Philosophy Trivia Questions for College Students — page 4

Aquinas argues that the end of every action is:

• Asome good.
• Bsome emotional state.
• Csome pleasure.
• Dsome desire.

In Cicero's view, each person is invested by Nature with two characters:

• Adivine and beastly.
• Bgood and evil.
• Cvirtuous and vicious.
• Duniversal and individual.

Nussbaum claims that for Aristotle the reference of each virtue term is fixed by:

• Agrounding experiences.
• Bconventional use.
• Ctradition.
• Da thick description of the virtue.

Nagel claims that most skeptical arguments:

• Aare the result of applying arbitrarily stringent standards.
• Bare logically self-refuting.
• Cgrow from the consistent application of ordinary standards.
• Dare based on linguistic confusions.

Wolf defines a "moral saint" as a person who:

• Ais as morally worthy as possible.
• Bdies for the cause of morality.
• Call of the above.
• Dis as religiously observant as possible.

Singer claims that famine relief organizations direct our aid to distant refugees:

• Aquite inefficiently, but they are still worth donating to.
• Bmore effectively than we could get it to our close neighbors.
• Cvery inefficiently, and are therefore not worth donating to.
• Dalmost as effectively as we could get it to our close neighbors.

In Aristotle's view, the virtues are:

• Aa gift from the gods.
• Bacquired through habit.
• Cinnate.
• Dacquired through philosophical reflection.

According to Kant, the basis of morality is the concept of:

• Afreedom.
• Bcharity.
• Cpiety.
• Dfairness.

Stevenson's primary aim in this paper is to:

• Amake ethical questions clear.
• Bprovide an account of what makes right actions right.
• Cdevelop a theory of good moral character.
• Destablish which things are good in themselves.

According to Nagel, the problem of moral luck arises because:

• Aphilosophers try to apply arbitrarily stringent standards to moral responsibility.
• Bthe self is threatened with dissolution by the absorption of its acts into the class of events.
• Cour moral theories are hopelessly off track.
• Dour theories of human action are hopelessly off track.

Augustine claims that to save another person from injury, it is permissible to:

• Alie.
• Bsteal.
• Cneither a nor. b.
• Dboth a and b.

According to Gauthier, deliberative justification:

• Aignores morality and seemingly replaces it.
• Bis refuted by moral requirements.
• Cis replaced once we acknowledge moral requirements.
• Drefutes morality.

Augustine identifies evil with:

• Athe influence of the devil.
• Ba unique force, opposed to goodness.
• Cpain.
• Dthe absence of good.

Epictetus recommends that we act:

• Aaccording to our passions.
• Bonly after careful reflection on the consequences of our actions.
• Cso as to benefit the greatest number.
• Dso as to do whatever comes naturally, without much thought.

Augustine holds that we can never err:

• Aexcept through wickedness.
• Bexcept through ignorance.
• Cin any circumstances whatsoever.
• Dexcept through temptation.

A Loving Saint is someone:

• Ais morally perfect only in relation to those he loves.
• Bloves all human beings equally.
• Cwhose happiness lies in the happiness of others.
• Dwho pays little or no attention to his own happiness, in light of the overriding importance of morality.

Wolf argues that the unattractiveness of the moral saint:

• Agives us reason to abandon utilitarianism.
• Bgives us reason to abandon Kantianism.
• Cneither a nor b.
• Dboth a and b.

Rawls conceives of the original contract as one to:

• Aenter a particular society.
• Bset up a particular form of government.
• Cestablish the content of morality.
• Destablish the principles of justice for the basic structure of society.

Moore claims that there is no meaning in saying that pleasure is good, unless:

• Aall pleasant things are good.
• Bgoodness and pleasure are the same thing.
• Cgood is something different than pleasure.
• Dall good things are pleasant.

In Brandt's terminology, a moral code has currency in a society only if:

• Ait is recognized as the moral code of the society.
• Ba high proportion of the adults in the society subscribe to its principles.
• Cneither a nor b.
• Dboth a and b.

Hare claims that the two essential features of the logic of moral judgments are:

• Aconsequentialism and hedonism.
• Bcontractualism and rule-following.
• Cuniversalizability and prescriptivity.
• Dconsistency and coherence.

Epictetus claims that the desire for one's loved ones to live forever is:

• Ablasphemous.
• Ba natural instinct.
• Ca sign of genuine love.
• Dsilly.

The view that we ought to relieve the agony of one stranger rather than the minor pain of another is endorsed by:

• AParfit, but not Taurek.
• BTaurek, but not Parfit.
• Cneither Parfit nor Taurek.
• DTaurek and Parfit.

Nussbaum claims that in cross-cultural communication, inhabitants of different conceptual schemes tend to view their interaction:

• Ain an absolutist way.
• Bin an Aristotelian way.
• Cin a relativist way.
• Din a Kantian way.

Parfit claims that choosing to save the larger number in a trade-off case:

• Areflects an equal concern for the survival of each, for it gives each an equal chance of survival.
• Breflects an equal concern for the survival of each, for it gives equal weight to saving each.
• Cdoes not reflect an equal concern for the survival of each, for it does not give each an equal chance of survival.
• Ddoes not reflect an equal concern for the survival of each, for it does not give equal weight to saving each.

