Logic and Ethics Flashcards
7 cards from real CLT practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Logic and Ethics flashcards as text
The trolley problem is most often used to illustrate the tension between:
Answer: Deontological ethics and consequentialist ethics
The trolley problem pits the consequentialist goal of saving more lives against the deontological prohibition on using a person as a mere means.
Which Kantian principle holds that persons must never be treated merely as instruments for achieving another's goals?
Answer: The formula of humanity (respect for persons)
Kant's second formulation of the categorical imperative commands us to treat humanity—in ourselves and others—always as an end, never merely as a means.
When a physician must decide whether to disclose a terminal prognosis, the primary ethical tension is between:
Answer: Patient autonomy and the duty to benefit the patient (beneficence)
Autonomy requires truth-telling so the patient can make informed decisions, while beneficence may counsel shielding the patient from distressing information.
According to John Locke's social contract theory, the authority of government derives from:
Answer: The ongoing consent of the governed
Locke argued that individuals surrender only limited natural rights and that government authority is conditional on protecting life, liberty, and property.
Which scenario most clearly illustrates the problem with moral relativism?
Answer: Arguing that all moral judgments are binding only within one's own cultural group
Moral relativism holds that ethical standards are culture-specific, which makes cross-cultural moral criticism logically impossible.
Aristotle's doctrine of the 'golden mean' holds that virtue consists of:
Answer: A disposition lying between the extremes of excess and deficiency
Aristotle taught that each virtue (e.g., courage) is the mean between a vice of excess (rashness) and a vice of deficiency (cowardice).
W.D. Ross described a 'prima facie duty' as one that:
Answer: Is binding unless overridden by a stronger moral duty in a specific situation
Ross's prima facie duties (e.g., fidelity, gratitude, non-maleficence) create genuine moral obligations that can yield to more pressing duties in particular cases.