Contemporary Moral Issues
Exam Questions
Course Introduction
This course examines significant moral issues facing contemporary society, analyzing them through the lens of ethical theories and philosophical reasoning. Topics may include abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, environmental ethics, economic justice, animal rights, and issues of race, gender, and sexuality. Students will engage with diverse perspectives, develop critical thinking skills, and learn to articulate and defend their own positions on complex ethical dilemmas. The course encourages respectful dialogue, thoughtful reflection, and the application of ethical principles to real-world challenges.
Recommended Textbook
The Big Questions A Short Introduction to Philosophy 9th Edition by Robert C. Solomon
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11 Chapters
693 Verified Questions
693 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Philosophical Questions
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42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) About five hundred years ago,Copernicus was one of the first people to question the belief that
A) the sun moved around the earth.
B) the earth moved around the sun.
C) humans evolved through biological evolution.
D) the world was created by God.
Answer: A
Q2) Scientists tell us that we are right when we believe that ordinary material objects,like chairs,are solid objects.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The point about imagining whether we'd step into the "happiness box" is to show that we might be dreaming even if think we are awake.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 3
Chapter 2: The Meaning of Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) If life is art,then
A) a personal God probably does not exist.
B) life cannot be serious or consequential,since art is not serious or consequential.
C) it must have a tragic plot.
D) it can be evaluated as a work of art,as moving,inspiring,well designed,etc.
Answer: D
Q2) Someone who devotes her life to rock climbing,probably has a vision of life centered on
A) desire.
B) adventure.
C) the absurd.
D) nirvana.
Answer: B
Q3) If life is a game,then like a game its significance is located entirely in the end or goal,which is winning.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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4
Chapter 3: God
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70 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Hegel,absolute Spirit acts through human beings but is also not different from human beings.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) If we understand religions in terms of their traditions,differences between religions appear to disappear and it seems more and more true that "all religions are the same."
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Hegel paints a dynamic and complex picture of God,in which we humans are essentially
A) the messengers of God,like angels.
B) the primary expressions of spirit,which acts through us and even uses us for its own purposes.
C) caught between equally strong forces of good and evil.
D) saved by an absolutely transcendent God.
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: The Nature of Reality
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Sample Questions
Q1) Charles Hartshorne responds to the idea that God is absolutely perfect,and therefore unchangeable,by saying that
A) it is largely correct.
B) it is largely consistent with the Bible.
C) perfection as ordinarily understood excludes change.
D) perfection as ordinarily understood does not exclude change.
Q2) In a teleological view of the world,the world
A) is a vast network of efficient causes.
B) is a monad.
C) is like a giant machine.
D) has a telos or goal,and is continually developing toward it.
Q3) Berkeley's statement "esse est percipi" implies a form of subjective idealism.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe the metaphysical views of Descartes,Spinoza and Leibniz.
Focus especially on the nature and quantity of substance,and the issue of how substances interact.
What common threads do you find in their perspectives?
How do they disagree with one another?
Which viewpoint seems strongest to you,and why?
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Chapter 5: The Search for Truth
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Sample Questions
Q1) If Foucault is correct,then any form of knowledge is biased because it represents the interests of those in power.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In Quine's view,knowledge is holistic,and not a collection of piecemeal observations.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is skepticism?
What sorts of things are skeptics skeptical about?
How does skepticism emerge from the philosophies of Descartes and Hume? What is "the two world assumption," and how is skepticism linked to this hypothesis? How does Kant attempt to overcome skepticism? Is he successful?
Q4) Scientists appeal not only to observed facts but also to
A) the two world hypothesis.
B) hypotheses and theories.
C) matters of fact.
D) truths of reason.
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Chapter 6: Self
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Sample Questions
Q1) The notion that our true self-identity is a universal self-identity,called "Spirit," is a conclusion arrived at by
A) Dewey.
B) Hume.
C) Sartre.
D) Hegel.
Q2) What is Adam Smith's "invisible hand"?
Q3) What is solipsism?
Q4) Modern capitalism assumes
A) the social good requires that we focus on others' needs,not our own.
B) the social good will best be served by everyone pursuing his or her own interests.
C) a social self.
D) an essential self.
