Ethics Midterm Exam UPDATED
ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS
Ethics - CORRECT ANSWER the philosophical study of moral values and rules
Normative - CORRECT ANSWER How people ought to behave (morality)
Descriptive - CORRECT ANSWER How people do behave (observation)
Divine Command Theory - CORRECT ANSWER Any position in ethics which claims
that the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on whether they correspond to God's
commands or not.
Sound Argument - CORRECT ANSWER A valid argument in which all of the
premises are true
Justification - CORRECT ANSWER the act of defending or explaining or making
excuses for by reasoning
Rationalization - CORRECT ANSWER Explanation of an act that may or may not
have been right, to convince yourself you were right
Ethical Theory - CORRECT ANSWER Examines the different principles, ideas,
systems, and philosophies used to make judgments about what is right and wrong and good
and bad.
Two types of ethical theories:
1. utilitarianism
2. Kant's Moral Theory
, Motive - CORRECT ANSWER cause for action
Act - CORRECT ANSWER Doing something
Consequentialist Theory - CORRECT ANSWER A theory asserting that what makes an
action right is its consequences (the ends of an action)
Non-Consequentialist Theory - CORRECT ANSWER Judges an action based on the
motives for doing it as opposed to the consequences that will follow this action. (All the
actions leading to a ends must be just)
Relativism - CORRECT ANSWER (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that all
criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved (takes situation into
account)
Objectivism - CORRECT ANSWER a metaethical theory that states that ethical claims
refer to objective facts about the world, not to cultural norms or personal preferences; there
are UNIVERSAL STANDARDS of right and wrong
Individual Relativism - CORRECT ANSWER The belief that right and wrong change
from person to person
Social Relativism - CORRECT ANSWER truth is relative to societies or cultures, not
individuals. Truth depends on what a society believes, not on the way things are. what's true
for one society may not be true for another
Situational Differences - CORRECT ANSWER Determine whether a deviation from
normal should be considered based on a certain situation
Absolutism - CORRECT ANSWER No exceptions to any ethical rule, ignores
situational differences
ACTUAL QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
ANSWERS
Ethics - CORRECT ANSWER the philosophical study of moral values and rules
Normative - CORRECT ANSWER How people ought to behave (morality)
Descriptive - CORRECT ANSWER How people do behave (observation)
Divine Command Theory - CORRECT ANSWER Any position in ethics which claims
that the rightness or wrongness of actions depends on whether they correspond to God's
commands or not.
Sound Argument - CORRECT ANSWER A valid argument in which all of the
premises are true
Justification - CORRECT ANSWER the act of defending or explaining or making
excuses for by reasoning
Rationalization - CORRECT ANSWER Explanation of an act that may or may not
have been right, to convince yourself you were right
Ethical Theory - CORRECT ANSWER Examines the different principles, ideas,
systems, and philosophies used to make judgments about what is right and wrong and good
and bad.
Two types of ethical theories:
1. utilitarianism
2. Kant's Moral Theory
, Motive - CORRECT ANSWER cause for action
Act - CORRECT ANSWER Doing something
Consequentialist Theory - CORRECT ANSWER A theory asserting that what makes an
action right is its consequences (the ends of an action)
Non-Consequentialist Theory - CORRECT ANSWER Judges an action based on the
motives for doing it as opposed to the consequences that will follow this action. (All the
actions leading to a ends must be just)
Relativism - CORRECT ANSWER (philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that all
criteria of judgment are relative to the individuals and situations involved (takes situation into
account)
Objectivism - CORRECT ANSWER a metaethical theory that states that ethical claims
refer to objective facts about the world, not to cultural norms or personal preferences; there
are UNIVERSAL STANDARDS of right and wrong
Individual Relativism - CORRECT ANSWER The belief that right and wrong change
from person to person
Social Relativism - CORRECT ANSWER truth is relative to societies or cultures, not
individuals. Truth depends on what a society believes, not on the way things are. what's true
for one society may not be true for another
Situational Differences - CORRECT ANSWER Determine whether a deviation from
normal should be considered based on a certain situation
Absolutism - CORRECT ANSWER No exceptions to any ethical rule, ignores
situational differences