Epictetus claims that if the wife and children of a virtuous man were to die, he should feel:

• Arighteous indignation.
• Bundisturbed.
• Cmoderate grief.
• Denvy of those who still have their loved ones.

Nussbaum claims that the specification of particular virtues:

• Awill always consist of a single answer.
• Bmight sometimes turn out to be a disjunction.
• Ccan be settled in such a way as to be no longer revisable.
• Dis necessarily relative to a culture.

Wolf claims that morality:

• Anone of the above.
• Bis merely a cultural artifact.
• Cprovides a comprehensive guide to conduct.
• Dis not really relevant to our lives.

Augustine claims that Academic skepticism:

• Ais false but cannot be refuted.
• Bis false and can be refuted.
• Cis true, but cannot be proven
• Dis true, and can be proven.

Socrates suggests that the holy is one part of:

• Awhat is prudent.
• Bwhat is beautiful.
• Cwhat is legal.
• Dwhat is just.

In Augustine's view, lying is:

• Aoften permissible if done for the right reasons.
• Bpermissible only in very rare circumstances.
• Cnot evil in itself, although it can have bad consequences.
• Dnever permissible.

Hume describes reason as:

• Athe first spring or impulse to desire.
• Bthe source of all moral actions.
• Call of the above.
• Dcool and disengaged.

According to Epicurus, the wise man:

• Arealizes that death is an illusion.
• Bfears the cessation of life.
• Cis unconcerned with death.
• Dyearns for the end of life.

According to Nagel, if a driver hits a child through no fault of his own:

• Ahe will reproach himself.
• Bhe will feel terrible about the event.
• Call of the above.
• Dhe will have been the victim of moral bad luck.

The morality that Gauthier describes as facing a foundational crisis essentially involves:

• Ajustified constraint.
• Benlightened egoism.
• Cpure altruism.
• Dprima facie duties.

In Aquinas's view, man's ultimate happiness consists in:

• Apleasure
• Bloving God.
• Ccontemplating God.
• Dacts of the moral virtues.

Plato's suggestion that knowledge is innate or remembered as a result of being triggered by experience is in response to a paradox he sets up for himself. The paradox, now referred to as Meno's Paradox, has to do with the question of:

• Ahow anyone can recognize the correct answer to a question without already knowing the answer.
• Bhow a person can remember anything about the realm of the Forms after the shock of being born into this world.
• Chow concepts bound to the realm of becoming have meaning only when associated with the realm of Being.
• Dhow knowledge of the Forms can ever be anything other than a generalization of experience.

According to Kant, the moral worth of an action depends on:

• Athe consequences of the action.
• Bthe moral character of the agent who performs it.
• Call of the above.
• Dthe maxim that is acted on.

Taurek claims that if faced with the choice between saving the life of X or the arm of Y:

• Aboth a and b.
• Bwe are obligated to choose saving the life of X.
• CY is obligated to choose saving the life of X.
• Dneither a nor b.

Butler argues that the belief that there is a conflict between public goods and private goods arises from our notions of:

• Abenevolence.
• Bcharity.
• Cjustice.
• Dproperty.

Baier argues that genuine moral rules:

• Amust take into account the interests of all living beings.
• Bmust be for the good of human beings.
• Care primarily directed toward promoting self-interest.
• Dmake take into account the interests of all sentient beings.

According to Parfit, both Taurek and Lewis assume that for there to be a "sum of pain," it must be:

• Aall felt at a single time.
• Ball felt by a single person.
• Call of the above.
• Dall be caused by a single source.

Feinberg claims that the story about Abraham Lincoln:

• Aprovides no evidence for or against psychological egoism.
• Bactually involves a confusion between ethical egoism and psychological egoism.
• Cprovides some evidence against psychological egoism.
• Dprovides some evidence for psychological egoism.

According to Kant, morality requires us to:

• Aperform the action that leads to the greatest total happiness.
• Bbehave only in such a way as a perfectly virtuous person would behave.
• Cact only on maxims that we can will to become universal laws.
• Dplace the interests of others above the interests of ourselves.

Gauthier claims that there is nothing for practical rationality to be besides:

• Aepistemic justification.
• Ban illusion.
• Cdeliberative justification.
• Dmoral justification.

Brandt views his rule-utilitarianism as a:

• Aboth a and b.
• Bmetaethical thesis.
• Cnormative ethical thesis.
• Dpurely descriptive thesis.

An example of a morally impossible rule would be:

• Aalways do whatever brings about the greatest happiness.
• Balways assert what you don't think to be the case.
• Clie whenever doing so is necessary to prevent a catastrophe.
• Dall of the above.

According to Stevenson, the word "good" has a pleasing emotive meaning that fits it for:

• Adynamic use.
• Bdescriptive use.
• Cconstructive use.
• Dpropositional use.

According to Parfit, the obligation to give priority to the welfare of one's children is:

• Aagent-neutral.
• Babsolute.
• Cnone of the above.
• Dagent-relative.

Bentham defines the fecundity of a pleasure or pain as:

• Athe degree to which it is felt.
• Bhow long it lasts.
• Cits chance of occurring.
• Dits chance of being followed by sensations of the same kind.