Excelsior College Ethics Exam Study Guide Home

I took the Excelsior College Ethics Exam in 2004. To prepare for the exam, I first read the material in the recommended curriculm. I then created a study guide. I received an A on the exam.

I have organized the information using the topics listed in the exam content guide.

Table of Contents

Excelsior College Ethics Exam Study Guide Home
I. Theory
A. Basic theories
B. Basic concepts
C. Metaethics
D. Moral deliberation
II. Practice
Sources

I. Theory (33%)
A. Basic theories

1. Natural law
1. Morals are based on nature. They are not invented by men.
2. David Hume argued that ration is slave to the passions. As such, morality is not based on reason, but on how we feel about certain actions.
3. Communitariansism builds on Hume’s theories and puts forth that there are things of value that cannot be understood from only the point of view of the individual. Things such as solidarity and reciprocity only make sense at the group level. As such, there needs of the community must be weighed against the needs of the individual.
2. Social contract

   The social contract is the imaginary obligations and method of enforcement that people allegedly subscribe to in a civil society. Some moral philosophers think that man is naturally aggressive and selfish to such an extent that the social contract is completely unnatural (and therefore requires strong enforcement). Other philosophers think that the social contract is much more natural and requires less force.

3. Deontological
   1. Actions are wrong or right are not based on the outcome of the action. Actions are right or wrong in themselves. So, according to deontology, lying is wrong even if it would save someone’s life.
   2. Sometimes called nonconsequentialist.
   3. Morality is based on duty.

4. Utilitarianism
   1. Act utilitarianism–An action is morally obligatory if it produces the most amount of good for all people.
   2. Rule utilitarianism–Rule utilitarianism is a set of rules that produces the greatest amount of good for all people.
   3. Utilitarianism is a way of evaluating moral decisions based on the amount of pleasure that it provides. Good is defined as what brings pleasure to people. Bad is that which brings pain.
   4. John Stuart Mill is a strong proponent of utility.

5. Virtue ethics
   1. Virtue ethics are based on the character (virtues) of humans.
   2. Aristotle (and other Greeks) promoted virtue ethics. Aristotle argued that happiness is the ultimate good.
   3. Nietzsche did not feel that humans had a will to happiness, but that they had a will to power. He argued that all people desired power more than anything else did. However, only the strong could attain any type of real power. When these people exhibited the virtues of pride, self-assertion, power, cruelty, honor, rank, and nobility, then they were acting with noble ethics (or master ethics, they were the overman, or they were the superman). On the other hand, most people are weak; they cannot achieve these virtues. Because they also have the will to power, they created a rival system of ethics that Nietzsche called slave ethics (or slave morals). They include love, compassion, sympathy, obedience, altruism, self-sacrifice, and humility.

6. Egoism and altruism
   1. Psychological egoism claims that all people are motivated only by their own self-interest. This type of egoism is a result of what supporters consider a biological fact.
   2. Ethical egoism is the moral system that claims that people should act only in their own self-interest. Supports of this moral system do not claim that we are necessarily motivated to this by biology, but that we should act this way regardless.

7. Divine command
   1. If God commands you not to do something, then it is wrong to do it.
   2. If God commands nothing about an action, then it morally permissible.
   3. If God commands you to do a specific action, then it is morally obligatory.

8. Intuitionism is either that certain moral principles cannot be proved or that they are self-evident.
9. Feminism
   1. One definition speaks to the political and/or moral beliefs that women should be considered equal to men.
   2. Another definition revolves around the concept that women are fundamentally different from men and that most moral philosophy has only been investigated from the man’s point of view. Since women are different, they may face different moral problems or different solutions to classic moral problems.

10. Existentialism
    1. Existentialism is based on a belief that the human experience is no more and no less than simply existing; many people find existentialism synonymous with depression. Abstract moral questions are somewhat absurd in existentialism. The existentialist attempts to exist in each moment by making conscious choices. Moral dilemmas are only possible when someone is faced with a choice that could cause them to break a commitment.
    2. Sartre is the most famous existentialist.

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