PHILOSOPHY question 2

  
This is a take-home exam. Answers to two of the following questions are due in class Tuesday, November 12th. You are restricted in your use for this exam to your class notes and textbooks of this class. Answers should be roughly 2-3 pages typed per question. Clearly identify which question you are answering. Make a backup copy of your answers. Staple your answers together. 

1.) Explain the reasoning that leads from the concept of good will to the discovery of the categorical imperative. How does a categorical imperative differ from a hypothetical imperative? Explain why one is moral while the other, for Kant, is not. Taking the example of lying, show how the categorical imperative can be used to provide a prescription for action. 

2.) Explain the difference between the grounding of a hypothetical imperative and the grounding of a categorical imperative that leads to Kant’s second formulation of the categorical imperative. What is it to treat someone as an end and not as a means only? Why, according to Kant, must we treat others as ends in themselves? Explain how the second formulation of the categorical imperative can forbid such activities as murder or torture while the first formulation cannot.

3.) Explain how the ethics of Kant and Singer could both reject racism or sexism, and yet differ in how they reason to that position. While both could argue against racism, explain how Kant’s ethics could, in principle, absolutely reject slavery while Singer’s ethics could not. 

4.) Singer opposes the eating of animals and the use of them in experiments yet appears to support abortion and euthanasia. Some have considered that to be an inconsistency in Singer’s position. Explain how Singer’s principle of equal consideration of interests can reconcile this seeming inconsistency. 

5.) Making use of analogy, Judith Jarvis Thompson argues that although a human fetus may have a right to life that right does not oblige others to act in the defense of that right (Singer p. 146-149). Explain her reasoning. Discuss the concept of rights upon which her position is based (liberty verses claim).  Explain how Singer critiques her position