Week 10 Quiz

In this course, which statement is normative cultural relativism?

Select one.

• Moral beliefs differ from culture to culture
• What is right is whatever a culture believes is right
• People always act from self-interest, whatever their culture believes
• An act is right because God commands it

A student argues: "Moral beliefs differ from culture to culture. So what is right is whatever each culture believes is right." In this course, how is this argument keyed as it stands?

Select one.

• Invalid, because it moves from what people believe to what is right
• Valid, because it is an instance of modus ponens
• Valid and sound, because its premise is true
• Invalid, because its premise about differing beliefs across cultures is false

Which description fits psychological egoism as this course defines it?

Select one.

• A normative claim that people ought to act from self-interest
• A normative claim that what is right is whatever a culture believes
• A descriptive claim that people always act from self-interest
• A descriptive claim that moral beliefs differ from culture to culture

True or false: in this course, the ring of Gyges is a story Socrates tells in Book VII of Plato's Republic.

True or false.

• True
• False

Which question is the Euthyphro dilemma in the modern form this course uses?

Select one.

• Can reason prove that God exists, or is belief in God only a prudent wager?
• Do moral beliefs differ from culture to culture?
• Would you act justly if you could never be caught?
• Is an act right because God commands it, or does God command it because it is right?

Dataset B, argument 10 (illustrative): "Most people in this town favor the law. So the law is just." How does the course key this argument?

Select one.

• Valid, by modus ponens
• Valid, by the categorical syllogism
• Invalid, because it denies the antecedent of a conditional premise
• Invalid, because it moves from what people believe to what is right

The course reconstructs psychological egoism this way (illustrative): P1 Every action a person performs is caused by one of that person's own desires. P2 (added) Every action caused by one of a person's own desires is done from self-interest. C So every action a person performs is done from self-interest. Which response states the critics' main objection?

Select one.

• The form is invalid, because the conclusion does not follow
• P2 is false, because it confuses whose desire moves you with what the desire is for
• P1 is false, because many of the actions people perform are caused by no desire at all
• C is normative, so it cannot follow from descriptive premises

What does the reformer objection say about normative cultural relativism?

Select one.

• A reformer who calls her own culture's custom wrong would be mistaken by definition
• Every culture's customs are wrong and in need of reform
• Reformers show that moral beliefs never really differ from one culture to the next
• A reformer must appeal to God's commands to be right

In Plato's Euthyphro, which speaker asks whether the pious is loved by the gods because it is pious, or pious because it is loved by the gods?

Select one.

• Glaucon
• Euthyphro
• Socrates
• David Hume

Select every claim below that is descriptive rather than normative.

Select every option that applies.

• Normative cultural relativism
• Descriptive cultural relativism
• Ethical egoism
• Psychological egoism
• Divine command theory