PHIL 120: Chapter 1 Reading Guide

Vaughn, Doing Ethics — Chapter 1: Ethics and the Examined Life

Instructions

This reading guide is designed to help you understand and answer the Review Questions for Chapter 1. This assessment also verifies your active reading of the chapter. For each question below, please follow these steps:

Step 1: Navigate to the exact page and section indicated. Locate the sentence using the provided beginning words and type the entire sentence verbatim into the first box.
Step 2: Answer the question based on your reading of the chapter (no outside research needed or permitted) in your own words in the second box. (Page hints are provided in the answer boxes to help you locate the core answer).
⚡ Auto-Save Enabled: Your answers are automatically saved to this browser as you type. If you close this page and return later on the same device and browser, your answers will still be here. This guide is not submitted — use it to prepare for your chapter quiz. Use Export Answers to save a backup text copy, or Print to PDF to keep a personal record.

Review Question 1

On Page 3, (opening paragraph of the chapter), find the sentence beginning with the words: "Ethics, then, addresses..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

According to Vaughn, what is the "powerful question" Socrates formulated, and how does it define the task of ethics?

Review Question 2

On Page 3, (paragraph beginning "What is at stake when we do ethics?"), find the sentence beginning with the words: "Through the sifting and weighing..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What is at stake when we do ethics, and what do we determine through the "sifting and weighing of moral values"?

Review Question 3

On Page 4, (the discussion of the "drawbacks" to the no-questions-asked approach), find the sentence beginning with the words: "First, it undermines..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What is the first drawback of accepting moral beliefs without examination, and what must happen before your moral beliefs become "truly yours"?

Review Question 4

On Page 4, (the paragraph quoting the philosopher Paul Taylor), find the sentence beginning with the words: "He will feel lost..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

According to Paul Taylor, what happens to a person who blindly accepts society's morality and then meets people who believe differently?

Review Question 5

On Page 5, (Under the "The Ethical Landscape" section), find the sentence beginning with the words: "these branches are logic (the study of correct reasoning)..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What are the three other major branches of philosophy besides ethics, and what does each study?

Review Question 6

On Page 5, (Under the "The Ethical Landscape" section), find the sentence beginning with the words: "Its approach is known as..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What is descriptive ethics, and how does it differ from what moral philosophy does?

Review Question 7

On Page 5, (Under the "The Ethical Landscape" section, discussing the three divisions), find the sentence beginning with the words: "The first division is..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

Define the three major divisions of ethics: normative ethics, metaethics, and applied ethics.

Review Question 8

On Page 6, (the paragraph distinguishing instrumental and intrinsic value), find the sentence beginning with the words: "We might say that gasoline..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What is the difference between something that is instrumentally valuable and something that is intrinsically valuable?

Review Question 9

On Page 7, (Under the "The Universal Perspective" section), find the sentence beginning with the words: "the principle of universalizability—the idea that..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What does the principle of universalizability say about a moral judgment that applies in one situation?

Review Question 10

On Page 7, (Under the "The Principle of Impartiality" section), find the sentence beginning with the words: "From the moral point of view..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

State the Principle of Impartiality and explain what one of Vaughn's "outrageous" rules shows about it.

Review Question 11

On Page 8, (Under the "The Dominance of Moral Norms" section), find the sentence beginning with the words: "Moral norms seem to stand out..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What four types of norms does Vaughn identify, and what does he mean when he says moral norms "dominate"?

Review Question 12

On Page 10, (Under the "Religion and Morality" section), find the sentence beginning with the words: "It says that right actions..."

Type the entire sentence verbatim here to identify the evidence:

What does the divine command theory claim, and what dilemma does Socrates raise about it in the Euthyphro?