Deck 10: Religion and Moral Reasoning

Question 1

Which of the following is NOT listed in Chapter 10 as a way in which religion matters to moral reasoning?

A) Religious teachings offer new premises for moral reasoning.
B) Religious teachings show us which kinds of behavior are natural and which are unnatural.
C) Religious teachings provide new or additional justification for moral claims that we might have accepted anyway.
D) Religious teachings include nonmoral claims that have significant moral implications.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Many religions impose specific moral requirements or grant explicit moral permission to do certain things. How do these requirements and permissions affect moral reasoning?

A) It does not affect moral reasoning because including such premises would be a form of cultural relativism.
B) They undermine the possibility of using moral reasoning to interact with people who don't share one's religious views.
C) Followers of a particular religion can use those requirements and permissions as premises in moral reasoning.
D) Since all moral reasoning must be secular to appeal to everyone, these requirements and permissions do not affect moral reasoning.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following best explains the idea that religious teachings can provide new or additional justification for moral claims that we might have accepted anyway?

A) When we have no reason to think that a moral claim is true, but religious teachings explicitly say that it is true or provide premises that clearly imply that it is true, religious teachings have provided new justification for a moral claim that we might have accepted anyway.
B) Because the use of religious teachings in moral reasoning entails the acceptance of cultural relativism, using religious teachings allows one to appeal to relativistic patterns of reasoning.
C) The Islamic requirement to make a pilgrimage to Mecca demonstrates that religious teachings provide new justification for moral claims.
D) When a moral question is controversial but religious teachings include an explicit answer to the question or moral claims that imply a clear answer to it, religious teachings have provided additional justification for a claim that we might have accepted anyway.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of the following best explains the idea that even nonmoral religious teachings can matter to moral reasoning?

A) Because religious teachings about morality are really descriptive claims about what God or some religious authority says, religious moral commands are actually nonmoral claims.
B) Nonmoral claims that undermine the plausibility of a particular religion also undermine any moral claims found in that religion.
C) Some nonmoral religious claims, such as claims about the afterlife or the soul, affect how we understand or apply premises about our general moral obligations.
D) Only nonmoral religious teachings are usable in moral reasoning because of the Euthyphro dilemma.

Question 5

What is the difference between objective obligation and subjective obligation?

A) Your objective obligation is what you really ought to do, whereas your subjective obligation is what you believe you ought to do.
B) Your objective obligation is what you really ought to do, given the way the world actually is, whereas your subjective obligation is what you would be obligated to do if all of your beliefs were true.
C) Your objective obligation is what you ought to do from a scientific perspective, whereas your subjective obligation is what your religion says you ought to do.
D) Your objective obligation is what you ought to do, based solely on reasoning available to people of all religions, whereas your subjective obligation is what you ought to do given your particular religious beliefs.

Question 6

Your objective obligation is:

A) What you are really morally obligated to do, given your actual moral beliefs.
B) What you would be morally obligated to do if all of your moral beliefs were correct.
C) What you can prove that you are morally obligated to do without using religious reasoning.
D) What you are really morally obligated to do, given the way things actually are.

Question 7

Your subjective obligation is:

A) What you are actually obligated to do, given what you believe.
B) What you would be obligated to do if you had a particular moral belief.
C) What you would be obligated to do if things really were the way you believe them to be.
D) What you are actually obligated to do, given the way the world actually is.

Question 8

Suppose that Jeffrey has promised to deliver some ransom money to the people who kidnapped Bunny, whom he believes to be in great danger unless the kidnappers receive the ransom. If Jeffrey incorrectly believes that Franz is the kidnapper, which of the following is most plausible?

A) Jeffrey is subjectively obligated to deliver the ransom money to Franz, but he is not objectively obligated to do so.
B) Jeffrey is objectively obligated to deliver the ransom money to Franz, but he is not subjectively obligated to do so.
C) Jeffrey is both subjectively and objectively obligated to deliver the ransom money to Franz.
D) Jeffrey is neither subjectively nor objectively obligated to deliver the ransom money to Franz.

Question 9

According to Chapter 10, how is the distinction between objective obligation and subjective obligation useful when thinking about religion and morality?

A) It enables people who agree about religious claims but disagree about the moral implications of those claims to "agree to disagree" about those implications.
B) It allows people who disagree about some religious claim to agree about the subjective obligations of people who accept that religious claim.
C) It provides a polite way of saying that someone else is wrong by admitting that something is a subjective obligation rather than an objective obligation.
D) It means that people of different religions can both be correct about what they are objectively obligated to do.

Question 10

Ethical egoism is:

A) The view that without religion, each person ends up pursuing only his or her own self-interest.
B) The view that everyone, including religious people, is ultimately motivated only by self-interest.
C) The view that each person is morally obligated to pursue only his or her own self-interest.
D) The view that there is an enduring self that persists through time and survives the death of the body.

