Study Questions for

Introduction to Ethics, Test 2

Instructor: Dr. M. Guarini

One of the following questions will be on your midterm examination.  The exam is closed book; no aids of any type are allowed.

(1) When Mackie denies that there is objectivity in morality, what is he denying?  What are Mackie’s arguments against the existence objectivity in morality?  Present his arguments in detail, and evaluate them.

(2) According to John Stuart Mill's theory of justice, what is the scope of justice?  How are issues of justice related to moral issues generally?  What differentiates issues of justice from other kinds of moral issues?  What are the different parts of justice?  Mill thinks that justice involves, among other things, pleasure and pain and the desire to repel an aggressor; he also thinks that animals experience pleasure and pain and desire to repel aggressors, so why is it that he thinks justice has to do with human beings?  While Mill may be prepared to treat animals as moral patients, why does he not say justice applies to animals in the same way it applies to us?  How does Mill draw the distinction between perfect and imperfect duties?  What role does that distinction play in his theory of justice?  Write an essay in which you answer all the preceding questions.

(3) Rationality plays an important, if often underappreciated, role in John Stuart Mill's moral philosophy.  Discuss the role that rationality plays.  Be sure to discuss (a) how he responds to the "doctrine fit for swine" objection and (b) the role played by rationality in his theory of justice. Do you think that Mill has provided an adequate account of rationality in moral philosophy?  If not, present one or more objections to his theory that show he does not have an adequate role for rationality.  If you do think he has an adequate account of rationality, consider one of the objections (that target the importance of rationality or autonomy) discussed in class, and reply to it.