Quiz 9

Kant, Grounding for Metaphysics of Morals 

Mill, "Understanding and Defending Utilitarianism"

1. The Utilitarian attempts to handle the sense of absoluteness in morality
(e.g. that it is just wrong to lie) by:
a. observing that if a lie is told to you, you would be made unhappy by it.
b. appealing to the greater overall happiness that normally follows from telling lies.
c. claiming that this sense is an illusion as frequent exceptions to these absolutes
indicate.
d. showing that greater unhappiness is always caused by lying than by truth-telling.

2. Which of the following do not hint at a formulation of the Categorical Imperative:
a. act to enhance the good of all.
b. universalize the intention under which you act.
c. act in accord with a community of rational legislators.
d. do not treat others as a mere means.

3. An act is right according to Utilitarianism when:
a. it maximizes the overall happiness.
b. it can universalize the actor's intentions.
c. it accords with a just moral rule.
d. most people benefit from it.

4. One major objection to utilitarianism is that:
a. it allows injustices to individuals for the sake of gains in overall utility.
b. it treats happiness as an ultimate objective of all or almost all human actions
and projects.
c. it does not count individuals' happiness equally.
d. it seeks to make moral questions into questions answerable by an objective
analysis.

5. For Kant, to be genuinely morally motivated is:
a. to act in conformity with duty.
b. to act for the sake of duty.
c. to act out of concern for oneself and others.
d. to act out of a desire to do good.

6. Kant's derivation of the Categorical Imperative depends crucially on the
idea that the moral law must supply:
a. an empirical test.
b. a formal test.
c. principles that harmonize with human nature.
d. commands of God.

7. Which of the following is not an advantage of Utilitarianism:
a. the right act is susceptible to empirical calculation.
b. each creature that is capable of happiness or pleasure desires it.
c. it implies a defense of natural rights.
d. each creature's pleasure or happiness is counted impartially.

8. For Kant, inclination cannot be a moral motive because it:
a. is not universalizable.
b. is not in the agent's control.
c. does not affect consequences.
d. does not affect intentions.

9. Mill replies to the objection that utilitarian calculations are not feasible by:
a. dismissing the objection as irrelevant.
b. accepting the objection but thinking it unimportant.
c. rejecting it as ignoring the history of human learning about what promotes happiness
or not.
d. rejecting it as ignoring the ease with which humans can engage in elaborate calculations.

10. For Kant, what matters for the goodness of the good will is:
a. whether it accomplishes its goal.
b. whether it fails to accomplish its goal.
c. whether what it wills maximizes overall happiness.
d. internal to the good will itself.

11. In Utilitarianism, the principle that each is to count as one and only one cannot be equated with "one man one vote" because:
a. utilitarian calculations do not require voting.
b. the intensity, not just the numbers, count for overall happiness.
c. the utility gained from bad acts is not counted.
d. utilitarians reject equality as a value.

12. The point of Mill's famous remark "better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied" is that:
a. other features of humans besides pleasure make their lives more valuable than pigs.
b. some kinds of pleasure are more valuable and desirable than others.
c. the pleasure experienced by humans is to be counted more than the pleasure experienced
by animals.
d. in the utilitarian calculation we can discount the pleasures of lower animals.

13. One problem with Mill's proof of the principle of utility—from each desiring their
own happiness to the desirability of the happiness of all—is that:
a. not everyone desires their own happiness.
b. the inference from something being heard or seen to its being audible or visible is
questionable.
c. desirability must imply worthy of desire, not merely capable of being desired.
d. many acts that are impermissible are ones which increase the overall happiness of all
concerned.
 
14. Failing Kant's test of the Categorical Imperative reveals itself in:
a. a decrease in the overall welfare.
b. a decrease in the overall welfare, if acted upon.
c. an invalid argument.
d. an inconsistency.

15. Kant's claim about a maxim permitting indifference to the welfare of others is that:
a. it would greatly diminish overall utility.
b. it would greatly diminish happiness.
c. it could not be in harmony with a universal law of nature.
d. it could not be willed to be a universal law of nature.
 
16. The Categorical Imperative is most similar to which of the following:
a. the Bill of Rights.
b. the Declaration of Independence.
c. the Golden Rule.
d. the Ten Commandments.

17. A person who does the morally right action, but for the motive of self-interest would be, for Kant:
a. acting in accordance with duty but not out of duty.
b. acting out of duty but not in accordance with duty.
c. acting both in accordance with and out of duty.
d. acting neither in accordance with nor out of duty.
 

[Answers: 1. B   2. A   3. A   4. A   5. B   6. B   7. C   8. B   9. C   10. D   11. B   12. B   13. C   14. D   15. D   16. C   17. A]

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