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| 1 | |
Gilbert Harman, who argues that moral relativism is correct, explicitly claims that his own view of morality is in some way analogous with the views found in |
| | A) | Einstein's theory of Relativity. |
| | B) | the reports of modern social scientists who study beliefs and practices in a wide variety of different societies. |
| | C) | everyday life--outside the Ivory Tower. |
| | D) | writings that have long been suppressed in the West by religious authorities. |
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| 2 | |
Pojman, who argues that relativism is not correct, suggests that there is an incompatibility in believing in relativism while also believing that |
| | A) | abortion is always wrong (except to save the life of the woman). |
| | B) | killing is always wrong (except in self-defense). |
| | C) | everyone, everywhere, has the same moral ideas. |
| | D) | in moral matters, a person has the right to follow his or her own conscience. |
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| 3 | |
C. Stephen Layman, who believes that morality needs religion, contends that |
| | A) | the existence of God and the idea of life after death are importantly related. |
| | B) | history demonstrates the moral superiority of a social group that believes in God. |
| | C) | moral value is an emergent phenomenon--i.e., it is a feature of certain effects although it is not a feature of their causes. |
| | D) | moral value is brought into being by God's commandments. |
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| 4 | |
John Arthur, who does not believe that morality needs religion, states that, at least at first glance, |
| | A) | religion and morality appear to be concerned with the same things--especially with the question of how to live a good life. |
| | B) | religion and morality appear to be concerned with different things; religion has primarily to do with beliefs about the supernatural and morality has to do with our attitudes toward behavior. |
| | C) | religion and morality seem to approach the same thing from opposite sides; that is, religion tells us what we have to do in order to be saved and morality tells us what we should not do. |
| | D) | religion is logically connected to morality; given a certain religion, a certain morality logically follows. |
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| 5 | |
According to Don Marquis, who believes that abortion is immoral, how does the standard antiabortion argument proceed? |
| | A) | A fetus is not a rational agent and so must have its life protected and its interests served by the woman who is carrying the fetus; thus, abortion is morally akin to murder. |
| | B) | God is the only one with the authority to give or take life; thus, abortion by human choice is morally akin to murder. |
| | C) | A fetus possesses life from the moment of conception; thus, abortion is morally akin to murder. |
| | D) | Most abortions are not done because the woman was raped or because her life is in danger; thus, abortion is morally akin to murder. |
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| 6 | |
Jane English, who does not believe that abortion is immoral, holds that, with respect to abortion, |
| | A) | the conservative view is basically right and the liberal view is wrong. |
| | B) | the liberal view is basically right and the conservative view is wrong. |
| | C) | both sides have got hold of part of the truth. |
| | D) | both sides are clearly mistaken. |
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| 7 | |
Vincent C. Punzo, who believes that sex must involve commitment, states that a man and woman who engage in sexual intercourse |
| | A) | commit a sin, unless they have been married before a church official and/or a secular official. |
| | B) | are fully justified in what they do as long as they are completely honest with each other. |
| | C) | must realize that the purpose of sexual intercourse is reproduction. |
| | D) | bring themselves together in as intimate and total a physical union as is possible. |
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| 8 | |
Alan H. Goldman, who does not believe that sex must involve commitment, starts with the idea that sexual desire |
| | A) | cannot be detached from its cultural embeddedness and considered simply on its own. |
| | B) | is the desire for contact with another person's body and for the pleasure that such contact produces. |
| | C) | is always connected to something else, such as reproduction, the expression of love, or simply communication. |
| | D) | must be definable in terms of specific acts like kissing, embracing, and so on. |
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| 9 | |
Jeff Jordan, who believes that it is right to prohibit same-sex marriage, claims that “a diminishing of freedom” would be the result of discrimination against homosexuals for: |
| | A) | acts done in private. |
| | B) | acts done in public. |
| | C) | raising families. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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| 10 | |
David Boonin, who does not believe that it is right to prohibit same-sex marriage, reasons that Jordan’s logic renders Jordan unable to account for the fact that it was morally right for the state to: |
| | A) | provide Social Security. |
| | B) | allow free speech. |
| | C) | discontinue the draft. |
| | D) | abolish slavery. |
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| 11 | |
Michael J. Sandel, who believes that human cloning should be banned, perceives a moral problem with reproductive cloning that lies not in its asexual character, but in its assault on the understanding of children as gifts rather than: |
