DOING ETHICS and MORAL REASONING
MASTER EXAM 150 CASE VIGNETTES plus
FRAMEWORK RATIONALES [PASSED]
Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary
Issues Practice Exam
1. A city council must decide whether to build a new public
park or a highly efficient municipal water treatment
facility. The park will bring moderate, long-term
recreational joy to many families, while the water facility
will significantly reduce water-borne illnesses for the
entire population, including the most vulnerable.
According to the foundational principles of classical Act
Utilitarianism, as formulated by Jeremy Bentham and
John Stuart Mill, how should the council proceed?
• They should construct the park, because recreational
activities contribute to a higher, more sophisticated
quality of pleasure.
• They should build the water treatment facility,
because it produces the greatest net utility by
preventing widespread harm and securing
essential well-being for the largest number of
people.
• They should refuse to build either, because public
spending violates individual libertarian property rights by
forcefully redistributing taxpayer wealth.
• They should build the park, because it respects the
intrinsic, non-consequentialist value of nature and
community aesthetic spaces.
,• Rationale: Act Utilitarianism dictates that an action is
morally right if and only if it produces the greatest
balance of pleasure or happiness over pain or suffering
for the greatest number of people. Essential health and
disease prevention yield much greater utility metrics
than recreational joy. Correct Answer:
2. A brilliant biomedical scientist discovers a cure for a rare,
debilitating neurological disease, but realizing that the
manufacturing process is incredibly expensive, she
contemplates forging data to secure a massive federal
research grant. She argues that the minor deception is
morally justified because the grant money will directly
allow her to save thousands of human lives. If this scenario
is evaluated using Immanuel Kant’s first formulation of
the Categorical Imperative, what is the moral status of her
action?
• It is morally permissible, because the good consequences
of saving thousands of lives heavily outweigh the negative
impact of a localized lie.
• It is morally required, because a virtue ethicist would
prioritize compassion for sick individuals over a rigid
adherence to institutional rules.
• It is morally impermissible, because a maxim
allowing deception to secure funds cannot be
consistently universalized without logical
contradiction, as it would destroy the very system
of trust required for grants to exist.
• It is morally permissible, because the scientist is acting as
a moral hero who accepts personal guilt to advance the
collective evolutionary fitness of the species.
• Rationale: Kant's first formulation of the Categorical
Imperative (the Formula of Universal Law) requires that
, we act only on maxims that we can rationally will to
become universal laws. A maxim of lying to get money, if
universalized, leads to a logical contradiction because if
everyone lied to get money, promises and grant
applications would no longer be believed, making the lie
ineffective. Correct Answer:
3. A state legislature introduces a mandatory minimum
sentencing law that enforces long prison terms for minor,
non-violent property crimes to deter future offenders and
protect commercial business interests. A legal theorist
objects, arguing that using an individual criminal purely as
a terrifying public example to influence the behavior of
others violates their inherent moral dignity. Which ethical
framework directly supports the theorist’s objection?
• Preference Utilitarianism.
• Thomas Hobbes’s classic Social Contract Theory.
• Kant’s second formulation of the Categorical
Imperative (The Formula of Humanity).
• Friedrich Nietzsche’s Master-Slave morality dynamics.
• Rationale: Kant's second formulation states that we
must treat humanity, whether in our own person or in
that of any other, always as an end in itself and never
merely as a means to an end. Punishing someone severely
purely to deter others uses that person as a mere tool or
instrument for societal utility. Correct Answer:
4. In a small, tightly knit rural community, a local bakery
owner routinely gives away surplus bread to struggling
families at the end of the day. When asked about his
behavior, he explains that he does not do it out of a sense
of abstract logical duty, nor does he calculate the net
utility; rather, he does it because he wants to cultivate a
deep personal character marked by generosity, empathy,
, and community solidarity. Which ethical system is best
represented by the baker’s reasoning?
• Ethical Egoism.
• Divine Command Theory.
• Aristotelian Virtue Ethics.
• Cultural Relativism.
• Rationale: Aristotelian Virtue Ethics focuses on the
character of the moral agent rather than following
specific rule sets or maximizing consequences. The goal is
to cultivate moral virtues (like generosity) through
habituation to achieve eudaimonia (human flourishing).
Correct Answer:
5. A defense attorney knows with absolute certainty that her
client is guilty of a violent assault. However, she works
tirelessly within the boundaries of the law to secure an
acquittal, arguing that the justice system functions
properly only when every accused individual receives a
rigorous, zealous defense regardless of their personal
moral guilt. What type of moral theory or framework
justifies the attorney’s professional actions?
• Role-Differentiated Morality within a rule-
consequentialist or deontological institutional
framework.
• Naive Psychological Egoism.
• Direct Act Utilitarianism.
• Radically subjective Emotiviam.
