Ethics Final Exam for Q2 2006 Classes

(Due May 22/23, 2006!)

 

Choose three out of the four following questions and answer them. You may use class notes, the book, or any outside source as long as it is credited. Please type your answers if at all possible. The exam is due the final day of class. It will probably take at least 1 1/2 to 2 pages to answer each question (total 4 1/2 to 6 pages).

 

1.       During the first half of this class we examined a number of different ethical systems (Egoism, Utilitarianism, Duty, Rights-based, Virtue, and Religious). Choose three of these ethical systems and compare and contrast them. What are the basic root assumptions in each system? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Are the three systems opposed to each other, or do they complement each other? Make sure to give examples for each system.

 

2.     Of the various ethical systems that we have examined, religious ethics are probably the most unique. Other ethical systems are often the product of professional philosophers. Religion, on the other hand, includes other aspects such as divine command as well as the moral experience of groups of people or entire cultures. In your opinion, can some or all of the other ethical systems (Egoism, Utilitarianism, Duty, Rights-based, Virtue) contribute anything to the understanding of religious ethics? To what extent can the other philosophical systems be informed by religious ethics? Give specific examples.

 

 

3.     You are a loan officer at a bank. A couple comes in looking for a second mortgage on their house, in order to prop up a family business, a typewriter repair shop, which is not doing very well. After reviewing their application and doing some research, you find out the following:

 

1. Their business will probably fail in the near future no matter what they do, because not many people use typewriters any more.
2. They will probably not be able to make payments on the mortgage on time, because they already owe money to other people.
3. Their house is in a prime location, and the land is worth far more than the house. However, the couple does not seem to realize this.
4. Your boss has hinted that it would be nice if the bank could somehow acquire the property for investment purposes, the more cheaply the better.

 

What do you tell the couple looking for the loan, and how do you justify this response from an ethical/moral point of view?

 

4.    Read the following scenario and answer the questions at the end. Make sure to show your ethical reasoning behind your answers!

 

In the year 2010 the U.S. Government surprised the world by announcing that for the past 30 years that it had secretly created a group of  genetically modified people who could live at least part of their lives underwater. This was done in secret labs off the coast of Baja California. The reason that the government did this is unclear; some said it was for military purposes, others said that it was to help with overcrowding by letting people live in places they could not before. Whatever the case, the existence of these people was discovered.  It turned out that the "Water People" tend to be blue, have webbed hands and feet, and can breath both in air and underwater. Government scientists say that they can interbreed with normal land-based humans, but the children tend to be light blue and have a lessened ability to live underwater.

 

It is now the year 2040. There are now some 60,000 Water People alive. Naturally, there have been a number of disputes and court cases fought. Some Water People say that they are being kept out of office jobs that they are otherwise qualified for, simply because they are different. On the other hand, traditional land-based fishermen and pearl divers are claiming that the Water People have an unfair advantage due to their underwater abilities; in fact, there have been cases of Water People being harassed and a few killed in coastal areas. The Water People themselves are internally divided; some of them want to have their own society away from all land people, while others want to live and work just like land people.

 

Everyone in your family is a land person. Your job has recently transferred you to Baltimore, Maryland, where you live with your spouse and your three children: a son (10years old), a daughter (15), and a second daughter (17). By coincidence, this area also happens to be a coastal region where a lot of Water People live. You notice that your children now have some Water People classmates.

 

1. Your son asks if can bring a Water Person boy classmate home for dinner, and asks that you serve raw fish for dinner. What do you say?
2. Your middle daughter has been spending a lot of time with some Water People friends. In fact, she tells you that one has asked her to go to the end-of-year school dance. However, some of her friends have told her that people may start avoiding her if she does. What do you tell her?
3. Your oldest daughter attends a near-by college, where she is an honors student. However, she complains that she does not like Water People in general. They seem to be stand-offish and always seem to be talking about things that she doesn't understand, or they seem to change the topic of conversation when she comes near. In fact, she has become active in a conservative campus political group which publicly opposes special Water People rights, and is thinking about joining a "Land-Livers Only" sorority. What is your reaction to this?
4. A co-worker tells you over lunch that, while your company has a totally "land and water blind" policy that prevents discrimination against anybody, it seems that  people who are overly sympathetic to Water People don't seem to get promoted very quickly. In fact, it might be a good idea to think about moving to a different local neighborhood and sending your children to private schools.  How do you interpret this, and what do you do about it?
5. Should land people and Water People be able to adopt each other's children? Or is this somehow a violation of the cultural heritage of the child?