topics for Exam #3

click here for chapter 6: Kant's formalism,
click here for chapter 9: Aristotle's virtue morality,

midterm exam, (fall 2021)

ETHICS PART

1. Is there moral knowledge? Explain your answer from the evolutionary/historic point of view.

2. What does it mean to say that moral facts are "intersubjective"?

3. Is "giving a seat to an old woman in a bus" a moral norm? Whether yes or no, explain your answer.

4. Tom comes from culture A professes cultural relativism and believes slavery is wrong, Theresa comes from culture B, professes cultural relativism and believes slavery is right. Is there a way for Tom to convince Theresa she is wrong? Explain.

5. The following question is based on this lecture. Is the egoist capable of being benevolent to people? Whatever your answer EXPLAIN WHY 

CRITICAL THINKING PART

Necessary and sufficient conditions: Answer YES or NO.

1. If A is necessary condition for B, is B a sufficient condition for A? 

2. Suppose Alice loves John and John loves Alice. Is their mutual love a sufficient condition for the success of their relationship? 

3. A job requirement says "Qualified candidate must speak Spanish". If so, speaking Spanish is a _____ condition for getting the job. 

4. Identify the following fallacies: 

a) God does not exist because every argument for the existence of God has been shown to be unsound. 

b) Smoking causes cancer because my father was a smoker and he died of lung cancer. 

c) We have no evidence showing that he is innocent. So he must be guilty. 

5. If Bogota is north of Mexico and Mexico is north of Los Angeles, then Bogota is north is Los Angeles. Is this deductive argument valid? sound?  

6. Of this inductive argument. Tell if they are strong or weak. 

The last fifty lottery tickets that Francis purchased have been losers. Therefore, the next one he buys is virtually certain to be a winner. 

7. Cause and effect. Mr. Ferguson is invited to Mr. Smith's party where is served seafood for dinner. When Mr. Ferguson goes back home he feels stomach pain and later has an attack of diarrhea. 

What conditions must be satisfied in order for us to say: "Smith's seafood caused Mr. Ferguson's stomach sickness".

Moral traditionalism

An action is right if it is supported by one's traditions. 

what's a tradition? our shared history. principles that are proved over time. 

(clearly, if we can survive, traditions show to be essential tools for human survival).

why?

1. traditions provide meaning, 

2. they guarantee adaptation to the environment, 

3. they ensure cultural flourishing.

where does tradition come from? 

traditions stem from customs, rituals & conventions.  

how?

*each generation inherits the experience and culture of previous iterations, through convention and precedent. this is how humans pass it down to their descendants. philosopher Edmund Burke counsels: "The individual is foolish, but the species is wise". 

*the state of traditionalism is the achievement of the communal enterprise expressing the spiritual and organic qualities of the culture. 

*change always happens, but cannot be imposed arbitrarily (think of the suppression of religion in the USSR for 80 years, only to come back with renewed force after the fall of communism). change flows naturally from incremental changes in the community's traditions. leadership, authority and hierarchy are natural products. 

*traditionalism respects the notion of hierarchies. a hierarchy is a communal ordering of group organization not imposed from above, but evolved in time.

hierarchies cannot happen overnight. they take time to happen (the lapse of time ensures that the hierarchy goes through a process of trial and error).  

human society is hierarchical (i.e. it always involves various interdependent inequalities, degrees classes, and political structures that recognize this fact prove the most just, thriving, and generally beneficial). hierarchy allows for the preservation of the whole community simultaneously, instead of protecting one part at the expense of the other. 

important traditional principles: 

 

1. back to nature! 

2. preserving the family, 

3. the conservation of natural resources and stewardship of the land, farm to table (artisanal food over processed food, etc). 

4. trade school or farming as alternatives to unemployment.

SUMMING UP:

1. traditions create social cohesion and group identity: they function as shared symbolic systems—rituals, narratives, gestures, and practices that allow individuals to recognize themselves as part of a collective. anthropologically speaking, this is crucial: traditions bind people through repeated, patterned action. they produce: a sense of belonging, continuity across generations, mutual trust through shared expectations. Émile Durkheim would say they create “social solidarity”: individuals feel they are part of something larger than themselves. 

2. traditions transmit cultural knowledge and embodied skills: they are not just beliefs; they are repositories of practical knowledge transmitted through enculturation. through them, societies pass down: social norms and moral frameworks, artisanal or technical skills, ecological knowledge (e.g., farming cycles, fishing techniques), aesthetic forms (music, architecture, craftsmanship). 

anthropologists often emphasize this non-written memory—knowledge embedded in the body through repeated practice. Pierre Bourdieu would call this habitus. 

3. traditions provide symbolic meaning and orientation in the world: they help communities interpret reality by assigning symbols, myths, and cosmologies that give coherence to life. They answer fundamental human questions: Why do we do this? What is the proper way to act? Clifford Geertz described traditions as “webs of significance” that humans themselves spin.