• Rationale: Role-differentiated morality asserts that
certain professional positions or roles (like lawyers,
doctors, or soldiers) have unique moral obligations and
permissions that differ from standard, everyday
MASTER EXAM 150 CASE VIGNETTES plus
FRAMEWORK RATIONALES [PASSED]
Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary
Issues Practice Exam
1. A city council must decide whether to build a new public
park or a highly efficient municipal water treatment
facility. The park will bring moderate, long-term
recreational joy to many families, while the water facility
will significantly reduce water-borne illnesses for the
entire population, including the most vulnerable.
According to the foundational principles of classical Act
Utilitarianism, as formulated by Jeremy Bentham and
John Stuart Mill, how should the council proceed?
• They should construct the park, because recreational
activities contribute to a higher, more sophisticated
quality of pleasure.
• They should build the water treatment facility,
because it produces the greatest net utility by
preventing widespread harm and securing
essential well-being for the largest number of
people.
• They should refuse to build either, because public
spending violates individual libertarian property rights by
forcefully redistributing taxpayer wealth.
• They should build the park, because it respects the
intrinsic, non-consequentialist value of nature and
community aesthetic spaces.
,• Rationale: Act Utilitarianism dictates that an action is
morally right if and only if it produces the greatest
balance of pleasure or happiness over pain or suffering
for the greatest number of people. Essential health and
disease prevention yield much greater utility metrics
than recreational joy. Correct Answer:
2. A brilliant biomedical scientist discovers a cure for a rare,
debilitating neurological disease, but realizing that the
manufacturing process is incredibly expensive, she
contemplates forging data to secure a massive federal
research grant. She argues that the minor deception is
morally justified because the grant money will directly
allow her to save thousands of human lives. If this scenario
is evaluated using Immanuel Kant’s first formulation of
the Categorical Imperative, what is the moral status of her
action?
• It is morally permissible, because the good consequences
of saving thousands of lives heavily outweigh the negative
impact of a localized lie.
• It is morally required, because a virtue ethicist would
prioritize compassion for sick individuals over a rigid
adherence to institutional rules.
• It is morally impermissible, because a maxim
allowing deception to secure funds cannot be
consistently universalized without logical
contradiction, as it would destroy the very system
of trust required for grants to exist.
• It is morally permissible, because the scientist is acting as
a moral hero who accepts personal guilt to advance the
collective evolutionary fitness of the species.
• Rationale: Kant's first formulation of the Categorical
Imperative (the Formula of Universal Law) requires that
, we act only on maxims that we can rationally will to
become universal laws. A maxim of lying to get money, if
universalized, leads to a logical contradiction because if
everyone lied to get money, promises and grant
applications would no longer be believed, making the lie
ineffective. Correct Answer:
3. A state legislature introduces a mandatory minimum
sentencing law that enforces long prison terms for minor,
non-violent property crimes to deter future offenders and
protect commercial business interests. A legal theorist
objects, arguing that using an individual criminal purely as
a terrifying public example to influence the behavior of
others violates their inherent moral dignity. Which ethical
framework directly supports the theorist’s objection?
• Preference Utilitarianism.
• Thomas Hobbes’s classic Social Contract Theory.
• Kant’s second formulation of the Categorical
Imperative (The Formula of Humanity).
• Friedrich Nietzsche’s Master-Slave morality dynamics.
• Rationale: Kant's second formulation states that we
must treat humanity, whether in our own person or in
that of any other, always as an end in itself and never
merely as a means to an end. Punishing someone severely
purely to deter others uses that person as a mere tool or
instrument for societal utility. Correct Answer:
4. In a small, tightly knit rural community, a local bakery
owner routinely gives away surplus bread to struggling
families at the end of the day. When asked about his
behavior, he explains that he does not do it out of a sense
of abstract logical duty, nor does he calculate the net
utility; rather, he does it because he wants to cultivate a
deep personal character marked by generosity, empathy,
, and community solidarity. Which ethical system is best
represented by the baker’s reasoning?
• Ethical Egoism.
• Divine Command Theory.
• Aristotelian Virtue Ethics.
• Cultural Relativism.
• Rationale: Aristotelian Virtue Ethics focuses on the
character of the moral agent rather than following
specific rule sets or maximizing consequences. The goal is
to cultivate moral virtues (like generosity) through
habituation to achieve eudaimonia (human flourishing).
Correct Answer:
5. A defense attorney knows with absolute certainty that her
client is guilty of a violent assault. However, she works
tirelessly within the boundaries of the law to secure an
acquittal, arguing that the justice system functions
properly only when every accused individual receives a
rigorous, zealous defense regardless of their personal
moral guilt. What type of moral theory or framework
justifies the attorney’s professional actions?
• Role-Differentiated Morality within a rule-
consequentialist or deontological institutional
framework.
• Naive Psychological Egoism.
• Direct Act Utilitarianism.
• Radically subjective Emotiviam.
• Rationale: Role-differentiated morality asserts that
certain professional positions or roles (like lawyers,
doctors, or soldiers) have unique moral obligations and
permissions that differ from standard, everyday
