University of Kansas, Fall 2002
Philosophy 672: History of Ethics
Ben Eggleston

Final Exam

Please answer the following questions in the time allotted, without the use of books, notes, or other people.

1. (10 points:) What is the difference between the tasks in which Mill is engaged in chapters 3 and 4, respectively?
2. (10 points:) What is the reasoning by which the first formulation of Kant’s categorical imperative supposedly disallows making a false promise?
3. (10 points:) In part 2 of section 9 of his second Enquiry, Hume addresses the question of whether it can be shown to be in one’s interest to be moral. What is his answer?
4. (10 points:) What is Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean?
5. (20 points:) Mill and Hume are both important figures in the utilitarian tradition, but they are engaged in rather different projects. What is (or are) the most important respect(s) in which Mill’s Utilitarianism differs from Hume’s second Enquiry?
6. (20 points:) Mill and Aristotle are both deeply interested in the question of what the good life for human beings is. Compare and contrast their answers to this question.
7. (20 points:) Kant is in certain ways a typical modern moral philosopher of the sort that might be regarded as starkly contrasting with an ancient ethicist such as Aristotle. What are some of the features of Kant’s and Aristotle’s thought makes this statement true? In answering this question, you’ll want to draw on some of the differences between modern moral philosophy and ancient ethics that are discussed by Anscombe and Annas.