Week 13 Quiz

Dataset J, the theory-matching set, is illustrative. Its statement 7 reads: "Moral rules are the terms rational people would accept so that everyone is better off than in a war of all against all." Which theory is it keyed to?

Select one.

• Utilitarianism
• Social contract theory
• Kantian deontology
• Aristotle's virtue ethics

In which work does the course's pinned sentence "And the life of man, solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short." appear?

Select one.

• Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan (1651)
• John Locke, Second Treatise of Government
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract (1762)
• John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (1859)

True or false: in this course, Hobbes's state of nature is taught as a historical era that existed before the first governments.

True or false.

• True
• False

In Locke's Second Treatise, which rights do people have in the state of nature, before any government exists?

Select one.

• Peace and security, which only an absolute sovereign can provide
• Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness
• Life, liberty, and property
• Equal basic liberties, ranked ahead of the difference principle

Which statement best describes Rousseau's general will, as the course defines it?

Select one.

• Whatever most citizens vote for on a given day
• The private wishes of every citizen, added together into one total
• The command of an absolute sovereign who keeps the peace
• The will of the people as a whole aimed at the common good

A town council considers four rules. Which one does Mill's harm principle rule out?

Select one.

• A rule banning loud music next to a neighbor's bedroom late at night
• A rule requiring adults to eat a vegetable at every meal, for their own health
• A rule banning anyone from dumping paint or other waste into a shared stream that others use
• A rule banning shoving people on a crowded train platform

In which year was John Rawls's A Theory of Justice published?

Select one.

• 1651
• 1859
• 1971
• 1974

Dataset B is illustrative. Its argument 5 reads: "All just laws protect the vulnerable. This law protects the vulnerable. So this law is just." How is it keyed?

Select one.

• Valid, by modus ponens
• Valid, as a categorical syllogism
• Invalid, because it denies the antecedent of its first premise
• Invalid: an unjust law could also protect the vulnerable

Behind Rawls's veil of ignorance, what do the choosers NOT know?

Select one.

• Facts about their own place, such as wealth, talents, and values
• General knowledge about how societies, economies, and markets work
• Anything at all, including how to reason about rules
• The principles of justice they are trying to choose

Which statement gives Nozick's entitlement theory, as the course states it?

Select one.

• Social and economic inequalities are allowed only when they work to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged members of society
• Holdings are just if they were acquired justly, or transferred justly from someone who held them justly, with past injustice corrected
• Power may be used over a person only to prevent harm to others
• Authority comes from the will of the people as a whole aimed at the common good