Homework: Answer the following questions. Submit your answers via the
“Assignments” navigation bar on D2L before 11:59 pm on Monday, Jun. 24th.
1. According to Ross, utilitarianism implies that the only morally significant
relation in which other people stand to you is that of being possible
beneficiaries of your action. What, according to Ross, are some other
morally significant relations? Explain how these relations can generate
special obligations.
2. What does Ross mean by a ‘prima facie duty’? What is the difference
between a prima facie duty and an actual moral duty?
3. Ross lists seven prima facie duties. What are they?
4. What does it mean to say that utilitarianism ignores, or does not do full
justice to, the highly personal character of duty?
5. How does Ross respond to the objection that his list of prima facie duties is
“unsystematic” and rests on no logical principle? Do you find his response
to be persuasive? Why or why not?
6. How does Ross respond to the objection that his theory fails to give a
principle by which we can, when faced with conflicting prima facie duties,
discern what our actual moral duty is? Do you find his response to be
persuasive? Why or why not?
7. In what sense is the prima facie rightness of certain types of acts “self-
evident”? What role does trust play in our being confident of the fact that
certain types of acts are prima facie right?
8. Does Ross think that we can be certain that a particular act is morally right
or morally wrong? Why or why not?
9. Some philosophers claim that it is absurd to suggest that it could be morally
right for you to perform a particular act when you could, by performing a
different act instead, produce more good in the world. Describe Ross’s
argument against this claim.
10. Some philosophers claim that, just as the best theories in the sciences can
conflict with our common sense beliefs about the world, the correct ethical
theory may imply that “what we really think” regarding morality is false.
How does Ross respond to this claim? Do you find his view to be plausible?
Why or why not?
11. What things, according to Ross, are intrinsically good? Describe the
strategy that he uses to argue that those things are good.
12. Ross finds no plausibility in the claim that things other than states of mind
and relations between states of mind may be intrinsically good. How, then,
does he account for the intrinsic goodness of interpersonal love?
13. What do you find attractive about Ross’s theory of rightness and intrinsic
goodness? What are some potential problems with his theory?
Discussion board: Start a thread in the “Deontological ethics” topic on the
discussion board before 11:59 pm on Tuesday, Jun. 25th. Reply to two other
students before 11:59 pm on Wednesday, Jun. 26th.
Quiz: Complete quiz 4 before 11:59 pm on Thursday, Jun. 27th.
Module 5
Week beginning on June 30th
Topic: Virtue ethics
Readings: Read
• the selections from Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, which are in the “Primary
texts” document on D2L, and
• chapter 17 in our textbook.
Viewings: None
Homework: Answer the following questions. Submit your answers via the
“Assignments” navigation bar on D2L before 11:59 pm on Monday, Jul. 1st.
1. [“The highest good and political science”] What, according to Aristotle, are
features of the “best good”?
2. [“The method of political science,” and “Common beliefs”] According to
Aristotle, in what ways is ethics (or political science) limited? How, for
example, is ethics different from mathematics?
3. Who, according to Aristotle, is not a suitable student of ethics? Why not?
For whom will ethics be of great benefit? What conditions must a person
satisfy in order to be an adequate student of ethics?
4. Do you agree or disagree with Aristotle’s views on who are, and who are
not, suitable (or adequate) students of ethics? Why or why not?
5. [“The three lives”] What are the most popular answers to the question,
“What is the best life?” that Aristotle discusses? Which ones does he
dismiss? Why?
6. [“An account of the human good”] What does it mean to say that happiness
(or eudaimonia) is complete without qualification? What does it mean to
say that happiness is self-sufficient?
7. Aristotle suggests that we shall find a clearer statement of what the best
good [for a human being] is if we first grasp the function (or purpose) of a
human being. What possible functions does he exclude? What, according to
Aristotle, is the function of a human being?
8. [“Defense of the account of the good”] Why are actions in accord with
virtue pleasant to the person who performs them?
