Reference no: EM13905216

Question 1. The idea that the assisted suicide of terminally ill patients should be always prohibited reflects what type of ethics?

Aristotle's Doctrine of the Mean

Kant's Categorical Imperative in the 1st Formulation)

Hobbes' concept of the State of Nature

Thomas Aquinas' concept of Natural Law

Bentham's principle of pleasure and pain

Question 2. What is the moral ideal of justice?

Acts of mercy beyond what is required

Making decisions in order to build friendships

Meeting legal requirements

Evaluation of situations according to their merits

Meeting the terms of the Social Contract

Question 3. One of the common errors in Ethics is that of the double standard. Double standard consists of what?

Discriminating in the application of ethical criteria based on our own preferences

Setting aside ethical criteria in special cases

Taking steps to avoid condemnation of others

Using one set of criteria for judging cases concerning ourselves and another for all others

Suspending judgment when concerned that the consequences would be too severe

Question 4. Prescriptive language used in ethical discussions is characterized by which of the following words?

Cannot be

Could be

Used to be

Should be

Must be

Question 5. Ethical Egoism proposes that all decisions should be made to promote what?

Our fiduciary responsibilities

The good will of others

Our self-interests

The welfare of the community

Stronger relationships

Question 6. Free people are motivated toward forming social structures according to a social contract in order to overcome what problem identified by Thomas Hobbes?

The need to overcome disagreements

A perpetual state of warfare

The establishment of a monarchy

Taxation to support the costs of government

Organized ways to select leaders

Question 7. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created through a congressional enabling act as a governmental agency to act on the concerns voiced by environmental ethicists. Their actions include all of the following except for which one?

Subpoena regulation offenders

Monitor situations of environmental concern

Fine offenders

Sponsor new legislation on environmental issues

Confiscate property of offenders

Question 8. Kant said that the only thing "good without qualification" is what?

The best interests of all concerned

Acts of mercy

The amount of happiness produced

Personal virtues

A good will

Question 9. Which ethical concept is organized and directed toward following the greatest happiness principle?

Natural ethics and law

Justice and mercy

Rights and responsibilities

Virtue-ethics of excellence

Principle of utility

Question 10. What is the purpose of proving whether a syllogism of formal logic is "valid"?

To identify the connecting phrase "therefore" or a synonym of it before proceeding further

To determine whether the situation described is accurate

To determine whether the premises are true before continuing

To determine whether the conclusion proceeds from the premises

To determine that there are only two premise statements in the syllogism

Question 11. Different from normal problem solving, dilemmas are different in what aspect?

Problems are much more complicated

When one choice is chosen, the opportunity for the others is lost

Problems are much more urgent

Problems are so much more real and less theoretical

Problems usually involve not honoring our own virtues

Question 12. What is the role of conscience as Thomas Aquinas sees it?

To teach ethical principles

To disclose and build religious faith

To enable rational thought about consequences

To align personal ethics with those of others

To guide actions through a view of right and wrong

Question 13. The single criterion for making decisions in objectivist ethics is what?

Professional development

Personal self-interest

The physical environment

Financial gain

The close group of family and friends who will be impacted

Question 14. The Social Contract theorist whose troubled childhood was most clearly reflected in his theories was who?

Thomas Aquinas

Thomas Jefferson

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Thomas Hobbes

John Locke

Question 15. "Act only according to that maxim..." begins what famous formulation of deontological ethics?

The Nicomachean Ethics

The Social Contract

The Principle of Utility

The Hypocratic Oath

The Categorical Imperative

Question 16. Aristotle taught the value of developing personal habits through what method?

Aspiring to greatness through leadership

Repetitive patterns of excellent behaviors

A moderate realism in living

Participation in the politics of one's city

Studying the teaching of master teachers

Question 17. Professional codes of conduct serve what function for business and industry?

Allow businesses to avoid training professional staffers

Enable transfer of valued employees across state lines

Enable contracting of temporary employees

Specify continuing education needs and requirements

Providing assurance of the professional qualifications of members

Question 18. Aristotle's Ethical Doctrine of the Mean measured personal virtues on a scale that included the virtue itself, the excess of it, and the deficiency of it. If the virtue is COURAGE and the deficiency is COWARDICE, what is the excess?

