REVIEW FOR FIRST EXAM
The exam on Monday 21
February will have two parts, one comprised of six multiple-choice (or
true-false) questions (5% each) targeting the reading as discussed in lecture
and section, the second a philosophic essay (70%). In preparation for the essay, review the following ethical
theories or claims:
á
The libertarian
political theory of John Stuart Mill along with his Òharm principle.Ó
á
The hedonism of Charvaka
and the premise that everyone in fact seeks pleasure.
á
The value pluralism of
the Kamasutra and the position
that duties are relative to Òstage of lifeÓ and other factors.
á
The authoritarianism of
Hsun Tsu and the argument that since humans have dispositions that are by
nature evil they need forcibly to be trained.
á
The ahimsa teaching of Jainism and the argument that
acknowledgement of others (including animals) as selves demands practice of
non-injury.
á
GandhiÕs teaching that passive
resistance is the morally best
strategy given a context where one sees an evil in current government.
á
WalzerÕs analyis of the
conditions of just war.
á
The naturalistic ethics
of Zera Yacob and his harmony criterion for distinguishing right from wrong
practices and religious teachings.
á
Al-FarabiÕs elitist
political philosophy and position that the best ruler should be the person who
knows what is good for the citizenry and enacts policies to achieve it, along
with his definition of happiness and identification of happiness as the only
true value.
á
FanonÕs justification of
violence for decolonization.
á
The ethical pluralism of
Ross and his Òbest lightsÓ approach to ethical reasoning.
á
BerlinÕs defense of
value pluralism and political liberty.
You should also be able to use in your essay relevant facts about the War on Drugs from the selection from Judge James Gray or about the Iraq War from the pieces by Chris Hedges, Gary Wills, and Stanley Hoffman. The essay questionÑwhether you choose to talk about drug policies or the warÑwill be framed by the argument of Orhan Pamuk who indicts public policies that fail to consider the humiliation of the Òdamned.Ó