Question 11

According to Chapter 10, what do traditional Christian ideas about the afterlife imply about ethical egoism?

A) That ethical egoism is nonsensical.
B) That ethical egoism is incorrect.
C) That ethical egoism requires a life that contradicts traditional Christian ideas of morality.
D) That ethical egoism requires a life of being kind and generous to others, even if that requires sacrifice or suffering.

Question 12

According to Chapter 10, what do traditional Buddhist ideas about the self imply about ethical egoism?

A) That ethical egoism is false or nonsensical.
B) That ethical egoism requires a life of being kind and generous to others, even if that requires sacrifice or suffering.
C) That ethical egoism requires taking karma into account in deciding what is in one's interests.
D) That ethical egoism is false because true Buddhists are motivated by the desire to help others.

Question 13

According to Santideva's NON-SELF argument, as presented in Chapter 10, why should you be just as concerned for others' suffering as you are for your own?

A) Since suffering requires a self and Buddhism teaches that there is no self, there is no such thing as suffering and thus no reason to be concerned about it.
B) Because the Buddhist doctrine that there is no self implies that no suffering is "your" suffering, and so all suffering should be of equal concern to you.
C) According to the law of karma, the quality of your next life depends on your behavior in this life, and so the most effective way to reduce your suffering in the long run is to concern yourself with others' suffering.
D) Because attaching greater importance to your own suffering amounts to ethical egoism.

Question 14

In Chapter 10, what are the discussions of Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist implications for ethical egoism supposed to show?

A) That some religions' moral requirements conflict with ethical egoism.
B) That many religions' teachings do not settle questions about which moral theory is correct.
C) That even nonmoral religious claims can have significant moral implications.
D) That nonmoral religious claims are never relevant to questions of morality.

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT listed in Chapter 10 as a way in which moral reasoning matters to religion?

A) It can help people with different religious views agree about moral issues.
B) It can help people understand why a religion requires or permits what it does.
C) It helps religious people apply their religions' teachings to everyday life.
D) It helps people determine which religion is correct.

Question 16

According to Chapter 10, how can moral reasoning help someone apply religious teachings to everyday life?

A) By reasoning from religiously based moral claims, people can apply religious teachings to situations for which their religion does not provide explicit guidance.
B) By helping people determine which religion is correct, moral reasoning can help determine which religious teachings to apply in their own lives.
C) Moral reasoning can help religious people discover what their subjective obligations are, which religion alone cannot do.
D) Moral reasoning can help people decide which general moral principles to accept, based on their religion's explicit instructions about particular cases.

Question 17

According to Chapter 10, why is moral reasoning especially important in a religiously pluralistic society?

A) Because in a pluralistic society non-religiously based moral reasoning is more likely to convince more people than religiously based moral reasoning is.
B) Because strictly religiously based moral reasoning has no place in a pluralistic society.
C) Because a pluralistic society requires a strict separation between church and state, which requires secular moral reasoning.
D) Because moral reasoning enables members of different religions to achieve reflective equilibrium.

Question 18

What is the divine command theory of morality?

A) The view that God commands us to act morally.
B) The view that we can understand God's commands through moral reasoning.
C) The view that we only need to obey God's commands when they are morally correct.
D) The view that morality is identical to God's commands.

Question 19

Divine command theory is:

A) The view that right actions are right and wrong actions are wrong because God has commanded and forbidden them, respectively.
B) The view that God has commanded certain actions and forbidden others because those actions are morally right and wrong, respectively.
C) The view that although God's commandments provide additional reasons to act morally, everyone has independent reasons to do what morality requires.
D) The view that although morality exists independent of God, God's commands provide us with knowledge of morality.

Question 20

The Euthyphro dilemma begins with what question?

A) Is it more effective to promote your self-interest by focusing on your own well-being or on the well-being of others?
B) Are right acts right because God commands them or does God command them because they are right?
C) Would one be obligated to obey God's commands if God were not perfectly good?
D) What should you do when your religion tells you to do one thing but your conscience tells you to do something else?

Question 21

The Euthyphro dilemma is supposed to pose a problem for what view?

A) Ethical egoism.
B) The Christian view of the afterlife.
C) Divine command theory.
D) Cultural relativism.

Question 22

According to Chapter 10, how does a divine command theorist answer the question posed by the Euthyphro dilemma?

A) By saying that God commands right acts because they are right.
B) By saying that ethical egoism entails that one ought to obey God's commands.
C) By saying that ethical egoism does not require that one obey God's commands.
D) By saying that right acts are right because God commands them.

Question 23

How, according to Chapter 10, is the Euthyphro dilemma supposed to create a problem for the divine command theory?

