Final Study Guide

  1. Important concepts:
  1. Positive and negative duties (in an abortion case)
  2. Active euthanasia and passive euthanasia
  3. Women’s Rights
  4. The tragedy of marriage.
  5. The welfare rights of distant people (Negative and positive rights)
  6. Defensive Gun Uses (DGUs)
  7. A moral approach
  8. Obligation (in an abortion case)
  9. Just (in an abortion case)
  10. Sexism
  11. Crime and Justice
  12. Means and end (Kant)
  13. The Good Will
  14. Karma (Buddhism)
  15. Rebirth (Buddhism)
  16. Enlightenment (Buddhism)
  17. Dao/Tao (Daoism)
  18. Wu wei (Daoism)
  19. Jen (Confucius)
  20. Self-Cultivation (Confucius)
  21. Gentleman and Small man (Confucius)
  22. Filial piety (Confucius)
  23. Virtue (Aristotle)

 

  1. Important Principles:
  1. Deontological theory
  2. Four Noble Truth
  3. Aristotle’s doctrine of the golden mean
  4. Kantian basic principle
  5. Universal moral law
  6. Confucianism family oriented ethics

Questions:

  1. What is the fundamental issue in justifying abortion?
  2. What is the distinction between killing and letting die?
  3. How does Judith J. Thomson argue for abortion (three arguments)?
  4. What is Judith J. Thomson’s conclusion?
  5. What is the purpose of Don Marquis essay?
  6. How does Don Marquis’s argue against abortion?
  7. According to Don Marquis’s, what makes killing wrong?
  8. How doctors response to the two kind of euthanasia and why, according to James Rechels?
  9. According to James Rechels, what is the real difference between active euthanasia and passive euthanasia?
  10. What is James Rechels’ conclusion in his essay "Euthanasia, Killing, and Letting Die"?
  11. How to define death, according to Karen Grandstrand Gervais (essay: "Advancing the Definition of Death: A Philosophical Essay")?
  12. What is Christina Hoff Sommers’ standpoint in her essay "Philosophers against the
  13. Family"? What moral approach she holds?
  14. What is the feminist moral philosopher, Simone de Beauvoir’s point of view (in Christina Hoff Sommers’ essay)?
  15. What are contemporary feminist philosophers’ points of view (in Christina Hoff Sommers’ essay)?
  16. Is there such a thing as "plain sex?" What is the purpose of sex? Is it like or unlike other human activities?
  17. Can love between two people be immoral? Could it be the case that sex without love, or love without sex, is immoral?
  18. Do we need sexual (physical) intimacy?
  19. According to Evelyn Reed, should we take women as a caste, class or Oppressed Sex?
  20. What is Evelyn Reed’s conclusion?
  21. What is the difference between the ethics of a spaceship with those of a lifeboat (near and distance people)
  22. What is the tragedy of the commons?
  23. What is the conclusion in the essay, "Guns in America" (Philp J. Cook and Jens Ludwig)?
  24. What is the basic principle of equality (in the essay "All Animals Are Equal")?