Basic Questions for the Final
The final exam will be a take-home exam based on a set of basic questions with
whose answers you should be familiar by the end of the class. I will draw three
to five (3 - 5) questions from this set of questions by Thursday noon, January
26. Answers to each question. should be no more than 10 sentences long. You
may answer the questions in teams of three or less. Answers are due to me in
electronic mail or paper form by Saturday January 28 at 11 AM..
- What is the is-ought distinction and how might it be overcome?
- How are Hobbes' and Rosseau's contract theories similar and different? Which
has more current empirical support?
- On what do Augustine, Rheinhold Neibuhr, and Martin Luther King agree?
- How does the classical conception of skill underly Aristotle's conception
of virtue?
- How does the two-process approach to morality explain how virtues or evils
are learned?
- Provide an argument for including at least 5 components in a psychological
model of virtue.
- Propose a step-by-step plan for acquiring a virtue. What will influence
its success?
- How do Hume & Kant disagree on the central feature of morality? What
help does current psychological theory provide?
- What is the continuum of destruction according to Staub, and how
would Kant, Hobbes, and Aristotle explain individual choice in it?
- How do personality, situation, and personal choice combine to explain individual
participation along the comtinuum of destruction?
- Describe at least three parallels between the continuum of destruction
and the continuum of benevolence.
- How does dominance, empathy, and collaboration in other primates inform
our understanding of moral behavior in humans?
- What relationship is there between the concept of original sin and the genetic
predisposition to dominance and violence?
Disclaimer