There will be three essay questions on the test. You should write a full and detailed answer for each question, using at least 20 minutes per question.  Answers will be evaluated on the basis of thoroughness, accuracy, and originality.

Following is a list of questions you should be able to answer.  They are not the questions that will appear on the test, but if you can answer all of these questions, you will be able to answer the test questions as well.

1. What is good, according to Mill?  How does he argue for this?  Which goods count for the most, and why?

2. How do you tell what action is right, in a given situation, according to Mill?

3. Explain each of the three criticisms of utilitarianism discussed in class.  How have utilitarians met these criticisms, and how have critics responded?

4. What is the only thing good without qualification, according to Kant?  Why are qualities of character such as compassion, courage, etc. not “good without qualification”?

5. What is the difference between “acting from duty” and “acting from inclination”?  Give examples of each.

6. What is the difference between “acting from duty” and “acting in accordance with duty”?  Give examples.

7. Why should we obey the Categorical Imperative, according to Kant?

8. What does it mean to “universalize” your maxim?  Why does Kant think this is important?

9. Give an example of a maxim that cannot be universalized, and explain why not.

10. What does Kant mean by his injunction “never to treat another person as a mere means, but always also as an end in himself”?

11. We constantly make use of other persons in our daily lives.  In what kinds of instances is our “use” of others permissible, and in what kinds is it not permissible, according to Kant?

12. Explain each of the objections to Kant’s theory discussed in class and how Kant might respond to them.

13. Identify the respects in which Kant’s theory is similar to Mill’s, and the respects in which it is different.

14. Assume that medical advances permit eye transplants to be made from any person to any other person.   A proposed statute would require all sighted persons to be put on a roster from which eye donors would be chosen at random to donate one eye to a blind person.  How would Kant and Mill, respectively, analyze this proposal?