PHM Exam UPDATED ACTUAL
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Be able to explain and identify examples of metaphysical sexual pessimism - CORRECT
ANSWER • Freud, St. Augstine, kant believe acting on sexual impulse is unbefitting of
dignity for human being. Sexual drive not incompatible with logn term aspirations and goals.
Too powerful and demanding. Sexuality is a threat to other relationships. Object of
appetite/degradation. Deception through concealment of actual looks, personality or beliefs.
Loss of control during -ex: objectifying someone. Make instrument of oneself when giving
into desire(animal). Depend on another person for satisfaction (returned desires) easily
manipulated or exploited. -only morally permissible if in monogamous heterosexual
marriage. (Object of appetite/degradation. Deception through concealment of actual looks,
personality or beliefs. Loss of control during sex. -only morally permissible if in
monogamous heterosexual marriage for biological reasons. (Catholics=only procreation).
Be able to explain and identify examples of metaphysical sexual optimism. - CORRECT
ANSWER • Ellis, Russell, Freud normal dimension of person with animal like
creatures (like eating). Evolution wise, must be helpful to our survival. Good since it brings
us high/exhilarating happiness. -ex: not objectifying, natural bonding. Pleasing the self and
another=deepen relationships, more satisfying and substantial. Sexual pleasure should be
promoted and cherished, intrinsic value. Part of good and virtuous life.
Be able to explain what Soble means nonmorally good sex and nonmorally bad sex. -
CORRECT ANSWER • nonmorally good: sexual pleasure to all involved,
physically/emotionally satisfying. Good if provides what it is expected of us to provide:
mostly pleasure. Married partner committing adultery finds it exciting. Finds pleasure so is
nonmorally good, though morally suspicious/bad.
• nonmorally bad: unexciting, tedious, unpleasant, unenjoyable. Virgins for the first time not
being good at sex, poor outcome.
Be able to explain and recognize examples of what Soble calls dangerous sex. - CORRECT
ANSWER • Physically or psychologically harmful, risky or dangerous. - Ex: anal sex=
damage tissues or transmit pathogens (hetero vaginal too). unwanted pregnancy, feeling of
regret, anger or guilt. Damage the body (sadomachosim). Politicians and trysts.
Be able to distinguish between the natural law view of sex (Aquinas) from the psychological
view (Nagel). For each of these views, you should be able to give concrete examples of
, sexual acts that would be considered perverse and explain why these acts are perverse
according to these accounts. - CORRECT ANSWER • Aquinas: Aquinas concludes that
what is natural in human sexuality is the impulse to engage in heterosexual sex. Heterosexual
sex is the mechanism designed by the Christian God to insure the preservation of animal
species, including humans, and hence engaging in this activity is the primary natural
expression of human sexual nature. Sexual intercourse with lower animals (bestiality), sexual
activity with members of one's own sex (homosexuality), and masturbation, for Aquinas, are
unnatural sexual acts and are immoral exactly for that reason.
• Nagel: argues that to discover what is distinctive about the natural human sexuality, and
hence derivatively what is unnatural or perverted, we should focus, instead, on what humans
and lower animals do not have in common. Thus Nagel argues that sexual perversion in
humans should be understood as a psychological phenomenon rather than, as in Aquinas's
treatment, in anatomical and physiological terms. Perverted sexual encounters or events
would be those in which this mutual recognition of arousal is absent, and in which a person
remains fully a subject of the sexual experience or fully an object.
Be able to describe the relationship between the natural and the moral (Aquinas). -
CORRECT ANSWER • On the one hand, Aquinas follows Aristotle in thinking that an
act is good or bad depending on whether it contributes to or deters us from our proper human
end. On the one hand, Aquinas follows Aristotle in thinking that an act is good or bad
depending on whether it contributes to or deters us from our proper human end.
• On Aquinas's view, a law is "a rule or measure of human acts, whereby a person is induced
to act or is restrained from acting". Natural law is but an extension of the eternal law. For by
it God ordains us to final happiness by implanting in us both a general knowledge of and
inclination for goodness. Note here that the natural law is not an external source of authority.
Nor is it a general deontic norm from which more specific precepts are inferred.
Be able to explain Gudorf's view of the relationship between sex and pleasure. - CORRECT
ANSWER • Gudorf claims that the female's clitoris is an organ whose only purpose is
the production of sexual pleasure and, unlike the mixed or dual functionality of the penis, has
no connection with procreation. Gudorf concludes that the existence of the clitoris in the
female body suggests that God intended that the purpose of sexual activity was as much for
sexual pleasure for its own sake as it was for procreation. Therefore, according to Gudorf,
pleasurable sexual activity apart from procreation does not violate God's design, is not
unnatural, and hence is not necessarily morally wrong, as long as it occurs in the context of a
monogamous marriage.
