PHIL1011- What is the biggest difference between Kant’s moral

Phil 1011 Final Exam  

Ethics Exam Questions *

1. What is the biggest difference between Kant’s moral theory and utilitarianism? Which view is more plausible, and why? What is the best objection to your view, and how would you respond to it?

2. What is the biggest difference between Kant’s theory of motivation and Hume’s? Why is Hume’s theory of motivation often thought to have such striking philosophical consequences? Hint: what is Hume’s notorious view about the rational status of ultimate desires? Evaluate this view. *

3. What is the Euthyphro Problem? Should theists say that God is a good-maker or a good-tracker? What is the biggest problem with the answer you’ve chosen? In your view, what does the Euthyphro Problem show us about God and ethics?

 4. What should Sam do with his extra money? Explain how your answer relates to the moral theories we’ve explored in this unit. Give the best argument you can think of for your view, and try to anticipate the strongest objection to it.

Beauty Exam Questions

1. According to Kant, the experience of the beautiful must be ‘disinterested.’ What does this mean? And how does the judgment of beauty differ from merely pleasurable experiences and judgments of perfection? Is Kant’s view that judgments of beauty must be disinterested plausible? What might be some possible objections, and can Kant’s account withstand them? (Consider, for instance, how Devereaux might respond to Kant.)

2. Herder is often regarded as the philosopher who ‘saved Shakespeare.’ How did he do this? Explain Herder’s argument for why Shakespeare should be judged according to different standards from the Greek tragedians and consider whether it works. What are the implications of his argument?

3. Arthur Danto writes, “To see something as art requires something that the eye cannot descry – an atmosphere of artistic theory, a knowledge of the history of art: an artworld.” What is the relation between aesthetics and art on Danto’s view? Critically evaluate Danto’s use the example of Warhol’s “Brillo Boxes” (1964) to defend his view.

4. Mary Devereaux argues that the moral status of the work of art should affect the way we judge its quality. Do you agree with Devereaux’s argument? Drawing on her example of Leni Riefenstahl’s The Triumph of the Will your answer should a) provide an explication of how and why Devereaux departs from Plato’s identification of the good with the moral, b) explicate Plato’s view (as elaborated by Diotima in the Symposium) and c) determine which of the two views (Devereaux’s or Plato’s) makes more sense and why. Be sure to provide a detailed analysis of Devereaux’s response to both formalist and sophisticated formalist approaches to Triumph of the Will.