Free Ethics in America Practice Questions

Sample Practice Questions

Try these 10 sample questions from the Ethics in America practice bank. Each includes the answer and explanation. Continue with the interactive practice above to review the full question set.

1. 1In discussions of moral relativism, what does Shashi Motilal mean by moral diversity?

   1. A.Groups hold moral beliefs that differ from one another.Correct answer: A
   2. B.Groups hold identical moral beliefs despite different customs.
   3. C.Groups share one moral judgment on every disputed action.
   4. D.Groups reject all moral beliefs in favor of personal tastes.

   Explanation: "Moral diversity simply means that there are moral beliefs held by one group of people that are not held by another" describes a difference in moral beliefs between groups. This observation alone does not establish that either group is correct.

   Reference: Moral Relativism and Human Rights — Chapter 5, Summary

2. 2According to Aristotle, what is the final end at which human actions aim?

   1. A.Wealth
   2. B.Honor
   3. C.HappinessCorrect answer: C
   4. D.Political power

   Explanation: "Happiness, therefore, being found to be something final and self-sufficient, is the End at which all actions aim." Aristotle treats happiness as the final end of action.

   Reference: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics — Book I.7

3. 3According to WHO's sexual-health account, which condition must characterize sexual experiences?

   1. A.They are free from coercion.Correct answer: A
   2. B.They are accepted because pressure leaves no alternative.
   3. C.They proceed whenever one partner assumes consent.
   4. D.They proceed because the other partner does not resist.

   Explanation: "free of coercion, discrimination and violence" WHO's account includes freedom from coercion as well as safety.

   Reference: Sexual health — Overview, sexual health

4. 4Two cultures wear different styles of clothing but agree on all relevant moral principles. What follows about moral diversity from this difference alone?

   1. A.It proves that their moral beliefs are incompatible.
   2. B.It need not reflect any difference in moral beliefs.Correct answer: B
   3. C.It proves that neither culture has moral principles.
   4. D.It establishes that each culture has its own moral truth.

   Explanation: "there could be differences of dress and diet without any moral differences." Cultural differences do not by themselves establish differing moral beliefs or the truth of relativism.

   Reference: Moral Relativism and Human Rights — Chapter 5, Summary

5. 5In Aristotle's account of moral character, virtue is a mean between which two kinds of vice?

   1. A.Knowledge and ignorance
   2. B.Pleasure and suffering
   3. C.Habit and deliberation
   4. D.Deficiency and excessCorrect answer: D

   Explanation: "And it is a mean state between two vices, one of excess and one of defect." The mean lies between vice by excess and vice by deficiency.

   Reference: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics — Book II.6

6. 6According to WHO's account of sexual health, which description best captures its scope?

   1. A.The absence of reproductive disease alone
   2. B.Physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexualityCorrect answer: B
   3. C.The ability to have children regardless of personal choice
   4. D.Agreement with a single cultural view of relationships

   Explanation: "a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infirmity" WHO describes sexual health as broader than the absence of disease.

   Reference: Sexual health — Overview, sexual health

7. 7According to Motilal, how can groups with the same basic moral principles reach different moral beliefs?

   1. A.Each group must have abandoned every shared principle.
   2. B.Different moral beliefs require identical circumstances.
   3. C.Applying shared principles to different contexts can yield different beliefs.Correct answer: C
   4. D.Shared principles always require identical judgments in every context.

   Explanation: "both these groups believe in the same basic moral principles which when applied to their individual contexts yield different and sometimes opposing moral beliefs." Thus disagreement about a particular judgment does not by itself prove that the groups have different basic principles.

   Reference: Moral Relativism and Human Rights — Chapter 5, Summary

8. 8What role does habituation play in Aristotle's account of virtue?

   1. A.It helps develop dispositions through repeated actions.Correct answer: A
   2. B.It makes deliberation and experience unnecessary.
   3. C.It makes character fixed entirely at birth.
   4. D.It replaces rational choice with blind obedience.

   Explanation: "Similarly we become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts." Practicing actions develops corresponding moral dispositions.

   Reference: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics — Book II.1

9. 9What condition does WHO identify for entering marriage in its discussion of sexual rights?

   1. A.Consent given freely by only one intending spouse
   2. B.Consent supplied by family instead of the intending spouses
   3. C.Free and full consent of the intending spousesCorrect answer: C
   4. D.Consent obtained from both spouses through threats

   Explanation: "the right to marry and to found a family and enter into marriage with the free and full consent of the intending spouses" The stated condition is the free and full consent of the intending spouses.

   Reference: Sexual health — Overview, sexual health

10. 10How does Hume relate liberty and necessity, as he defines them, to morality?

    1. A.Both are incompatible with morality.
    2. B.Only necessity can support morality.
    3. C.Only liberty can support morality.
    4. D.Both are consistent with and essential to morality.Correct answer: D

    Explanation: "the doctrines, both of necessity and of liberty, as above explained, are not only consistent with morality, but are absolutely essential to its support." Hume treats the two doctrines as compatible with moral life under his definitions.

    Reference: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding: Of Liberty and Necessity — Section VIII, Part II, E 8.26