Wisdom

Moderation

There is no excess

Recklessness

Love

Question 19. The Ethical Resolution Models practiced during Week 6 provide people in conflict with greater opportunity to consider the consequences of their actions. What type of ethics is this?

Deontological

Care-based

Social Contract

Aristotelian

Utilitarian

Question 20. The Latin term a priori describes the origin of knowledge developed rationally, and the term a posteriori describes knowledge developed through observation and experience. What is an example of ethics is best described as discovered in an a priori manner?

Utilitarian ethics

Objectivist ethics

Deontological ethics

Political ethics

Scientific ethics

Part B-

Question 1. You developed and placed into the threaded discussions your personalized ethics statement of what has become important to you in the practice of ethics as you have practiced ethics during the course. Your first task in this question is to briefly present that personalized statement in just a few sentences before continuing with the question. Much of the rest of the exam will involve your working with that personalized statement through brief applications and cases.

Use your ethical philosophy to solve the following ethical situation. Explain how your philosophy helped you make your decision.

Given the continuing threat that nuclear weapons pose for humanity and the global environment, is it ever ethically acceptable for scientists to engage in research and development work on such weapons?

Discuss the conditions, if any, under which it would be acceptable.

Explain and defend your position, and then explain how your ethical philosophy helped you or affected how you answered this question.

Question 2. Analyze the following ethical situation using YOUR ethical philosophy. Read the situation and then in your answer, explain why this is an ethical situation, what the "issues" are, and how an "ethical" person would resolve them. Explain how YOUR ethical philosophy has helped you read a conclusion about how to resolve or analyze this situation.

Employees' worth to their employers may diminish before they are eligible for retirement. In such cases, the employer is faced with the dilemma of choosing between retaining an old and trusted yet unproductive worker for 5 or 10 more years, or firing that worker and jeopardizing his or her retirement benefits.

1. Should an employer have an ethical obligation to keep such unproductive, but loyal employees? What if the employee had been a problem his or her entire career? Are there certain circumstances where your answer to these questions would be different?

2. What is the duty of an unproductive employee to his or her employer? Is there an ethical obligation to retire when productivity begins to wane? If a person is simply "coasting" for his or her last few years, is that person "unethical?" Be sure to explain your answer.

Question 3. How do you feel John Stuart Mill would have solved the above ethical situation differently or the same as you did using your philosophy? Please explain the reasons for the similarities or differences.

Question 4. John and Marsha are both married to other people and the parents of several children, and they are having an adulterous affair. One night, when they are meeting secretly, they witness a murder. They agree that they cannot risk reporting it without exposing their affair. The next day the body is found and within a week a suspect is apprehended and charged with first-degree murder. When John and Marsha see his picture in the newspaper, they realize that he is not the murderer. They meet again, discuss their dilemma, and decide that despite the new, dreadful development, they will not step forward as witnesses.

Tell what ethical philosophy the John and Marsha are using, if any.

Now, use your ethical philosophy statement to analyze the situation. Explain how, using your philosophy, you would have solved this situation either the same way as the characters in the situation did, or differently.

The question surrounds the issue of coming clean about the murderer, not whether you would have engaged in the affair or not. (Thus, you cannot say, "I would never have the affair" as your solution. Pretend you are an advisor to the two of them-not that you are the two of them. What would YOU tell them to do at this point?) Why?

Question 5. You are a new employee in a company which creates computer chips for cellular telephones. Your previous employer created similar chips for PDA's, and 4 weeks after you are hired you are approached by your new boss in a confidential, private meeting. She explains to you that you were hired because of your work on the PDA chips. She wants to know how much of the technology you are aware of from the prior employer which you could apply to your new project on the phone chip.

As a matter of fact, the technology is very similar, and you know that you could quickly and easily apply what you know from the previous project to this one. However, you feel uneasy about giving out that information from your past job. For one thing, you're pretty sure it was secret information, although you don't know for sure. However, your last job ended badly as they laid off 20% of the workforce without warning (including you), simply because the owner of the company decided to downsize sell off part of the company to pay for his daughter's $200,000 wedding.

Your boss watches you as you are thinking through your decision and says, "You know. If this project goes through successfully, a large raise and promotion will be coming your way." Will you tell your new employer the technology secret? Why or why not? Explain what ethical analysis you used to come to this conclusion.

Question 6. Analyze your answer above using the Front Page of the Newspaper ethical dilemma resolution model. Show your steps.