PHIL 320 Review #1 - Fall 2005

This page revised October 20, 2005

This page may be revised further, although probably not much.

Probable Date for Midterm:

PHIL 320-001: Wednesday 10/26 (and part of 10/28)
PHIL 320-002: Tuesday 10/25

Structure of the Exam (36 points total)

I. Matching Sections (16 points)
II. Essay (10 points)
III. Essay (10 points) (for Section 1, to be done on 10/28)

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Course Web site material that may be important on the midterm exam:

Key Concepts:
     Ethics, Morality, Rights, Justice
Ethical Theories:
     A: 2a, 2b, 2d; (Lakoff-related materials)
     B: 2 (optional, but provides historical context),
          3b1, 3b2, (libertarianism)
          3d, (libertarianism v. autonomy-centered liberalism)
          3e (notes on Nielsen on socialism)
          5b (Rawls),
          5e (Nussbaum)
          5f (Autonomy-Centered Liberalism)
Contemporary Issues: E 1 (Strange Angels parable)
Info on Papers, 4, 5

These materials in Mappes and Zembaty, eds., Social Ethics should have been read and understood:

chapter 4 (intro, as well as Punzo and Mappes articles)
chapter 7 (intro, pp. 312-319, and Hospers, Nielsen, and Young articles, pp. 319-48)

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I. Be able to define or briefly explain the following:

Basic items

ethics (primary meaning for this course)
morality (primary meaning)

Morality and Conceptual Metaphor

conceptual metaphor / folk theory

moral notions based on social accounting metaphors

retribution / revenge /restitution
rights / fairness / karma

other metaphors

moral strength (relation to will-power, courage, to metaphors of height)
moral boundaries/ rights (in terms of boundaries)
moral essence
moral health
moral order (its relation to the folk theory of the natural order)
nurturance
empathy
self-nurturance
social ties

Strength Group / Nurturance Group
Strict Father Family model
Nurturant Parent Family model Family of Humanity metaphor
Conservative categories of moral action
Liberal categories of moral action
Basic differences between the models

hedonism

Nussbaum's capability theory and human rights

the basis of human dignity and worth
what human beings essentially are
what question is raised by talk about equal distribution?
capabilities (the general idea)
basic capabilities
internal capabilities
combined capabilities
functionings, how capabilities are related to them
external conditions, institutional and material
how capabilities are related to human rights

sexual morality

conventional view of sexual morality
Thomist natural law position on sexuality
     ("Thomist" refers to Thomas Aquinas)
social utility argument against extra-marital sex
liberal view of sexual morality
sex with love view of sexual morality
existential integrity (Punzo)
the human being as an existential-historical subject (Punzo)
morality of aspiration v. morality of rights (Punzo)
pre-ceremonial sex v. premarital sex (Punzo's distinctive use of these terms)
using a person (two senses)
treating humanity as a means only
voluntary informed consent, how related to using a person
deception (two types)
coercion (two types)
threat (contrast with offer)

general rights vocabulary

negative rights and positive rights
negative duty and positive duty
rights (basic definition)
three types of duties corresponding to specific rights
    Are there any purely negative rights?
subject of human rights (=rights-bearer)
objects of human rights (=what we have human rights to)
forfeiture--what is it and when might it occur?
universalism (of liberal human rights doctrine)

libertarian view of rights

non-interference rights
rights to life, liberty, property (as libertarians understand them)
voluntary transfer
original acquisition of property
contractual duties, how acquired
libertarian view on "rights to subsistence"
-- on legitimate role of government
-- on inheritance taxes
-- on pollution
-- on discrimination in hiring and promotion

general justice vocabulary

distributive justice
fundamental or general principle of distributive justice
specific principles of distributive justice (e.g., egalitarian, socialist, effort, productivity)

Rawls theory of social justice

original position
veil of ignorance
choosers in the original position
    what they know; what they don't know;
    how they reason (including their aims); what their task is
primary goods, also called all-purpose means (what is included)
basic social order (=basic structure of society)
just society, or just social order
principle of equal liberty
difference principle (DP)
equal opportunity clause of the difference principle
Rawls' views on
    freedom of conscience (what does he include in this?)
    political liberties (what does he include in this?)
    rights of personal security (what does he include in this?)
    division of labor, unequal powers, incomes (relevance to DP)
    racial and gender discrimination
    arranging society so as to affect its least advantaged members
    public financing of political campaigns

II. Essay Topics. Group I. (You will probably be asked to select one or two from this group. One of these options may be deleted before the exam.)

A. Describe the essential features of the Strict Father Family model and discuss to what extent libertarianism is a philosophical variation on Strict Father Morality. What conceptual metaphor connects family models to public policy?

B. Describe the esential features of the Nurturant Parent Family model and discuss to what extent Nielsen's account of socialism is a large-scale version of Nurturant Parent Morality. What conceptual metaphor connects family models to public policy? Do not do this one if you might write on Nielsen in Section III.

C. Discuss Nussbaum's notion of capabilities. How are they related to functioning? How does she use these ideas to make a case for human rights on a world scale?

D. Discuss. "Libertarians like Hospers think that all taxation is wrong, that anyone who creates something with his or her own labor has an automatic right to keep it no matter what, and that no lazy person can possibly be morally entitled to material possessions."

III. Essay Topics . Group II (You will probably be asked to select one from this group. One of the essays listed may be deleted before the exam.)

Note: Do not write your essay from this section on an article on which you wrote your first major paper. If you wrote on Sexual Morality, do not do D or E. If you wrote on Hospers or Nielsen, do not do A or C.

A. Describe similarities and differences between libertarianism and Rawls' liberalism (especially the meaning of his two principles of justice).

B. Discuss Rawls' Original Position and how that set of ideas leads to the choice of the two principles of justice to govern the basic social structure of society.

C. What is democratic socialism and what values widely respected in North America does Nielsen invoke to defend it? In answering this, be sure to discuss the nature of the autonomy and the type(s) of ownership and democracy Nielsen advocates. Which of Lakoff's family moral models seems to be behind Nielsen's ideal? What set of human rights does Nielsen defend?

D. On what basis does Punzo oppose the "economic perspective of sexual relationships"? Be sure to discuss Punzo's notion of being an existential-historical subject and how that relates to forming a couple. What does he mean by "existential integrity" and how does that relate to his position on pre-marital sex? (See note above.)

E. Thomas Mappes distinguishes between threats, normal offers, and coercive offers. Consider cases 1 (Supervisor/Employee), 3 (Theatregoer/Attractive Person), 7 (Starlet/Moviemogul), and 8 (Troubled/Opportunistic). Which is a threat, which a noncoercive offer, and which a coercive offer? Of the four cases, which is/are cases of using a person sexually (in the pejorative sense)? Explain your classifications (threat, noncoercive offer, coercive offer). (See note above.)