PHI 2000 INTRODUCTION TO ETHICS FINAL EXAM | Sophia
Course & Capella-Sophia Ethics Milestones | Fall 2026
Complete Test Bank | Pass Guaranteed - A+ Graded
FINAL EXAM: COMPREHENSIVE ETHICS ASSESSMENT (Q1-50)
[Final Exam Section 1: Metaethics & Foundational Concepts (Q1-10)]
Q1. Dr. Chen argues that moral statements like "murder is wrong" express objective
facts about the world, similar to scientific claims. Her colleague Dr. Patel counters that
such statements merely reflect individual emotional reactions. Dr. Chen's position aligns
with which metaethical view?
A. Emotivism
B. Moral Anti-Realism
C. Moral Realism [CORRECT]
D. Error Theory
Rationale: Moral realism holds that moral statements express objective facts
independent of human opinion. Emotivism (A) and error theory (D) are anti-realist
positions denying objective moral facts, while (B) is the broad category Dr. Patel
represents.
Correct Answer: C
Q2. According to A.J. Ayer's logical positivism, when someone says "stealing is wrong,"
they are not stating a fact but rather expressing which of the following?
,A. A cognitive belief about property rights
B. An emotional attitude of disapproval [CORRECT]
C. A mistaken factual claim about theft
D. An intuition of an objective moral property
Rationale: Ayer's emotivism (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936) holds that moral
utterances are non-cognitive expressions of emotion, not truth-apt statements. Options
A, C, and D all treat moral claims as cognitive, which emotivism explicitly rejects.
Correct Answer: B
Q3. G.E. Moore argues that defining "good" in terms of natural properties like pleasure or
evolutionary advantage commits a specific fallacy. What is this fallacy called?
A. The Is-Ought Fallacy
B. The Naturalistic Fallacy [CORRECT]
C. The Straw Man Fallacy
D. The Appeal to Nature
Rationale: In Principia Ethica (1903), Moore identifies the naturalistic fallacy as the error
of identifying moral goodness with natural properties, arguing "good" is a simple,
non-natural, indefinable property. The is-ought fallacy (A) is Hume's, while (D) is an
informal logical fallacy.
Correct Answer: B
,Q4. David Hume famously observed that authors often transition from descriptive
statements about what "is" to prescriptive conclusions about what "ought" to be without
justification. This observation became known as:
A. The Naturalistic Fallacy
B. The Euthyphro Dilemma
C. The Is-Ought Problem [CORRECT]
D. The Dichotomy of Control
Rationale: In A Treatise of Human Nature (Book III), Hume notes that no amount of "is"
statements can logically entail an "ought" conclusion without a missing premise. This
gap between descriptive and normative claims is the is-ought problem.
Correct Answer: C
Q5. A student claims that because moral standards vary across cultures, no single
moral standard can be objectively correct. This position is best described as:
A. Moral Subjectivism
B. Cultural Moral Relativism [CORRECT]
C. Moral Universalism
D. Ethical Egoism
Rationale: Cultural moral relativism holds that moral truth is determined by cultural
standards. Moral subjectivism (A) locates moral truth in individual opinion rather than
culture, while universalism (C) denies such relativity. Ethical egoism (D) is a normative
theory about self-interest.
, Correct Answer: B
Q6. The Euthyphro dilemma asks whether something is good because God commands
it, or whether God commands it because it is already good. This dilemma is primarily
used to challenge which theory?
A. Divine Command Theory [CORRECT]
B. Natural Law Theory
C. Kantian Deontology
D. Utilitarianism
Rationale: In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates poses this dilemma to challenge the view that
God's will determines morality (divine command theory). Both horns create problems: if
God's command makes something good, morality seems arbitrary; if God commands
what is independently good, God is not the source of morality.
