Moral Philosophy — Five-Mark Model Answers
Paper 1 — 63 five-mark questions across 4 topics
Utilitarianism
12 questions
Explain Bentham's quantitative hedonistic utilitarianism. [5]
Explain Mill's qualitative hedonistic utilitarianism. [5]
Explain Mill's 'proof’ of the greatest happiness principle. [5]
Explain preference utilitarianism. [5]
Explain the difference between act and rule utilitarianism. [5]
Explain how Nozick's experience machine calls into question whether pleasure is the only good. [5]
Explain how fairness and individual liberty/rights are issues for utilitarianism. [5]
Explain how there is a risk of 'tyranny of the majority' with utilitarianism. [5]
Explain how utilitarianism has problems of calculation, including which beings to include. [5]
Explain how there are issues around partiality with utilitarianism. [5]
Explain the issue with utilitarianism that it ignores the moral integrity of the individual. [5]
Explain the issue with utilitarianism that it ignores the intentions of the individual. [5]
Kantian Ethics
12 questions
Explain Kant's account of a 'good will'. [5]
Explain the distinction between acting in accordance with duty and acting out of duty. [5]
Explain the distinction between hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. [5]
Explain the first formulation of the categorical imperative. [5]
Explain the distinction between a contradiction in conception and a contradiction in will. [5]
Explain the second formulation of the categorical imperative. [5]
Explain how it might be argued that Kant's theory ignores consequences. [5]
Explain the criticism that Kant ignores the value of certain motives. [5]
Explain why it might be argued that Kant's theory fails to solve conflicts of duty. [5]
Explain the issue with Kant’s ethics that not all universalisable maxims are distinctly moral. [5]
Explain the issue with Kant’s ethics that not all non-universalisable maxims are immoral. [5]
Explain the issue with Kant’s ethics that morality is a system of hypothetical, rather than categorical, imperatives (Philippa Foot). [5]
Virtue Ethics
16 questions
Explain what Aristotle means by 'eudaimonia'. [5]
Explain Aristotle’s function argument. [5]
Explain the relationship between virtues and function in Aristotle’s ethics. [5]
Explain Aristotle’s account of virtues as character traits or dispositions. [5]
Explain Aristotle’s ideas about the role of education / habituation in the development of moral character. [5]
Explain the importance of feelings in Aristotle’s ethics. [5]
Explain the difference between voluntary, involuntary and non-voluntary actions in Aristotle’s ethics. [5]
Explain the relation between virtues, actions and reasons in Aristotle’s ethics. [5]
Explain what is meant by 'the doctrine of the mean'. [5]
Explain Aristotle's 'skill analogy'. [5]
Explain what is meant by 'practical wisdom'. [5]
Explain the issue with Aristotle’s ethics that it cannot give sufficiently clear guidance on how to act. [5]
Explain how clashing / competing duties might pose a problem for Aristotle’s ethics. [5]
Explain how the definition of virtuous acts and virtuous persons in terms of each other in Aristotel’s ethics might be circular. [5]
Explain the issue with Aristotle’s ethics that a trait can be a virtue without contributing to eudaimonia. [5]
Explain the issue with Aristotle’s ethics concerning the relationship between the good for the individual and the moral good. [5]
Meta-ethics
23 questions
Explain the origins of moral principles: reason, emotion/attitudes, or society. [5]
Explain the distinction between cognitivism and non-cognitivism about ethical language. [5]
Explain moral realism. [5]
Explain moral naturalism. [5]
Explain how Bentham's utilitarianism is a form of moral naturalism. [5]
Explain how virtue ethics is a form of moral naturalism. [5]
Explain moral non-naturalism. [5]
Explain intuitionism. [5]
Explain Moore's 'open question argument' against all reductive metaethical theories. [5]
Explain Moore's 'naturalistic fallacy'. [5]
Explain how Hume's Fork poses a problem for moral realist theories. [5]
Explain how Ayer's verification principle poses a problem for moral realist theories. [5]
Explain Hume's argument against moral realism that moral judgements are not beliefs since beliefs alone could not motivate us. [5]
Explain how Hume's 'is-ought gap' might be used to criticise moral realist theories. [5]
Explain Mackie's argument from relativity against moral realism. [5]
Explain Mackie's arguments from queerness. [5]
Explain moral anti-realism. [5]
Explain Mackie's error theory. [5]
Explain Ayer's emotivism. [5]
Explain Hare's prescriptivism. [5]
Explain the issue with moral anti-realism that it cannot account for how we use moral language, including moral reasoning, persuading, disagreeing, etc. [5]
Explain the issue with moral anti-realism that it cannot account for moral progress. [5]
Explain the issue with moral anti-realism that it leads to moral nihilism. [5]
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