Bioethics Midterm Exam UPDATED
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
What is bioethics? - CORRECT ANSWER A discussion about ethical standards in medicinal
practices that takes place in the media, in the academy, in classrooms, and in labs, offices, and hospital
wards. It involves not just doctors, but patients, not just scientists and politicians but the general
public. Traditional ethical standards have been articulated, reflected on, challenged, and sometimes
revised; standards for new issues have been created - and then challenged and revised. The
conversation is often sparked by new developments, like the possibility of cloning. It also raises new
questions about old issues, like the use of placebos and the treatment of pain.
What are the sources of bioethical problems? How do these lead to problems? Be able to give/identify
examples. - CORRECT ANSWER Much of bioethics is due to the unrelenting pace of
technological advance. New technologies expand beyond problems they were created for. Another
cause of bioethical problems is deciding what we owe to one another regarding privacy, honesty.
There is an increasing demand for patients' rights to information and healthcare and growing distrust
for professional privilege, consumerism and sexism, and big farm. Companies.
Be able to identify/distinguish between ethical and non-ethical questions. - CORRECT ANSWER
Should
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, what is consequentialism? - CORRECT ANSWER
The class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the
ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.
What is the greatest happiness principle? Be able to apply it to the resolve of cases. - CORRECT
ANSWER The ethical principle that an action is right in so far as it promotes the greatest
happiness of the greatest number of those affected.
What are the benefits/advantages of utilitarianism as a moral theory? What are the main objections to
utilitarianism? - CORRECT ANSWER Utilitarianism is good because it focuses on benefitting
the most amount of people and it is impartial and creates a sense of equality. Some objections: 1.
Happiness is the greatest good. (Critics say it leaves out other goods like health, friendship, creativity,
intellectual attainment, etc.) 2. Requires us to calculate the probable consequences of every action,
which is impossible. 3. For nonconsequentialists it is significant whether an outcome was done, or
done by me. (killing/letting die) 4. Sometimes goes against our basic moral intuitions (killing one for
the sake of others)
, Usually when we talk about utilitarianism, we are referring to act-utilitarianism. What is the
difference between act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism? How does rule-utilitarianism resolve
(some of) the major problems with act-utilitarianism? - CORRECT ANSWER Action is right
as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a
particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance."
Be able to distinguish Kant's deontological theory from other theories of ethics. - CORRECT
ANSWER The normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the
action's adherence to a rule or rules. It is sometimes described as "duty" or "obligation" or "rule"-
based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty."
What sets human beings apart from other animals, according to Kant? Why is this important for
understanding Kant's moral theory? - CORRECT ANSWER Humans are rational beings and
therefore have special moral standing because of their ability to act on the basis of reason and to
conform their behavior to the moral law.
How do we make decisions about whether an action is consistent with duty and, therefore, morally
permissible? What role does the categorical imperative play in this process? - CORRECT ANSWER
"Can I, as a rational agent, consistently will that everyone in a similar situation should act this
way?"
What is the difference between the universalization test (Formula of Universal Law) and the respect
for persons test (Formula of Humanity)? Can you think of any cases where an action would be
permissible according to one, but not the other? - CORRECT ANSWER The first formulation
(Formula of Universal Law) of the moral imperative "requires that the maxims be chosen as though
they should hold as universal laws of nature" . This formulation in principle has as its supreme law the
creed "Always act according to that maxim whose universality as a law you can at the same time will"
and is the "only condition under which a will can never come into conflict with itself [....]"
The second formulation (or Formula of the End in Itself) holds that "the rational being, as by its
nature an end and thus as an end in itself, must serve in every maxim as the condition restricting all
merely relative and arbitrary ends". The principle dictates that you "[a]ct with reference to every
rational being (whether yourself or another) so that it is an end in itself in your maxim", meaning that
the rational being is "the basis of all maxims of action" and "must be treated never as a mere means
but as the supreme limiting condition in the use of all means, i.e., as an end at the same time"
What is autonomy, according to Kant? How does this differ from standard views of autonomy in the
bioethical literature? - CORRECT ANSWER The idea of freedom as autonomy thus goes
beyond the merely 'negative' sense of being free from influences on our conduct originating outside of
QUESTIONS AND CORRECT ANSWERS
What is bioethics? - CORRECT ANSWER A discussion about ethical standards in medicinal
practices that takes place in the media, in the academy, in classrooms, and in labs, offices, and hospital
wards. It involves not just doctors, but patients, not just scientists and politicians but the general
public. Traditional ethical standards have been articulated, reflected on, challenged, and sometimes
revised; standards for new issues have been created - and then challenged and revised. The
conversation is often sparked by new developments, like the possibility of cloning. It also raises new
questions about old issues, like the use of placebos and the treatment of pain.