| | A) | vehicles for our happiness. |
| | B) | possessions. |
| | C) | projects of our will. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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| 12 | |
John A. Robertson, who does not believe that human cloning should be banned, suggests that: |
| | A) | there is no reason to think that the ability to clone humans will cause many people to turn to cloning. |
| | B) | once it is possible to clone human beings, there will naturally be great demand for this service. |
| | C) | there is no need for a ban on human cloning because, realistically speaking, cloning human beings (as opposed to animals) will never actually be possible. |
| | D) | the underlying factor in debates about human cloning is, simply put, that whoever is first to develop a reliable process for cloning human beings will enjoy rich financial rewards. |
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| 13 | |
Autumn Fiester, who argues that cloning pets is indeed ethically justified, believes that one of the good things about cloning pets is that |
| | A) | it can give grieving pet owners a resurrected version of a pet that has died. |
| | B) | expending the kind of time, money and effort that cloning a pet involves will encourage a wider perception of animals as having value and importance. |
| | C) | pets that have especially good features (such as intelligence, fondness for children, a healthy constitution, etc.) can be cloned so that future pets will be even more appealing to pet owners. |
| | D) | the process of breeding can now be significantly speeded up: we can have hunting dogs, show dogs, etc. in a matter of years instead of in a matter of generations. |
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| 14 | |
Hilary Bok, who argues that cloning pets is wrong, claims that one of the things that is definitely wrong with cloning these animals is the |
| | A) | large amount of money that is involved. |
| | B) | presumption that one can "play God" with living creatures. |
| | C) | pretense that this will not lead to cloning human beings. |
| | D) | suffering that is involved. |
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| 15 | |
Burrows, who supports a market in human organs, reports that countries such as Spain, Austria, and Belgium obtain twice as many organ donations as elsewhere since adopting the doctrine of: |
| | A) | financial remuneration. |
| | B) | religious sensibility. |
| | C) | ethical coercion. |
| | D) | presumed consent. |
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| 16 | |
James Childress, who argues against a market in human organs, states that such a market would: |
| | A) | violate religious principles. |
| | B) | commodify the human body. |
| | C) | be highly vulnerable to organized crime. |
| | D) | be likely to produce a great number of low-quality organs. |
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| 17 | |
According to Cussen and Block, who believe that drugs should be legalized, if drugs were in fact legalized, the first and most important societal benefit we would realize would be: |
| | A) | enforceable gun laws. |
| | B) | fewer drug addicts. |
| | C) | reductions in crime. |
| | D) | more affordable drugs. |
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| 18 | |
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which does not believe that drugs should be legalized, reports that, among the indicators of U.S. success so far in the fight against drugs is the fact that: |
| | A) | 95 percent of Americans do not use illegal drugs. |
| | B) | cocaine use has dropped by almost 30 percent over the past 20 years. |
| | C) | overall drug use is down by more than two-thirds since 1980. |
| | D) | all of the above. |
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| 19 | |
Lisa Newton, who takes the position that gambling is immoral, argues that gambling is wrong primarily because |
| | A) | of its effect on the gambler himself or herself. |
| | B) | of its negative effects on family members and relatives of the gambler. |
| | C) | it violates the duty of stewardship. |
| | D) | the intention of the gambler--like that of the thief--is to get something for nothing. |
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| 20 | |
Peter Collins, who argues that gambling is not immoral, maintains that gambling is |
| | A) | "morally trivial." |
| | B) | in fact, actually good for one's moral character--especially gambling for high stakes, as this helps to instill positive resolve and commitment in situations where the outcome is outside of one's control but may be either highly favorable or highly unfavorable. |
| | C) | the victim of ancient Greek philosophical ideas that no longer apply in today's world. |
| | D) | in some ways similar to gift-giving, since in true gift-giving one must be willing to relinquish the gift and at the same time have no expectation of a "return gift." |
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| 21 | |
According to Albert G. Mosley, who believes affirmative action is fair, backward-looking arguments in support of affirmative action would classify it as |
| | A) | restitution, part of corrective justice. |
| | B) | punishment, part of historical justice. |
| | C) | fairness, part of distributive justice. |
| | D) | obligation, part of legal justice. |
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| 22 | |
According to Louis P. Pojman, who does not believe affirmative action is fair, one of the problems with Strong Affirmative Action is that it seems to embrace |
| | A) | the illusion that the past is not really past. |
| | B) | political correctness. |
| | C) | the idea that the devil is in the details. |
