Review for test #2

Details about the test:

Location: regular classroom (518 Southam Hall)

Day & time: regular class time (Wednesday August 6th, 6:05pm)

Please remember to arrive a few minutes early so you can drop your bags and books at the front and take your seat

The test will finish at 7:15 – you’ll have over 60 minutes writing time. The second half lecture begins at 7:30pm.

The following ARE covered on this test:

• Locke, “The Creation of Property”
• Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons”
• Singer, “All Animals are Equal”
• Desjardins, “Ethical Theory and the Environment”
• Kant, “Duties to Animals”
• Regan, “The Case for Animal Rights”
• Taylor, “The Ethics of Respect for Nature”
• VIDEO: “Learning from Ladakh

Below are some suggestions for preparation. The first section contains concepts, definitions, etc. from lectures and readings. The second includes short-answer questions where you can practice choosing your language carefully and developing clear arguments. Concept/definition questions and short answer questions are both found on the test. All material on the test is not necessarily covered below.

Concepts & definitions:

• John Locke
• Self-ownership
• Labour-mixing
• Value-adding
• Locke’s proviso
• The Tragedy of the Commons argument
• Immanuel Kant
• Kant's maxims
• Jeremy Bentham
• John Stuart Mill
• Paul Taylor
• Peter Singer
• Tom Regan
• Bentham's dictum
• The utilitarian principle
• Extensionism
• Subject-of-a-life
• The categorical imperative
• Hypothetical imperitives
• Ends and means
• Aunt Bea
• Moral agent
• Moral standing
• Sentience
• Speciesism
• Ethical theory
• The story of Mathew Donnelly
• J.S. Mill's basic utilitarian argument
• Consequences
• Happiness / Well-being
• Moral equality
• Legal rights
• Moral rights
• Universal human rights
• Deontological ethics
• Justification
• The social contract
• Human dignity
• Belief system
• The biocentric outlook on nature
• Ultimate moral attitude
• Respect for nature
• Set of rules of duty
• Non-malificience
• Non-interference
• Fidelity
• Restitutive justice

Questions on readings:

Why does Singer think that “speciesism” is a moral wrong?

Re-state the basic points in Singer’s argument.

Briefly explain Tom Regan’s argument for animal rights.

What criterion does Regan use to decide which animals get rights and which don’t?

Compare the criterion of moral standing used by Regan to that used by Singer.

How do you define “sentience”?

How do you define “subject-of-a-life”?

Is there a parallel between speciesism and sexism/racism?

What is at stake when we talk about animal “rights”?

How do you define "utilitarianism", "deontological ethics" and "virtue ethics"?

What are some basic differences between these approaches to morality?

What are the elements and basic terms of each theory?

What is the difference between “ends” and “means”?

How does Peter Singer make use of utilitarianism in designing his moral argument?

In your own words, state whether or not Peter Singer's argument is anthropocentric

Which theory is more convincing—deontological or utilitarian ethics?

What are the limitations of each theory?

What is labour-mixing?

Are consequences all that matter? What about personal responsibility? What about rights and duties?

Is happiness all that matters?

Is moral equality too strict?

Is Singer an advocate of animal rights?

What is the moral claim underlying Hardin’s tragedy of the commons argument?

How do Locke's property rights argument and Hardin's tragedy of the commons argument relate to environmental issues?

Identify two or more moral claims associated with Locke's argument.

What is Locke's argument about the legitimate acquisition of private property?

What is the relevance of Locke's argument in debates about environmental ethics?

In your own words, explain Hardin's tragedy of the commons story, and state whether you think Hardin's strong conclusions are applicable to an issue like resource depletion.

Identify the factual claims that a part of the motivation for Hardin's argument.

What is wrong with the tragedy of the commons argument?

Using concepts we’ve looked at in class (e.g. anthropocentrism/biocentrism, extensionism, atomism/holism), how would you characterize the Paul Taylor’s position?

Select one of the modern examples of virtue ethics (care ethics, student codes of ethics), and explain in your own words how this approach would likely come into conflict with utilitarian or deontological approaches.