Study Questions for the Second Examination

Phil 102

Contemporary Moral Problems

I will select four of the following questions to appear on the second midterm examination. You should prepare written answers for each question and then study your answers carefully as preparation for the exam. And please remember that your answers should be written for an audience that is unfamiliar with the material. I expect you to write as though you were teaching the material to the reader. In preparing your answers, it will be helpful to use both your notes and the readings. Good luck!

1. Explain why someone might think that one person’s right to life necessarily outweighs another person’s right to control her own body.

2. Give an argument for thinking that the assumption that the fetus is a person implies that abortion is wrong even in the case of pregnancy resulting from rape.

3. Explain Thomson’s violinist example. In particular, why does Thomson think it is permissible to unplug from the violinist? And how does this example bear on the claim that one person’s right to life necessarily outweighs another person’s right to control her own body.

4. Explain the distinction between positive rights and negative rights. What sort of right is the right to life, on Thomson’s view?

5. On Warren’s view, pro-life arguments trade on an ambiguity in the term “person.” Explain.

6. Explain in detail Warren’s argument for the view that the fetus is not a person.

7. What is Warren’s response to the claim that the fetus has rights because it is a potential person?

8. Explain and criticize the Considered Judgments Argument in support of the FLO Thesis.

9. Explain how considerations of autonomy and compassion traditionally figure into the justification of euthanasia.

10. Fully explain and evaluate Dyck’s argument that suicide is wrong.