A) It shows that on divine command theory, God's commands are arbitrary.
B) It shows that God is not the creator of all things.
C) Both (a) and (b).
D) Neither (a) nor (b).

Question 24

What is the Euthyphro dilemma supposed to show about divine command theory?

A) That divine command theory would be true if God existed.
B) That divine command theory is false.
C) That divine command theory is only partly true.
D) That divine command theory would be false if God did not exist.

Question 25

What is the Euthyphro dilemma supposed to show about the relationship between God and morality?

A) That because God does not exist, neither does morality.
B) That morality depends entirely on God's arbitrary commandments.
C) That morality exists at least partly independently of God.
D) That because God commands right acts, we are obligated to do as God commands.

Question 26

According to Chapter 10, religious teachings make no difference to moral reasoning.

Question 27

According to Chapter 10, religious teachings can supply new moral premises for moral reasoning.

Question 28

According to Chapter 10, religious teachings can provide new or additional justification for moral claims we might have accepted anyway.

Question 29

According to Chapter 10, nonmoral religious claims never have any significant moral implications.

Question 30

Of the various kinds of claims that religions make, only moral claims can play a role in moral reasoning.

Question 31

Some nonmoral religious claims have important moral implications.

Question 32

Ethical egoism is the view that each person ought to pursue only his or her own self-interest.

Question 33

Ethical egoism is the view that everything anyone does is ultimately motivated by self-interest.

Question 34

According to ethical egoism, no one should consider anyone else's interests in any way when deciding what to do.

Question 35

According to ethical egoism, each person should consider other people's interests only when doing so advances the actor's own self-interests.

Question 36

Christian and Islamic views of the afterlife entail that an ethical egoist ought to promote others' interests even if it requires great personal suffering and sacrifice in this world.

Question 37

Buddhist views of karma entail that ethical egoism is true.

Question 38

The Buddhist doctrine of anâtman or "no-self" is a nonmoral claim that entails that ethical egoism is false or nonsensical.

Question 39

Your objective obligation is what you ought to do, given the way things actually are in the world.

Question 40

Your subjective obligation is what you would be obligated to do, if all of your beliefs were correct.

Question 41

Your subjective obligation is what you ought to do, given the way things actually are in the world.

Question 42

Your objective obligation is what you would be obligated to do, if all of your beliefs were correct.

Question 43

People can agree about what someone's subjective obligation is even if they disagree about what that person's objective obligation is.

Question 44

According to Chapter 10, moral reasoning matters to religion because it can help people apply religious teachings to their daily lives.

Question 45

According to Chapter 10, moral reasoning matters to religion because it can help people understand why a religion requires, permits, or prohibits something.

Question 46

According to Chapter 10, religious people should take an interest in moral reasoning because it can help them find common ground on moral issues with people of different religious views.

Question 47

The divine command theory is the view that we are obligated to do what God commands.

Question 48

According to Chapter 10, the divine command theory is the view that morality is identical with God's commands.

Question 49

Believing in God requires accepting the divine command theory.

Question 50

The Euthyphro dilemma is supposed to create a problem for divine command theory.

Question 51

The Euthyphro dilemma makes no assumptions about whether God has commanded us to do what is right.

Question 52

The Euthyphro dilemma is supposed to show that either the divine command theory is false or God's commands are arbitrary.

Question 53

The Euthyphro dilemma shows that God's commands are arbitrary.

Question 54

The Euthyphro dilemma is often taken to show that either divine command theory is true or morality exists independently of God's commands.

Question 55

According to Chapter 10, religiously based moral reasoning never has any place in a pluralistic society.

Question 56

In your own words, explain the three ways that religious teachings matter to moral reasoning, according to Chapter 10. Give one example of each of the three ways, other than the examples given in the book.

Question 57

Other than examples given in the book, what is an example of a nonmoral religious claim that has important moral implications? What moral implications does that claim have? Why?

Question 58

Why is it important to keep in mind the diversity of religious traditions when thinking about the connection between religion and moral reasoning?

Question 59

In your own words, explain the difference between objective obligation and subjective obligation. Give an example in which someone's objective obligation differs from his or her subjective obligation.

Question 60

What is ethical egoism? What does it entail about how people ought to behave toward others? Why?

Question 61

What do traditional Christian and Islamic views of the afterlife entail for someone who accepts ethical egoism?

Question 62

Explain the Buddhist doctrine of anâtman or "no-self" in your own words. What does that doctrine entail about ethical egoism? Why?

Question 63

In your own words, explain the three ways that moral reasoning should matter to religious people, according to Chapter 10.

Question 64

What is the divine command theory? What is the Euthyphro dilemma? How is the Euthyphro dilemma supposed to create a problem for the divine command theory?

Question 65

Do you think the Euthyphro dilemma shows that the divine command theory of morality is false? Why or why not?