University of Dayton

PHL 313

CHAPTER 12

Multiple-Choice Questions

1)Sagoff argues that a problem with using “willingness to pay” as a way of evaluating the environment is that not all of us think of ourselves simply as:

1. 1. Businesspeople
   2. “Willing” to pay
   3. Consumers
   4. Producers

2. Like Kant, Baxter insists that “every human being should be regarded as an end” in him or herself, rather than merely as:
   1. A means

3. An object
4. An animal
5. A soul

3. Baxter writes that unique to the human mind and world are questions of:
   1. The environment
   2. Ought
   3. Pollution
   4. Facts

4. Baxter argues that “there is no normative definition of clean air or pure water,” because there is no normative definition of:
   1. The natural state
   2. The political animal
   3. The human heart
   4. Morality

5. Sagoff argues that if we evaluate public policy by assuming that the goals of our society are contained in the preferences that individuals reveal (or would reveal) in market transactions, then we are making policy on the basis of:
   1. Efficiency
   2. Preference
   3. The environment
   4. Unachievable hopes

6. Baxter argues that ultimately, we should understand our need to care for the environment in terms of:
   1. Trade-offs
   2. Religious imperative
   3. Moral necessity
   4. Penguins

7. Bowie argues that most of business’s unethical conduct regarding the environment occurs in the:
   1. Wetlands
   2. Atmosphere
   3. Factory
   4. Political arena

8. According to Sagoff, to use his own term, are his preferences as a consumer consistent with his judgments as a citizen?
   1. Yes, he is “moral.”
   2. No, he is “schizophrenic.”
   3. Yes, he is “Joseph K.”
   4. Usually, he is “economic.”

9. Singer introduces the concept of “speciesism,” which is used to protect:
   1. Nonhuman animals
   2. The environment
   3. Humans
   4. Citizens

10. Importantly for his argument, Sagoff writes that a “contradiction between principles cannot be settled by asking how much partisans are willing to”:
    1. Wager on social changes
    2. Pay for their beliefs
    3. Argue about what is right
    4. Agree on difficult issues

11. Singer argues that for the great majority of human beings, especially those in urban, industrialized societies, the most direct contact with members of other species is:
    1. At mealtime
    2. In zoo-like parks
    3. In zoos
    4. In the wild

12. For Singer, the world would be morally improved if all humans:
    1. Became vegetarians
    2. Considered their preferences
    3. Owned pets
    4. Were extinct

13. Sagoff argues that certain rights, particularly the rights of privacy and property, are nowhere less helpful than in the area of the natural environment. Sagoff refers to these rights as the rights of:
    1. The West
    2. The ancients

1. 3. The moderns
   4. The developing world

14. Crucially for his position, Sagoff argues that economics maintains which view toward values:
    1. Indifference
    2. Healthy respect
    3. Fearfulness
    4. Paternalism

True/False Questions

1. Sagoff argues that we think of ourselves not

only as consumers but also as citizens.

2. Baxter insists that penguins have legitimate moral interests of their own.

3. Bowie reminds us of the importance of the moral principle that “ought implies can.”

4. In this chapter, we learn that an old Native American way of thinking of our duty to the Earth suggests that the Earth was given to us by our parents.

5. Benjamin Constant observed that the modern world, as opposed to the ancient, emphasizes political over civil liberties, the rights of community, and participation over privacy and property.

6. Bowie insists that business has a special obligation to conserve natural resources.

7. For Singer, the suffering we are willing to inflict on nonhuman animals while they are alive is a very clear indication of our speciesism.

8. Baxter rejects the idea that there is a “right” or “morally correct” state of nature to which we should return.

9. Sagoff worries that what we want for ourselves individually as consumers is not consistent with the goals we would set for ourselves collectively as citizens.

Fill-in-the-Blank Questions

1. A Native American proverb from this chapter states that “the                                    does not drink up the pond in which he                                                  .”

2. In explaining his position on pollution, Baxter says that one criterion is his notion that

                            is a bad thing.