9. According to Aristotle, what “external goods” does a person need in order
to live the best life? Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
10. [“How is happiness achieved?”] According to Aristotle, non-human animals
and human children cannot be happy. Why not?
11. [“How a virtue of character is acquired”] According to Aristotle, how do we
acquire virtues of character?
12. [“The importance of pleasure and pain”] Why does Aristotle think that
someone’s pleasure or pain following on his or her actions is a sign of his or
her state?
13. Why, according to Aristotle, do we need to have an appropriate upbringing?
Do you agree or disagree? Explain.
14. [“Virtuous actions versus virtuous character”] What conditions must a
person satisfy in order to perform a virtuous action?
15. [“Virtue of character: its differentia”] What is the relation between a virtue
of a human being and his or her function?
16. What is the intermediate and best condition as regards feelings?
17. Give examples of actions and feelings that do not admit of a mean and
hence, are automatically incorrect.
18. [“The particular virtues of character”] Virtue, according to Aristotle, is a
mean between two vices, one of excess and one of deficiency. Explain how
the virtues of bravery, temperance, and generosity are each means between
two vices.
19. [“Relations between mean and extreme states”] How can the way things
appear to us depend in part upon our state, that is, upon whether we have or
lack a particular virtue?
20. [“How can we reach the mean?”] Why is it hard work to be excellent and to
find the intermediate?
21. According to Aristotle, in order to reach the intermediate condition we
must, in some situations, incline toward the excess, but must, in other
situations, incline toward the deficiency. Give an example to illustrate this
claim.
22. [“Happiness and theoretical study,” and “Theoretical study and the other
virtues”] What reasons does Aristotle give in support of the view that the
best and most pleasant life is a life of study? Do you find his argument to be
persuasive? Why or why not?
23. [“Moral education”] Why does Aristotle think that it is difficult for
someone to be trained correctly for virtue from his or her youth if he or she
has not been brought up under correct laws? In your view, should the state
(or government) enact laws that encourage moral virtue and discourage
moral vice? Why or why not?
24. What are some features of Aristotle’s moral philosophy that you find
attractive? What, in your view, are some potential problems with his moral
philosophy? Explain.
Discussion board: Start a thread in the “Virtue ethics” topic on the discussion board
before 11:59 pm on Tuesday, Jul. 2nd. Reply to two other students before 11:59 pm
on Wednesday, Jul. 3rd.
Quiz: Complete quiz 5 before 11:59 pm on Thursday, Jul. 4th.
Module 6
Week beginning on July 7th
Topic: Confucian ethics
Readings: Read
• the selections from Confucius’s Analects, which are in the “Primary texts”
document on D2L,
• the introduction to, and sections 2.1-2.4 in, the entry on “Chinese ethics” in the
SEP.
Viewings: None
Homework: Answer the following questions. Submit your answers via the
“Assignments” navigation bar on D2L before 11:59 pm on Monday, Jul. 8th.
1. What are some characteristics of exemplary persons (junzi)?
2. Ren is translated here as “authoritative conduct,” “to act authoritatively,”
and “authoritative person.” Other possible translations include
“benevolence,” “goodness,” “humanity,” and “human-heartedness.” What
does Confucius say about ren?
3. The Confucian ethical tradition assumes a relational conception of the
human person as one who lives and is constituted by various social roles.
You would not exist apart from these roles. What are your social roles?
(E.g., I am a son of Joseph and Mary, a brother of James, a cousin of John,
a neighbor of Martha, a teacher of Peter, a friend of Lazarus, etc.)
4. Choose one of the following terms and fill in the blank: father, mother,
older sibling, child, friend, or neighbor. What in your view does a good
________ look like? What does he or she do, say, and feel?
5. The Confucian ethical tradition encourages you to view yourself as a
member of a family that spans many generations and has its own unique
narrative or story. What is your family’s story? How might viewing yourself
as a member of your family affect the way in which you live?
6. What are some of your family traditions?
7. What do you find attractive about the Confucian vision of a consummate
life? What in your view are some potential problems with Confucian ethics?
Explain.
