Loyola | Spring 2024 | Final Exam Study Guide
PHIL 181 Ethics | Place/Time:
181-***Please come to the exam prepared to write out your answers with a pen or pencil on
loose leaf
paper. You are responsible for bringing your own writing implements and your own paper.***
The final exam will consist of four short-answer questions. There is a minimum word count of
250
words per response, each of which must answer the question completely, comprehensively, and
in
detail.
The content of the exam will relate to the following topics. Studying these should include
reviewing
class notes and revisiting prior texts, as well as reviewing lecture recordings if you wish. You
should be
prepared to say at least 250 words about each of these topics.
1. What’s Good? (covering material from Part I of the course)
The definition of the good and its relation to politics (Aristotle)
Aristotle believes that good as it relates to politics means that whatever you do, it has to be for
the betterment of the community.
The definition of Enlightenment and the difference between public and private reason (Kant)
Public Reason is when a public official has to explain what they are doing and why, for
example, our congress should explain why they are implementing a law and how it will
affect us. Private reason is when a private citizen has to do something such as pay their
taxes. The definition of Enlightenment is a movement that brought up new ideas about
government and religion in the 18th century.
The separation of morality from biology (Engels/Darwin)
This is the discussion that morality and biology are separate yet somewhat intertwined.
An example of this is that just because something is moral, such as making food for us
to eat out of fish, does not mean that it is biologically correct. This is because nature
does not want us to kill a random species because it is morally right to us.
2. Harmonious Coexistence Challenge (covering material from Part II of the course)
The “problem of speaking for others” and its relationship both to social location and to the
problem of reductionism (Alcoff)
