Test 2

Question 1

What does Marx mean when he says that “human beings enter into definite relations that are indispensable and independent of their will”?

Answer 1

We must work to live

Question 2

According to Marx, what is the “real foundation of society”?

Answer 2

Economics

Question 3

According to Marx, what is the purpose of the superstructure?

Answer 3

That which justifies and supports the economic structure

Question 4

Does Marx believe people can think for themselves independently of their economic class?

Answer 4

No, our economic interests control every thought we have

Question 5

What is morality for Marx?

Answer 5

An instrument used by the dominant class to suppress the working class

Question 6

Marx thought that all systems of thought, including moral reasoning, are produced for the benefit of whom?

Answer 6

The dominant class

Question 7

What did Marx think of moral philosophers such as Kant and Mill?

Answer 7

They do not realize they are pawns being used by the capitalists.

Question 8

What is our only means of experiencing anything beyond our own mind?

Answer 8

Our 5 senses

Question 9

How do we know that organized sensations, that is, ideas, represent anything as it truly is?

Answer 9

We cannot

Question 10

What is the definition of a skeptic?

Answer 10

One who believes that true knowledge is not possible

Question 11

Was Hume a skeptic?

Answer 11

Yes

Question 12

Before Hume, philosophers thought of causality as what?

Answer 12

A necessary condition existing between a cause and its effect

Question 13

Hume says that what we consider to be causality is in reality what?

Answer 13

A mental habit

Question 14

What is the origin of morality for Hume?

Answer 14

Feelings and passions

Question 15

According to Hume - each moral event is a combination of which two things?

Answer 15

An external event and a feeling of approval or disapproval toward it

Question 16

According to Hume - how is morality just a form of psychological conditioning?

Answer 16

We call something moral or immoral if the action is consistently joined with our feelings of approval or disapproval

Question 17

What is the definition of the term subjective?

Answer 17

Reality is as it is perceived

Question 18

Was Hume’s morality subjective? Why or why not?

Answer 18

Yes - morality is based on feelings

Question 19

What are the two reasons that we all tend to approve and disapprove of the same kinds of actions?

Answer 19

Social Utility

Sympathy

Question 20

Explain Hume’s concept of social utility

Answer 20

Whatever is useful or good to society is good, and vice versa

Question 21

Explain Hume’s concept of sympathy pleasure and sympathy pain

Answer 21

We are not entirely self-interested; some of us care genuinely about humanity

Question 22

What did Kant call things in and of themselves?

Answer 22

Noumena

Question 23

Why is it we cannot know things in and of themselves?

Answer 23

All we know are sensations

Question 24

What dose the term a priori mean?

Answer 24

That which is necessary for experience to be possible

Question 25

What are the three organizing, a priori categories of the mind?

Answer 25

Space, time, and causality

Question 26

What can we know even with certainty?

Answer 26

Phenomena - our own ideas

Question 27

What does Kant call the knowing, experiencing subject?

Answer 27

The transcendental ego

Question 28

What must all things be joined with in order to be good under all circumstances?

Answer 28

Good will - it is the only thing good in and of itself

Question 29

Is good will good because of the results it achieves? Explain your answer.

Answer 29

No, the motive is what matters

Question 30

What are the two attributes of duty?

Answer 30

Right in and of itself | Derives moral worth from general law (the two imperatives)

Question 31

What is Kant's categorical imperative?

Answer 31

To act as though your action is a model for everyone

Question 32

Where does the categorical imperative come from?

Answer 32

A priori structure of the will

Question 33

Is it possible to take actions that could be universalized across time and cultures?

Answer 33

Yes, if we give other people the same infinite worth we give ourselves

Question 34

What is the practical imperative?

Answer 34

To treat humanity as an end, not a mean

Question 35

The moral will, the rational will, decides its own law with no other end than to express its own nature: that is, to follow the categorical and practical imperatives? What does Kant mean by this?

Answer 35

In considering an action, the two imperatives in your will are the best advice you can have.

Question 36

Under what conditions is our will free?

Answer 36

By following the two imperatives

Question 37

From whom did Bentham get the idea of social utility?

Answer 37

David Hume

Question 38

Define Utilitarianism

Answer 38

Greatest good for the greatest number

Question 39

For the utilitarians, what determines whether an action is or is not moral?

Answer 39

The consequence

Question 40

For the utilitarians, what is irrelevant in determining whether an action is or is not moral?

Answer 40

Motives

Question 41

What is moral action for Kant?

Answer 41

Action taken because of duty

Question 42

What is irrelevant for Kant in determining the morality of actions?

Answer 42

Consequences

Question 43

Who was the founder of utilitarianism?

Answer 43

Jeremy Bentham

Question 44

Define individual psychological hedonism

Answer 44

The constant evaluation by each person of the pleasure/pain ratio of courses of action for themselves

Question 45

For Bentham, is individual psychological hedonism a moral activity? For Mill?

Answer 45

No - it's simply an observation of how we act

Question 46

Define universal ethical hedonism

Answer 46

Greatest good for the greatest number

Question 47

Is universal, ethical hedonism a moral activity for Bentham and Mill?

Answer 47

Yes

Question 48

What does the term hedonism mean?

Answer 48

Doctrine that happiness or pleasure is the sole or chief good in life

Question 49

Did Bentham think there are qualitative differences between various pleasures and pains?

Answer 49

No, all pleasures and paints are essentially the same

Question 50

For Bentham, pleasure and pain can be measured based on which 4 variables?

Answer 50

Duration Intensity Likelihood Fruitfulness

Question 51

For Bentham, are all pleasures and pain are essentially the same or are some intrinsically different than others?

Answer 51

All pleasures and pains are essentially the same

Question 52

Give an example of hedonic calculus

Answer 52

..

Question 53

For what purpose did Bentham intend for universal ethical hedonism to be used?

Answer 53

To guide public policy

Question 54

What was utilitarianism for John Stuart Mill?

Answer 54

An ethical philosophy that should be used as a standard for individual morality

Question 55

For Mill, is the difference between all pleasures and pains quantitative? Explain

Answer 55

No, there are also qualitative differences

Question 56

What are external sanctions?

Answer 56

Something that compels moral action

Question 57

What compels us to have internal sanctions?

Answer 57

Sympathy for others

Question 58

Why are both external and internal sanctions effective in leading us to comply with the greatest good principle?

Answer 58

Doing so maximizes our own pleasure and minimizes our own pain

Question 59

Do internal sanctions have a higher moral value than external sanctions? Explain

Answer 59

No, consequences are all that matter