I have bioethics questions that needed to be answered. I will supply with all the material.

Midterm Exam Study Guide PHI 312: Bioethics | Fall 2018

Due date: Friday, October 12 by midnight

Instructions: Your final exam will take place on Canvas. You will receive five questions to answer, each chosen from the questions below. Each question will be worth 20 percent of your final exam. You are welcome to study for the exam with classmates, but all answers must be your own. Any student who submits an answer that is the same as another student’s will receive a zero on the exam. Because you will have plenty of time to study and prepare your answers, I expect them to be clear, concise, and accurate. Each question can be answered in one to two paragraphs. Although there is no word limit, you only want to include the information that is absolutely necessary. Superfluous information gives the impression that you don’t know what is important to the answer and is as harmful to your grade as missing information. I am grading you not only on accuracy, but also on whether you understand what information is important and what information is not. Do not cite or refer to any material we have not covered in class. Doing so will result in a zero.

Possible Exam Questions 1. The Cultural Differences Argument is an argument about metaethics. What is the

Cultural Differences Argument? Why does the argument fail? Be specific–use an example.

2. Respect for autonomy is one bioethical principle. What is autonomy? Does everyone have the same autonomy? What other moral obligations does respect for autonomy give us?

3. The principles of beneficence and nonmaleficence are also important for medical ethics. What moral guidance do the principles give us? How are they different? Finally, how can they conflict with the principle of autonomy?

4. Theories of moral status underly many of our common moral judgements. According to Singer and McMahan, the common theory of moral status has two problems: the separation problem and the equality problem. What is the common theory of moral status? What property/properties does the common theory of moral status take to be relevant for moral status? People don’t explicitly endorse a theory of moral status, so how can we tell that most people are committed to a view like this?

5. What is the separation problem? What is the equality problem? Why does the common theory of moral status lead to these two problems? How does Singer think we have to respond to these problems?

6. What, according to Singer, is speciesism? How is it like sexism or racism? What theory of moral status does Singer endorse instead of speciesism, and what are the main differences between species and Singer’s view?

7. Velleman relies on the Kantian notion of dignity to inform his position on the ethics of suicide and euthanasia. What is dignity, according to Velleman? How is it connected to theories of moral status? Which theory of moral status is it most closely connected to?

8. Which theories of moral status are most conducive to a pro-life position? Which theories of moral status are most conducive to a pro-choice position? Why?

9. Explain JJ Thomson’s account of the right to life. What is the right to life? How does this account of the right to life undermine pro-life theories of the ethics of abortion, according to Thomson?

10. Thomson’s approach to the ethics of abortion implies that sometimes abortion is bad but not unjust/wrong, and that sometimes abortion is unjust/wrong. When is abortion bad but not wrong, according to Thomson? When is abortion unjust/ wrong, according to Thomson?

11. Thomson argues that in principle one could believe that abortion is wrong because it is a rights-violation, but that abortion is permissible in cases of rape. However, this position is hard to defend. Why does Thomson think that this position is implausible?

12. Marquis thinks that the abortion debate has resulted in a stalemate. Why, argumentatively speaking, have we arrived at a stalemate in Marquis’s view? How does Marquis think we can break the stalemate?

13. Explain Don Marquis’s theory of the wrongness of killing. How does this support the pro-life view of abortion? Why is Marquis’s theory compatible with the permissibility of contraception?

14. What is dignity, according to Velleman? If we have dignity, why do we not have a right to end our lives?

15. McMahan gives a conditional argument for the permissibility of active euthanasia. What is active euthanasia? Briefly reconstruct McMahan’s conditional argument.

16. McMahan argues that rational suicide is permissible. What is rational suicide? Briefly reconstruct McMahan’s argument for the permissibility of rational suicide.