SECOND REVIEW

The hour exam on Wed. 30 March will have two parts. Please bring a blue exam book.

Part I concerns Confucius, Kant, and Mill. You will be asked to identify six quotations (5 points each).

Part II is an essay. You will be asked to write an essay on a variation of the following question, and to use at least two of the quotations identified in Part I to inform your discussion (60 points + 10 for utilization of the quotes).

Do we individually have a moral obligation to help those in “absolute poverty” in other parts of the world? Discuss Kant, Mill, and Confucius on this question. (You may use the theory of W. D. Ross to replace one of the three.) What would be the Kantian, utilitarian, and Confucian position on helping a stranger in need? Develop your ideas with respect to the following cases (the cases specified on the exam may or may not be different): (a) S (a student who can swim) deciding whether to try rescue a child who has fallen into a pond, given that S is late to a job interview and that there are other people within within shouting distance, (b) whether or not S should give $10 to Oxfam to help starving people in Dafur (let’s say that S is himself or herself a student supported largely my parents with only $50 per month spending money, and that there is a Oxfam representative making appeals in front of Gregory Gym), and (c) same situation except that S has no spending money but has been given $10 by his/her boyfriend/girlfriend to buy beer for Saturday night. With respect to Confucianism, please say something about the contrast of ethical universalism and particularism, the doctrine of jen (“humanity”), assimilation of cultural norms, and appropriateness or harmony. With Kant, please address the concept of “moral pull” and at least one formulation of the categorical imperative. And with Mill, discuss at least one problem of applying the “greatest happiness” principle.