Ethics

Read Chapter One and draft thoughtful responses to thefollowing short answer (min 500 words each) questions.

1.     James Rachels discusses the myth of the ring, athought experiment taken from Plato’s Republic. The philosopher Glaucon arguesthat no one could resist the temptation to use the ring to his own advantage.What does this claim say about morality, generally? About psychological egoism?What does this claim say about ethical egoism?

2.     Explain both the divine command theory (asdiscussed by Arthur) and the theory of natural law (as discussed by Aquinas).On what grounds does Arthur reject the divine command theory? (Be sure todiscuss the Euthyphro dilemma.) On what grounds does Hume reject the theory ofnatural law? (Be sure to discuss the “is/ought” objection.)

3.     John Stuart Mill argues that people sometimesbecome addicted to what he described as “inferior pleasures.” Whatdid Mill mean by “inferior pleasures,” and how did he account forpeople’s “addiction” to them?

4.     Immanuel Kant argued that “the greater partof mankind… protect their lives in conformity with duty, but not from themotivation of duty.” What did he mean by this? What does “duty”mean for Kant, and in what way is this relevant to his theory of ethicalaction?

5.     Explain John Rawls’ conception of justice asfairness. Specifically, what does he mean by the expression “veil ofignorance”? What principles does Rawls formulate from this perspective?