What are the sources of bioethical problems? How do these lead to problems? Be able to give/identify
examples. - CORRECT ANSWER Much of bioethics is due to the unrelenting pace of
technological advance. New technologies expand beyond problems they were created for. Another
cause of bioethical problems is deciding what we owe to one another regarding privacy, honesty.
There is an increasing demand for patients' rights to information and healthcare and growing distrust
for professional privilege, consumerism and sexism, and big farm. Companies.
Be able to identify/distinguish between ethical and non-ethical questions. - CORRECT ANSWER
Should
Utilitarianism is a consequentialist theory, what is consequentialism? - CORRECT ANSWER
The class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the
ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness or wrongness of that conduct.
What is the greatest happiness principle? Be able to apply it to the resolve of cases. - CORRECT
ANSWER The ethical principle that an action is right in so far as it promotes the greatest
happiness of the greatest number of those affected.
What are the benefits/advantages of utilitarianism as a moral theory? What are the main objections to
utilitarianism? - CORRECT ANSWER Utilitarianism is good because it focuses on benefitting
the most amount of people and it is impartial and creates a sense of equality. Some objections: 1.
Happiness is the greatest good. (Critics say it leaves out other goods like health, friendship, creativity,
intellectual attainment, etc.) 2. Requires us to calculate the probable consequences of every action,
which is impossible. 3. For nonconsequentialists it is significant whether an outcome was done, or
done by me. (killing/letting die) 4. Sometimes goes against our basic moral intuitions (killing one for
the sake of others)
, Usually when we talk about utilitarianism, we are referring to act-utilitarianism. What is the
difference between act-utilitarianism and rule-utilitarianism? How does rule-utilitarianism resolve
(some of) the major problems with act-utilitarianism? - CORRECT ANSWER Action is right
as it conforms to a rule that leads to the greatest good, or that "the rightness or wrongness of a
particular action is a function of the correctness of the rule of which it is an instance."
Be able to distinguish Kant's deontological theory from other theories of ethics. - CORRECT
ANSWER The normative ethical position that judges the morality of an action based on the
action's adherence to a rule or rules. It is sometimes described as "duty" or "obligation" or "rule"-
based ethics, because rules "bind you to your duty."
What sets human beings apart from other animals, according to Kant? Why is this important for
understanding Kant's moral theory? - CORRECT ANSWER Humans are rational beings and
therefore have special moral standing because of their ability to act on the basis of reason and to
conform their behavior to the moral law.
How do we make decisions about whether an action is consistent with duty and, therefore, morally
permissible? What role does the categorical imperative play in this process? - CORRECT ANSWER
"Can I, as a rational agent, consistently will that everyone in a similar situation should act this
way?"
What is the difference between the universalization test (Formula of Universal Law) and the respect
for persons test (Formula of Humanity)? Can you think of any cases where an action would be
permissible according to one, but not the other? - CORRECT ANSWER The first formulation
(Formula of Universal Law) of the moral imperative "requires that the maxims be chosen as though
they should hold as universal laws of nature" . This formulation in principle has as its supreme law the
creed "Always act according to that maxim whose universality as a law you can at the same time will"
and is the "only condition under which a will can never come into conflict with itself [....]"
The second formulation (or Formula of the End in Itself) holds that "the rational being, as by its
nature an end and thus as an end in itself, must serve in every maxim as the condition restricting all
merely relative and arbitrary ends". The principle dictates that you "[a]ct with reference to every
rational being (whether yourself or another) so that it is an end in itself in your maxim", meaning that
the rational being is "the basis of all maxims of action" and "must be treated never as a mere means
but as the supreme limiting condition in the use of all means, i.e., as an end at the same time"
What is autonomy, according to Kant? How does this differ from standard views of autonomy in the
bioethical literature? - CORRECT ANSWER The idea of freedom as autonomy thus goes
beyond the merely 'negative' sense of being free from influences on our conduct originating outside of