Q5) John Stuart Mill's argument from analogy begins by assuming that other person's have minds,like yours.
A)True
B)False
Q6) What does Sartre mean by transcendence?
Q7) What does identity theory say mental states are?
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Chapter 7: Freedom
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Sample Questions
Q1) According to Sartre,there are extreme circumstances,such as war,where your freedom is eliminated or totally absent.
A)True
B)False
Q2) David Hume accepted the basic rule of determinism,the principle of universal causation,but argued that our belief in it was a matter of custom.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What is freedom?
Why is it important?
Is it an absolute or conditional value?
In what sense is freedom necessary (or not necessary)for a good life?
Your essay should clarify the meaning of freedom,distinguishing among the following kinds of freedom (intrinsic,extrinsic,positive,negative,rational,emotional,capricious)while clarifying what circumstances these forms of freedom are desirable or undesirable.
Q4) To have chosen A means that one could have chosen B.
A)True
B)False
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9
Chapter 8: Morality and the Good Life
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Sample Questions
Q1) In considering the morality of a lie,for Jeremy Bentham the key question would not be "What would be the actual consequences of my lying in this situation?" but rather "What if everyone were to lie?"
A)True
B)False
Q2) Morality is primarily an aid in getting us what we want as individuals.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The dominant tradition in Western philosophy has tended to assign a privileged role to a detached version of reason,denigrating the body and emotion,while overlooking how this point of view is itself patriarchal and culturally biased.
Western feminist philosophers have offered broad critiques of this tradition and its patriarchal (or masculinist)assumptions.
Write an essay detailing this perspective,focusing first on the feminist critique of patriarchal assumptions about sex and gender.
Then look at how feminists challenge cultural assumptions about three of the following issues:nature; the body and reason; gender,moral reasoning and emotion; science,and language.
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Chapter 9: Justice and the Good Society
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the state of nature?
Q2) As best we know,human beings at one time lived exclusively as solitary individuals.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In courts of law,the blindfolded figure of justice signifies that
A) justice is imperfect.
B) justice "sees" with the mind,not the eyes.
C) justice is blind to irrelevant differences,such as rank and privilege.
D) justice is blind to all differences.
Q4) Feminist philosophers argue that the distinction between nature and culture has often been used as a means by which women are deprived of power.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The concept of equality of respect is the presumption that
A) all people should have the same opportunities.
B) all animals deserve equal respect.
C) everyone deserves the same treatment.
D) everyone we meet is a human being,with feelings and thoughts,and so worthy of respect.
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Chapter 10: Non-Western Philosophy
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Sample Questions
Q1) In Mahayana Buddhism,a Bodhisattva
A) achieves enlightenment and then passes into nirvana.
B) achieves enlightenment,and renounces nirvana,choosing to remain in the world,and help others extinguish suffering.
C) leaves behind this world for the next world.
D) is unconcerned with fellow beings.
Q2) Confucius' view of interpersonal relationships can best be described as
A) egalitarian.
B) egalitarian,but with the focus on merit.
C) hierarchical.
D) hierarchical,but with a focus on reciprocity and empathy.
Q3) The belief that created beings flow forth from God's activity as pure thinking is attributed to A) Zoroaster.
B) al-Kindi.
C) al-Farabi.
D) Ibn-Sina.
Q4) In Daoism,how is water a symbol for the Tao?
Q5) Describe the Persian philosopher/theologian Mulla Sadra's understanding of God's relationship to the world.
Page 12
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Chapter 11: Beauty
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Sample Questions
Q1) Freud argued that laughter expresses A) a sense of one's superiority.
B) involuntary neurological reactions.
C) the release of suppressed Thoughts or desires in a slightly revised or displaced form.
D) a perception of the incongruity in situations.
Q2) Nietzsche argues that great art exclusively manifests a Dionysian openness to chaos.
A)True
B)False
Q3) If you looked at The Matrix as a work of art,you'd be interested in A) how the film provokes our emotions and makes us think,through its plot,visuals,etc.
B) how the film entertains us.
C) how well the movie did in the box office.
D) whether it was made in an ethical way.
Q4) Both Plato and Aristotle understood beauty as an objective and not subjective reality.
A)True
B)False
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