Week 12 Quiz

Immanuel Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, the source of this week's two formulas of the categorical imperative, was published in which year?

Select one.

• 1785
• 1789
• 1762
• 1859

Which of these commands is a categorical imperative in Kant's sense?

Select one.

• "If you want to pass, study."
• "Do not break a promise to a friend."
• "If you want to win the final, train every day."
• "If you want to make the bus, leave early."

True or false: in the course's quotation Q7, "Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law.", the English words are Kant's own.

True or false.

• True
• False

A student says, "Kant's formula of universal law is the golden rule." Which statement best describes the difference?

Select one.

• The two are the same rule, stated in older and newer words
• The golden rule asks whether your maxim defeats itself, and the formula asks about your wants
• The golden rule depends on what you want; the formula asks whether your maxim could hold for everyone
• The formula applies only to promises, while the golden rule applies to every act

On the formula of humanity (Q8, "never as means only"), which act uses a person merely as a means?

Select one.

• Buying coffee from a cashier who chose the job and is paid
• Hiring a dog walker at an agreed fee and paying it
• Asking a classmate for directions and thanking them
• Getting a new hire to write a report by a false promise of shared credit

Dataset J, statement 5 (illustrative), reads: "Courage is a mean between cowardice and rashness, learned by practice." Which theory does the course key it to?

Select one.

• Utilitarianism
• Virtue ethics
• Kantian deontology
• Social contract theory

In Aristotle's virtue ethics, what is the mean?

Select one.

• The exact arithmetic midpoint between two vices
• The response most people in a community would choose
• The fitting response between too little and too much for this person in this situation
• The rule that holds for everyone, whatever anyone wants

Who devised the case of a runaway tram whose driver can steer from one track to another, killing one person instead of five?

Select one.

• Judith Jarvis Thomson, in 1976
• Peter Singer, in 1972
• Philippa Foot, in 1967
• John Rawls, in 1971

Dataset B, argument 9 (illustrative): "Every person deserves respect. Every prisoner is a person. So every prisoner deserves respect." Which form does it have?

Select one.

• Denying the antecedent
• Disjunctive syllogism
• Modus ponens
• Categorical syllogism

Select every statement the course keys as true about Dataset B's argument 9 (illustrative), "Every person deserves respect. Every prisoner is a person. So every prisoner deserves respect."

Select every option that applies.

• It is valid: if both premises were true, the conclusion could not be false
• Its form is every A is B; every C is A; so every C is B
• The course keys it as sound, because it is valid
• It is invalid, because the conclusion could be false with true premises