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
Be able to explain and identify examples of metaphysical sexual pessimism - CORRECT
ANSWER • Freud, St. Augstine, kant believe acting on sexual impulse is unbefitting of
dignity for human being. Sexual drive not incompatible with logn term aspirations and goals.
Too powerful and demanding. Sexuality is a threat to other relationships. Object of
appetite/degradation. Deception through concealment of actual looks, personality or beliefs.
Loss of control during -ex: objectifying someone. Make instrument of oneself when giving
into desire(animal). Depend on another person for satisfaction (returned desires) easily
manipulated or exploited. -only morally permissible if in monogamous heterosexual
marriage. (Object of appetite/degradation. Deception through concealment of actual looks,
personality or beliefs. Loss of control during sex. -only morally permissible if in
monogamous heterosexual marriage for biological reasons. (Catholics=only procreation).
Be able to explain and identify examples of metaphysical sexual optimism. - CORRECT
ANSWER • Ellis, Russell, Freud normal dimension of person with animal like
creatures (like eating). Evolution wise, must be helpful to our survival. Good since it brings
us high/exhilarating happiness. -ex: not objectifying, natural bonding. Pleasing the self and
another=deepen relationships, more satisfying and substantial. Sexual pleasure should be
promoted and cherished, intrinsic value. Part of good and virtuous life.
Be able to explain what Soble means nonmorally good sex and nonmorally bad sex. -
CORRECT ANSWER • nonmorally good: sexual pleasure to all involved,
physically/emotionally satisfying. Good if provides what it is expected of us to provide:
mostly pleasure. Married partner committing adultery finds it exciting. Finds pleasure so is
nonmorally good, though morally suspicious/bad.
• nonmorally bad: unexciting, tedious, unpleasant, unenjoyable. Virgins for the first time not
being good at sex, poor outcome.
Be able to explain and recognize examples of what Soble calls dangerous sex. - CORRECT
ANSWER • Physically or psychologically harmful, risky or dangerous. - Ex: anal sex=
damage tissues or transmit pathogens (hetero vaginal too). unwanted pregnancy, feeling of
regret, anger or guilt. Damage the body (sadomachosim). Politicians and trysts.
Be able to distinguish between the natural law view of sex (Aquinas) from the psychological
view (Nagel). For each of these views, you should be able to give concrete examples of
, sexual acts that would be considered perverse and explain why these acts are perverse
according to these accounts. - CORRECT ANSWER • Aquinas: Aquinas concludes that
what is natural in human sexuality is the impulse to engage in heterosexual sex. Heterosexual
sex is the mechanism designed by the Christian God to insure the preservation of animal
species, including humans, and hence engaging in this activity is the primary natural
expression of human sexual nature. Sexual intercourse with lower animals (bestiality), sexual
activity with members of one's own sex (homosexuality), and masturbation, for Aquinas, are
unnatural sexual acts and are immoral exactly for that reason.
• Nagel: argues that to discover what is distinctive about the natural human sexuality, and
hence derivatively what is unnatural or perverted, we should focus, instead, on what humans
and lower animals do not have in common. Thus Nagel argues that sexual perversion in
humans should be understood as a psychological phenomenon rather than, as in Aquinas's
treatment, in anatomical and physiological terms. Perverted sexual encounters or events
would be those in which this mutual recognition of arousal is absent, and in which a person
remains fully a subject of the sexual experience or fully an object.
Be able to describe the relationship between the natural and the moral (Aquinas). -
CORRECT ANSWER • On the one hand, Aquinas follows Aristotle in thinking that an
act is good or bad depending on whether it contributes to or deters us from our proper human
end. On the one hand, Aquinas follows Aristotle in thinking that an act is good or bad
depending on whether it contributes to or deters us from our proper human end.
• On Aquinas's view, a law is "a rule or measure of human acts, whereby a person is induced
to act or is restrained from acting". Natural law is but an extension of the eternal law. For by
it God ordains us to final happiness by implanting in us both a general knowledge of and
inclination for goodness. Note here that the natural law is not an external source of authority.
Nor is it a general deontic norm from which more specific precepts are inferred.
Be able to explain Gudorf's view of the relationship between sex and pleasure. - CORRECT
ANSWER • Gudorf claims that the female's clitoris is an organ whose only purpose is
the production of sexual pleasure and, unlike the mixed or dual functionality of the penis, has
no connection with procreation. Gudorf concludes that the existence of the clitoris in the
female body suggests that God intended that the purpose of sexual activity was as much for
sexual pleasure for its own sake as it was for procreation. Therefore, according to Gudorf,
pleasurable sexual activity apart from procreation does not violate God's design, is not
unnatural, and hence is not necessarily morally wrong, as long as it occurs in the context of a
monogamous marriage.
