100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Previously searched by you
Previously searched by you
logo
Philosophy A Level Moral Philosophy Questions and answers £4.99
Add to cart
Quickly navigate to
Preview
  2.  
  3. Other
  4.  
  5. Other
  6.  
  7. Philosophy

Exam (elaborations)

Philosophy A Level Moral Philosophy Questions and answers
 0 purchase

Detailed question and answers based on the AQA philosophy syllabus and textbook. This covers the Moral Philosophy segment of the course.

Preview 3 out of 21  pages

Document information

  • September 15, 2023
  • 21
  • 2022/2023
  • Exam (elaborations)
  • Questions & answers

Subjects

Written for

All documents for this subject (5)

Seller

avatar-seller
aoifemaya

Reviews received

Content preview

Normative ethics
1. What is act utilitarianism?
To do actions that have moral worth you should do whichever maximises happiness for the
greatest number of people, avoiding pain.

2. Explain in more detail.

To do moral good is to maximise happiness for the greatest number of people, as well as
avoiding pain. Pleasure and happiness are interchangeable.

3. What is the utility principle?

Utility principle: actions or behaviours are right in so far as they promote happiness or
pleasure, wrong as they tend to produce unhappiness or pain. To maximise utility is to create
the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people.

4. What is a hedonic calculus used for?
Hedonic calculus used to work out the utility of an action- various different measures of
pleasure.

5. Name three different things that are measured.
- Intensity: how strong the pleasure is
- Duration: how long the pleasure lasts
- Fecundity: how likely the pleasure will lead to more pleasure



6. What did Bentham believe was the ethically correct decision to make?

If two different courses of action lead to pleasure, the ethically right one to carry out is
whichever produces a more intense pleasure

7. What are 3 criticisms of Act utilitarianism?
- Difficulties with calculus
- Tyranny of the majority
- Pleasure is not the only good.



8. Explain ‘difficulties with calculus’.

The hedonic calculus is very time consuming and difficult to measure or understand.
Carrying this out for every single action you would make would lead to you to spend more
time using the calculus than actually living your life. Furthermore, which beings should be
included in the calculus. Bentham argues ‘anything that bleeds’.

9. Explain ‘tyranny of the majority’.

Tyranny of the majority is the idea that the happiness/pleasure of a larger group will
continuously be prioritised over a smaller group. Is it really moral for the happiness of certain
groups to always be sacrificed?

10. Explain ‘pleasure is not the only good’.

,Nozick’s experience machine- you can enter a world where happiness is the only emotion
you will ever experience. There will not be pain, or sadness or anything else negative.
However, most people would choose not to enter as they value reality above happiness.
Perhaps, happiness is not the only good and therefore the founding principle of utilitarianism
is not accurate with what is morally right.

11. Explain the criticism: ‘issues around partiality’.

Utilitarianism fails to consider any personal relationships people may have with each other.
Friends and family are more important to us than strangers, but act utilitarianism doesn’t
value relationships- i.e. you are wasting your time spending £10 on a present for your mum
when it could maximise happiness by donating it to a charity. Perhaps utilitarianism is too
idealistic.

12. Explain the issue: ‘whether utilitarianism ignores both the moral integrity and the
intentions of the individual.’

Utilitarianism ignores the intent of the individual. Therefore, even if you were trying to
maximise happiness, but you do not succeed, your action has no moral worth. Similarly, if
you are trying to minimise happiness but it ends up maximising happiness, your action has
more moral worth than the person who did not succeed. This seems counterintuitive.

13. What is rule utilitarianism?
We should follow general rules that maximise pleasure and minimise pain (even if following
these rules doesn’t maximise pleasure in every specific instance).

14. Give more detail.
- Focuses on specific rules to maximise happiness rather than individual actions
- Overcomes tyranny of the majority
- Outlines higher and lower pleasures; “rather be socrates dissatisfied than a fool
satisfied”
- Higher pleasures (of mind) and lower pleasures (of body) to be delineated by those
who experience both- argued that it causes elitism

16. Give an example of how rule utilitarianism would be applied.

While Act Utilitarianism would say that killing someone is okay as long as it maximises
happiness for the greatest number of people, rule utilitarianism may create the rule ‘Killing is
wrong’ and therefore even if it would sometimes maximise happiness, killing is outlined as
morally wrong.

