1. How does ethics differ from social sciences like history and sociology that also study human conduct?
2. Contrast morality with both prudence and legality.
3. What is the fundamental project of moral philosophy?
4. What does it mean to say that x is a necessary condition for y? (As in, “You can’t get a driver’s license unless you’re at least 16 years old.”)
5. What does it mean to say that x is a sufficient condition for y? (As in, “ If you sink the eight-ball early, you lose the game of pool.”)
6. What logical terminology do we use to introduce conditions for the application of a concept that are both necessary and sufficient? What everyday expressions correspond to this logical terminology?
7. Explain the difference between The Ten Commandments from Exodus 20 and the criterion, 10C.
8. State and explain 10C. Present the main idea behind 10C in your own words. Which act-types seem to be morally okay according to the criterion 10C, but would normally be counted as morally wrong?
9. State and explain Golden Rule. Present the main idea behind GR in your own words. Which act-types seem to be morally okay according to the criterion GR, but would normally be counted as morally wrong?
10. What is an argument?
11. Define validity. Explain the main idea behind this concept in your own words. Must a valid argument have all true premises? Why or why not? Must a valid argument have a true conclusion? Why or why not? Can a valid argument be unsound? Why or why not?
12. Can a factually correct argument be invalid? Explain why.
13. Be able to identify whether a given argument is valid or invalid, sound or unsound.
14. Define soundness. How does soundness differ from validity?
15. Fill in the blanks and explain: If an argument is unsound, it must be either ____ or ____.
16. Consider the following conditional statement: “If 10C is true, then act-tokens of the type ‘beating one’s child’ are morally permissible.” What would it take for this statement to be true? What would it take for this statement to be false? Does this statement presuppose that beating one’s child is really morally permissible? Why or why not?
17. State Divine Command. Explain the main idea behind DC in your own words. What are the two possible interpretations of DC, according to Socrates in Plato’s dialogue, The Euthyphro?
18. Explain the main idea behind each premise in the Euthyphro Argument (lines 1, 2, and 4). Why might someone accept each of these lines? In particular, what evidence might someone present for the view that line 2 is true? What evidence might someone present to defend line 4?
19. Thoroughly explain all the evidence presented against line 2 in class (the four arguments we considered against theological voluntarism). Be prepared to provide the rationale for each of the premises in these arguments.
20. Suppose theological voluntarism is true. What would it mean to say that God is all-good (i.e., beneficent)? Hint: goodness is a moral property, just like rightness or wrongness. Some have claimed that theological voluntarism makes a mockery of God’s beneficence. What do you think they might mean by this?
21. State Cultural Relevatism. Explain the technical terms associated with CR. Explain the main idea behind CR in your own words. Be able to apply CR to example cases.
22. There are three arguments against cultural relativism: the argument based on the case of Fauziya, the ‘slavery advice’ argument, and the moral progress argument. What do the premises mean? Why might someone rationally believe them?
23. Does Cultural Relevatism really support the idea that one should always be tolerant?