| | D) | the thesis that two wrongs make a right. |
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| 23 | |
Vernick, Hodge, and Webster, who support the idea of more restrictive licensing for handguns, present their examination of the U.S. versus Canadian approach to handgun regulation through the three major themes of: |
| | A) | autonomy, prevention of harms, and social justice. |
| | B) | preservation, presumption, and protection. |
| | C) | historical patterns, current observations, and future expectations. |
| | D) | civil rights, civil wrongs, and civil order. |
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| 24 | |
Daniel D. Polsby, who argues against the idea of more restrictive licensing for handguns, denies that guns increase national rates of crime and violence, and he asserts that: |
| | A) | these rates are firmly rooted in American freedoms—including the right to bear arms. |
| | B) | the proliferation of gun-control laws almost certainly increases these rates. |
| | C) | the continued availability of guns to law-abiding citizens has actually held these rates in check. |
| | D) | this is a myth propagated by Hollywood, the liberal press, and the anti-gun lobby in Washington. |
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| 25 | |
Michael Welch, who argues that the death penalty should be abolished, claims that the death penalty actually promotes murder because some killers |
| | A) | see it as a challenge. |
| | B) | shoot at the police when they are being arrested; since they are facing the death penalty anyway, they have nothing to lose. |
| | C) | don't identify with the criminal, but rather with the executioner. |
| | D) | will continue to kill until the death penalty stops them. |
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| 26 | |
According to Ernest van den Haag, who argues that the death penalty should not be abolished, one of the main points in the debate over the death penalty is the question of whether or not |
| | A) | capital punishment is constitutional. |
| | B) | murderers can be rehabilitated. |
| | C) | the cost of imprisonment is greater than that of execution. |
| | D) | convicted killers are going to be set free to kill again. |
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| 27 | |
Bagaric and Clarke, who support the position that torture is sometimes justified, argue that: |
| | A) | torture can be a useful means of acquiring information in certain cases. |
| | B) | in torturing terrorists who themselves use torture; we are simply fighting fire with fire. |
| | C) | other nations recognize the use of torture, and if we do not do the same, then we will be at a disadvantage. |
| | D) | torture has a bad name today because it was used by religious fanatics in the past, but today it can be used for people who commit serious physical crimes—not "sins" or theological offenses. |
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| 28 | |
Christopher Tindale, who supports the view that torture is never justified, writes that, when we inflict torture, we know: |
| | A) | whatever the suspect says under torture can be trusted. |
| | B) | the subject has the information we need. |
| | C) | what thresholds of pain the victim can tolerate. |
| | D) | we are subjecting another human being to excruciating pain. |
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| 29 | |
Richard Doerflinger, who supports the idea that physician-assisted suicide is wrong, argues that |
| | A) | there is an important priority among the values of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"; life has the highest priority. |
| | B) | even if the law were to allow "physician-assisted suicide," such suicide is a clear violation of the doctor's Hippocratic Oath, and few if any physicians would actually participate in it. |
| | C) | the moral case against physician-assisted suicide is far clearer than the case against abortion, since (1) we clearly have a person, (2) the person is innocent, and (3) to kill this person would be murder. |
| | D) | suicide is wrong, and so physician-assisted suicide is wrong too. |
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| 30 | |
Watts and Howell, who argue that physician-assisted suicide is not wrong, claim that there are morally important differences between |
| | A) | attempted suicide and actual suicide. |
| | B) | plain suicide and physician-assisted suicide. |
| | C) | euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide. |
| | D) | euthanasia in the Netherlands and euthanasia in the U.S. |
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| 31 | |
Michael Allen Fox, who supports the idea that morality requires vegetarianism, makes the assertion that if you are concerned about making the world a better place in which to live, you must consider, among other things, the food you eat because: |
| | A) | the planet is only as healthy as you are. |
| | B) | the food cannot consider it for you. |
| | C) | you are what you eat, and you go from whence your food has come. |
| | D) | food does not come from nowhere. |
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| 32 | |
Holmes Rolston III, who denies that morality requires vegetarianism, argues that: |
| | A) | the human consumption of meat is part of human interaction with the natural (not just cultural) environment. |
| | B) | human beings must consume meat in order to thrive and live at their peak, and no morality can require them to reject that. |
| | C) | human teeth show that they have evolved in order for human beings to be able to eat meat. |
| | D) | human beings have the moral right to consume meat, as they are at the top of the food chain. |
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