of
principles.
Publicity: Moral principles must be made public.
Practicability: Moral principles must not be unduly burdensome such that
they become too difficult to put into practice.
5 Traits most central to personhood (Mary Anne Warren):
Consciousness and the capacity to feel pain
Reasoning
Self-motivated activity
The capacity to communicate
Self-awareness
Therefore, fetuses do not have a "right to life" in the sense that persons have
this right. critique of why abortion is morally justified
Definition of personhood logically implies that newborns, severely
handicapped humans, and incapacitated adults do not qualify as "persons"
possessing a right to life.
,Wouldn't it be morally repugnant for us to condone killing infants and other
former persons? If so, why should it be less repugnant to end fetal life?
Critique of the agrument for personhood
When does one become a "person?" Conception seems an arbitrary point.
Zygotes can split into twins or even triplets. At this early stage all we have
are undifferentiated cells which have the potential of becoming embryos. Is a
zygote really a "person?"
The argument for potentiality
Why is it wrong to kill a person?
Killing robs you of all those activities, projects, experiences, and enjoyments
of your future.
Fetuses, irrespective of whether they are "persons," also have a set of future
experiences, projects, and activities that they are robbed of when they are
aborted.
Therefore, if it is wrong to kill a human person because of what it deprives
that person of, it is also prima facie wrong to abort a fetus to the degree that
it robs the fetus of the same thing.
the critique of the argument for potentiality
There is a difference between having a trait (i.e. the capacity to have a
meaningful future) and merely having the potential to develop a trait. An 18
year old has the right to vote, for example, but a pre-adolescent does not
have this right, though she does have the potential to reach the age of 18.
The implications are counterintuitive. If the potentiality of a zygote gives it
the right to life, then eggs and sperm also have a "right to life," as does
, every cell in the human body that could be manipulated to produce a human
clone.
Global poverty and first world responsibility
Suffering and death from a lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad.
If it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without
sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so.
By donating to aid agencies, you can prevent suffering from lack of food,
shelter, and medical care, without sacrificing anything nearly as important.
Therefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something
wrong.
parochialism
Individuals tend to give more to those in their own community, less so for
foreigners.
The greater moral evil principle
If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without
thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought,
morally, to do it. (Peter Singer)
Entitlement and moral duty
Singer is right, but only in part (John Arthur)
EXAM ETHICS 445 COMPLETE
WITH ANSWERS
What are the five traits of moral principles?
Prescriptivity: Moral principles are intended to guide human behavior.
Universalizability: Moral principles can be applied to all similar people in
similar situations.
Overridingness: Moral principles take precedence over other kinds of
principles.
Publicity: Moral principles must be made public.
Practicability: Moral principles must not be unduly burdensome such that
they become too difficult to put into practice.
5 Traits most central to personhood (Mary Anne Warren):
Consciousness and the capacity to feel pain
Reasoning
Self-motivated activity
The capacity to communicate
Self-awareness
Therefore, fetuses do not have a "right to life" in the sense that persons have
this right. critique of why abortion is morally justified
Definition of personhood logically implies that newborns, severely
handicapped humans, and incapacitated adults do not qualify as "persons"
possessing a right to life.
,Wouldn't it be morally repugnant for us to condone killing infants and other
former persons? If so, why should it be less repugnant to end fetal life?
Critique of the agrument for personhood
When does one become a "person?" Conception seems an arbitrary point.
Zygotes can split into twins or even triplets. At this early stage all we have
are undifferentiated cells which have the potential of becoming embryos. Is a
zygote really a "person?"
The argument for potentiality
Why is it wrong to kill a person?
Killing robs you of all those activities, projects, experiences, and enjoyments
of your future.
Fetuses, irrespective of whether they are "persons," also have a set of future
experiences, projects, and activities that they are robbed of when they are
aborted.
Therefore, if it is wrong to kill a human person because of what it deprives
that person of, it is also prima facie wrong to abort a fetus to the degree that
it robs the fetus of the same thing.
the critique of the argument for potentiality
There is a difference between having a trait (i.e. the capacity to have a
meaningful future) and merely having the potential to develop a trait. An 18
year old has the right to vote, for example, but a pre-adolescent does not
have this right, though she does have the potential to reach the age of 18.
The implications are counterintuitive. If the potentiality of a zygote gives it
the right to life, then eggs and sperm also have a "right to life," as does
, every cell in the human body that could be manipulated to produce a human
clone.
Global poverty and first world responsibility
Suffering and death from a lack of food, shelter, and medical care are bad.
If it is in your power to prevent something bad from happening, without
sacrificing anything nearly as important, it is wrong not to do so.
By donating to aid agencies, you can prevent suffering from lack of food,
shelter, and medical care, without sacrificing anything nearly as important.
Therefore, if you do not donate to aid agencies, you are doing something
wrong.
parochialism
Individuals tend to give more to those in their own community, less so for
foreigners.
The greater moral evil principle
If it is in our power to prevent something bad from happening, without
thereby sacrificing anything of comparable moral importance, we ought,
morally, to do it. (Peter Singer)
Entitlement and moral duty
Singer is right, but only in part (John Arthur)