Correct Answer: A
Q7. J.L. Mackie's error theory asserts that all moral statements are systematically false
because:
A. They express emotions rather than beliefs
B. They presuppose objective moral properties that do not exist [CORRECT]
C. They are culturally relative and therefore meaningless
D. They contradict empirical scientific findings
Rationale: In Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977), Mackie argues moral discourse
presupposes objective, intrinsically prescriptive moral facts, but no such facts
Course & Capella-Sophia Ethics Milestones | Fall 2026
Complete Test Bank | Pass Guaranteed - A+ Graded
FINAL EXAM: COMPREHENSIVE ETHICS ASSESSMENT (Q1-50)
[Final Exam Section 1: Metaethics & Foundational Concepts (Q1-10)]
Q1. Dr. Chen argues that moral statements like "murder is wrong" express objective
facts about the world, similar to scientific claims. Her colleague Dr. Patel counters that
such statements merely reflect individual emotional reactions. Dr. Chen's position aligns
with which metaethical view?
A. Emotivism
B. Moral Anti-Realism
C. Moral Realism [CORRECT]
D. Error Theory
Rationale: Moral realism holds that moral statements express objective facts
independent of human opinion. Emotivism (A) and error theory (D) are anti-realist
positions denying objective moral facts, while (B) is the broad category Dr. Patel
represents.
Correct Answer: C
Q2. According to A.J. Ayer's logical positivism, when someone says "stealing is wrong,"
they are not stating a fact but rather expressing which of the following?
,A. A cognitive belief about property rights
B. An emotional attitude of disapproval [CORRECT]
C. A mistaken factual claim about theft
D. An intuition of an objective moral property
Rationale: Ayer's emotivism (Language, Truth and Logic, 1936) holds that moral
utterances are non-cognitive expressions of emotion, not truth-apt statements. Options
A, C, and D all treat moral claims as cognitive, which emotivism explicitly rejects.
Correct Answer: B
Q3. G.E. Moore argues that defining "good" in terms of natural properties like pleasure or
evolutionary advantage commits a specific fallacy. What is this fallacy called?
A. The Is-Ought Fallacy
B. The Naturalistic Fallacy [CORRECT]
C. The Straw Man Fallacy
D. The Appeal to Nature
Rationale: In Principia Ethica (1903), Moore identifies the naturalistic fallacy as the error
of identifying moral goodness with natural properties, arguing "good" is a simple,
non-natural, indefinable property. The is-ought fallacy (A) is Hume's, while (D) is an
informal logical fallacy.
Correct Answer: B
,Q4. David Hume famously observed that authors often transition from descriptive
statements about what "is" to prescriptive conclusions about what "ought" to be without
justification. This observation became known as:
A. The Naturalistic Fallacy
B. The Euthyphro Dilemma
C. The Is-Ought Problem [CORRECT]
D. The Dichotomy of Control
Rationale: In A Treatise of Human Nature (Book III), Hume notes that no amount of "is"
statements can logically entail an "ought" conclusion without a missing premise. This
gap between descriptive and normative claims is the is-ought problem.
Correct Answer: C
Q5. A student claims that because moral standards vary across cultures, no single
moral standard can be objectively correct. This position is best described as:
A. Moral Subjectivism
B. Cultural Moral Relativism [CORRECT]
C. Moral Universalism
D. Ethical Egoism
Rationale: Cultural moral relativism holds that moral truth is determined by cultural
standards. Moral subjectivism (A) locates moral truth in individual opinion rather than
culture, while universalism (C) denies such relativity. Ethical egoism (D) is a normative
theory about self-interest.
, Correct Answer: B
Q6. The Euthyphro dilemma asks whether something is good because God commands
it, or whether God commands it because it is already good. This dilemma is primarily
used to challenge which theory?
A. Divine Command Theory [CORRECT]
B. Natural Law Theory
C. Kantian Deontology
D. Utilitarianism
Rationale: In Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates poses this dilemma to challenge the view that
God's will determines morality (divine command theory). Both horns create problems: if
God's command makes something good, morality seems arbitrary; if God commands
what is independently good, God is not the source of morality.
Correct Answer: A
Q7. J.L. Mackie's error theory asserts that all moral statements are systematically false
because:
A. They express emotions rather than beliefs
B. They presuppose objective moral properties that do not exist [CORRECT]
C. They are culturally relative and therefore meaningless
D. They contradict empirical scientific findings
Rationale: In Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong (1977), Mackie argues moral discourse
presupposes objective, intrinsically prescriptive moral facts, but no such facts
