- What point was Nozick trying to make with the experience machine thought experiment? Briefly explain how he supported that point..
a. Novick believes we care about what kind of people we are and what we are doing actively in the world, not just our experiences. He supports this by saying that most people wouldn’t go into the machine and this shows that people don’t believe that pleasure is the sole intrinsic good.
- How does Ross test whether something is intrinsically good?
a. Ross tests whether something is intrinsically good by putting them in two states of the universe s1 and s2 that are exactly alike except s1 has more of something than s2. By this he says s1 is better than s2, so whichever is the thing that s1 has more of is intrinsically good.
- What is the core difference between, on the one hand, Objective List Theories of well-being and, on the other hand, Hedonistic Theories and Desire-Fulfillment Theories? (This terminology is from Parfit.)
a. Objective list theory suggests that certain things are good and bad for us, whether or not we want to have the good thing or to avoid the bad things.
b. Hedonistic Theories: What is best for someone is what would make them happy (psychologically).
c. Desire-Fulfillment Theory: What is best for someone is what, throughout their life, would best fulfill their desires, either in general or of a certain sort.
- What puzzle about killing and letting die is presented by the Frank and George Trolley Problems?
a. In Franks trolley problem, he must decide as a passenger whether to turn the cart killing 1 person or not turn the cart killing 5 people.
b. In Georges trolley problem he is standing over the tracks and see there are 5 people who are about to get hit by the cart, he can either let them get hit or push a heavy man onto the tracks that would save the 5 people but kill the man.
c. In this situation frank is letting the one person die, but George would be killing the fat man.
- According to Thomson, why doesn’t the right to bodily autonomy make it wrong for Frank to pull the lever?
a. The right to bodily autonomy doesn’t make it wrong for frank to pull the lever because the action doesn’t directly affect their body, it only initiates a sequence of events that will impact that person.
- Explain the core set-up of the “Survival Lottery” that Harris has us imagine.
a. Y needs a new heart and Z needs new lungs, and since organ transplant procedures have been perfected Y and z would prefer someone with healthy organs to be killed and to take there heart and lungs for themselves. They propose that everyone be given a lottery number and whenever there are 2 or more patients dying and there are no suitable organs on hand a computer will pick a number of a suitable donor at random and that number will be killed for his organs.
- Callahan offers a couple of examples of rights society has refused to let individuals waive. Describe one.
a. Dueling was outlawed because two consenting adults shouldn’t have the right to kill one another.
- Why does Callahan say the moral reasons for allowing euthanasia are slippery?
a. Callahan thinks the slippery slope gets started when euthanasia is allowed because it makes medicine about serving peoples personal conceptions of the good life instead of objective health
- How does Lachs respond to Callahan’s view that medicine should be about protecting health rather than serving people’s personal conceptions of the good life?
a. Lach says medicine is already about serving peoples personal conceptions of the good life, such as cosmetic surgeries, so patients who want euthanasia must assess their life plans and whether they can realistically fulfill them, and physicians need to judge if they agree
How does Norcross use the fictitious example of Fred to argue against factory farming?
a. Norcross uses Freds story to explain that if its is wrong to torture puppies for gustatory pleasure then it is wrong to support factory farming because both involve pain just for the pleasure of people.
- What is the “rationality gambit” defense of factory farming mentioned by Norcross?
a. The rationality gambit suggests that our reluctance to treat puppies like livestock stems from sentimental attachments rather than real moral difference. As human are said to engage in moral reasoning which gives them this special status.
How and why does Anderson think reciprocity plays a role in what we owe animals?
a. Reciprocity brings animals into human society and makes it appropriate to take their interests into account. For example you can train a dog and make it responsive to your preferences this asses a mutual accommodation between the dog and owners interest, which isn’t present with other animals.