15. What are ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ pleasures?

Higher pleasures are pleasures of the mind, such as watching a play, or reading a good
book. Lower pleasures are pleasures of the body, such as drinking alcohol. Mill argued that
people would prefer higher pleasures to lower pleasures, and therefore these are preferable.

16. What is Mill’s quote about Socrates?

It is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied.

17. How can this be criticised?

, Arguably, this is not hedonic utilitarianism anymore. If some pleasures can be ‘better’ even if
they do not maximise happiness (sometimes reduce it), then can this be hedonic? It should
be seeking to maximise pleasure.

18. Why has Mill’s theory been described as elitist?

It has been argued that these are cultural elitism. Some argue that the term ‘higher
pleasures’ just means ‘the things Mill and his friends like to do’ and is unduly dismissive of
the pleasures of the masses.

19. What is Mill’s greatest happiness principle?
- P1: The only evidence that something is desirable is that it is actually desired
- P2: Each person desires their own happiness
- C1: Therefore, each person’s happiness is desirable.
- C2: The general happiness is desirable
- P3: Each person’s happiness is a good to that person
- P4: The general happiness is a good to the aggregate of all persons
- C3: Happiness is the only good.
-
20. How can Mill be criticised?

The word ‘desirable’ has two meanings: a) a factual sense, meaning that which is to be
desired (could be anything, even morally questionable things) and b) a more moral sense,
meaning things that ought to be desired. Not everything that is desired (a) is desirable (b).
For example, owning slaves in the past has been desired, but it is not desirable.

21. What is preference utilitarianism?

We should act to maximise people’s preferences (even if these preferences do not maximise
pleasure and minimise pain)- non hedonic

22. What is an advantage of preference utilitarianism?

Hedonic utilitarianism can be seen as counterintuitive. Comedians provide great pleasure,
but it is not comparable to the moral value of doctors saving lives in war zones. Preference
utilitarianism provides a solution to this. Most people’s preference of no pain is higher than
that of pleasure, which means helping those who are suffering is very important. Preference
utilitarianism is also better in that preferences can be easily found out by asking people.

23. Explain the criticism: ‘bad preferences’.

Surely we should not maximise bad/crazy preferences? If someone becomes psychotic and
wants to punch people, surely we should not maximise his preferences. Preference
utilitarians try to imagine an ‘ideal viewpoint’ situation.

24. Explain the criticism: “weighing up preferences”.

Bentham’s hedonic calculus attempted to quantify different pleasures to help moral-decision
making. PU needs something similar to this. Does the strength of preference make a
difference, or is it simply about numbers? It is hard to quantify whose preferences are
included

25. What does Kant argue is the only motivation with moral worth?
Good will

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller aoifemaya. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for £4.99. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

71250 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 15 years now

Start selling

Recently viewed by you

Exam (elaborations) ·

(0)

RNSG 1301 Quiz 1 and 2 and Exam 1 questions well answered

Summary ·

(0)

Chapter 1-3-4-5-6 of Accounting & Finance by Ewoud Jansen

Exam (elaborations) ·

(1)

ORG4801 ASSIGNMENT 2 2023 SOLUTIONS (DUE DATE: 15 JUNE 2023)

Summary ·

(2)

biomoleculen: samenvatting en uitgeschreven doelstellingen

Package deal ·

(0)

FAC1502 TUTORIAL LETTERS 101, 201, 202 EXAM PREP DOCUMENT

Exam (elaborations) ·

(0)

RNSG 1430 Thermoregulation questions with answers rated A+

Exam (elaborations) ·

(0)

NYS EMT Exam Comprehensive Questions and Answers _2023/2024

Exam (elaborations) ·

(0)

Florida Civic Literacy Examination with complete solution
£4.99
  • (0)
Add to cart
Added