CARS Ethical Reasoning and Decision Making Flashcards

A CARS passage describes a situation where a social worker faces a conflict between a client's confidentiality and a duty to warn a third party of potential danger. What does this illustrate?

Answer: The tension between professional confidentiality obligations and the duty to prevent harm

This scenario illustrates a classic ethical conflict in helping professions between respecting client confidentiality and protecting a third party from serious foreseeable harm.

In a CARS passage, an author uses a slippery slope argument to argue against a policy. When is this argument considered a fallacy?

Answer: When there is no evidence that the first step will inevitably lead to the predicted extreme outcome

The slippery slope becomes a fallacy when the chain of events leading to the extreme outcome is asserted without sufficient evidence that each step will necessarily follow.

A CARS passage presents an argument using the phrase 'two wrongs make a right.' This is an example of which type of reasoning error?

Answer: Tu quoque, which attempts to justify a wrongful action by pointing to someone else's wrongdoing

Tu quoque ('you too') is a fallacy that deflects criticism by pointing to the accuser's similar behavior, rather than addressing the merits of the original criticism.

A CARS passage argues that a historical wrong justifies a present policy of preferential treatment for a disadvantaged group. Which concept of justice does this argument invoke?

Answer: Corrective justice, which seeks to remedy past wrongs and restore fairness

Corrective justice argues that unjust actions from the past create an obligation to take remedial steps in the present to restore equity.

In a CARS passage, an ethicist argues that intentions matter more than outcomes when judging the morality of an action. Which ethical theory supports this view?

Answer: Kantian deontology, which holds that morality depends on acting from a sense of duty with good will

Kant argued that the moral worth of an action depends on the intention behind it—specifically, whether it is done out of duty and good will—not its consequences.

A CARS passage describes a community that must decide between a policy that benefits the majority while significantly harming a small minority. Which ethical framework would most directly oppose this policy?

Answer: Rights-based ethics, which holds that individual rights cannot be violated even for majority benefit

Rights-based ethics (deontological) holds that individuals possess fundamental rights that cannot be overridden simply because doing so would benefit the majority.