Chapter 13 Questions

. Garrett Hardin, in his article "Lifeboat Ethics," argues that

rich nations have an obligation to help poor ones whose population can be controlled.

poor nations have a right to the help of rich nations.

rich nations ought to help only other rich nations.

rich nations have an obligation not to help poor nations whose population cannot be controlled.

. According to Hardin, the fundamental error of "sharing ethics" is that

it is anti-Christian.

it would require a stronger system of taxation for the affluent.

it would lead to a "tragedy of the commons."

all of the above

. On the proposal that we need to establish world food banks to help those who are in need, Hardin would say that

if the proposal were to be realized, the operation must be conducted consistently.

only the richer countries have some moral obligation to make deposits in the world food banks.

it would be subject to the tragedy of the commons.

we need to go with the idea because we ought not to punish poor people who are caught in an emergency.

. According to Singer, thinking ethically is all about

thinking about what is in one's own self-interest.

putting yourself in the place of others.

considering how to sacrifice oneself for the sake of others.

all of the above

. How does Singer respond to the objection that people have a right to spend the money they earn on themselves?

He says that having a right to do something doesn't settle the question on what you should do.

He says that knowing you should do something entails that you have a right to do it.

He denies that people have a right to spend the money they earn on themselves.

He argues that people also have a right to spend the money they earn on others.

. Singer argues that developing nations are harming poor nations by

causing global warming.

handing out too much foreign aid, which increases need.

ignoring important aspects of their culture.

indoctrinating them with Western values.

. What is the main reason why Arthur doesn't think that the poor have a right to aid from the affluent?

Persons can never have a right to aid from anyone.

The right to aid is a negative right.

The consequences of helping the poor would be worse than the consequences of not helping them.

This kind of right would require a contract or agreement, and the affluent haven't entered into a contract or agreement with the poor.

. The principle Arthur calls "the greater moral evil rule"says that

people are entitled to keep their earnings only if there is no way for them to prevent a greater evil by giving them away.

being rich is a great moral evil, and as such we should all strive to live on a moderate income.

two moral evils do not make a moral good.

morality itself is a great evil.

. Which of the following is an example of a "right of noninterference" according to Arthur?

the right to privacy

the right to life

the right to exercise religious freedom

all of the above

. The annual death-toll from poverty related causes is, according to Pogge,

around one quarter of all human deaths.

around one third of all human deaths.

around one half of all human deaths.

none of the above.

. On Pogge's view, affluent citizens are harming the poor by

imposing on them the lasting effects of historical crimes.

keeping them below welfare in the state-of-nature.

both A and B

None of the above

. One kind of externality imposed on the world's poor by the economic activity of wealthy nation is

unequal social order.

authoritarian regimes.

crime.

pollution.

. Ashford's article is meant to address a particular paralysis in the face of

the sheer scope of global poverty.

having to choose between addressing immediate harm and addressing structural injustice.

reconciling conflict moral theories.

having to give up so much of our own wealth in light of Singer's arguments.

. Ashford defines a structural human rights violation as

violations of human rights that pertain to the structure of a person's practical, social, and political agency.

ongoing patterns of behavior by a large number of agents which predictably result in many others coming to be deprived of the object of a fundamental human right: the means of subsistence.

the violation of fundamental human rights brought about the political structures of a particular government.

all of the above

. Ashford thinks that the right test of whether or not legal and economic structures are minimally just is to see whether or not

they help develop human capabilities.

they minimize the amount of suffering in the world.

they recognize, enforce, and implement duties not to violate human rights.

they are universalizable.

. The question of content, as it pertains to the duty of charity, is "How strong is one's obligation to help those in need when doing so conflicts with other reasons for action?"

True

False

. An international food bank, according to Hardin, is really just a one-way transfer device for moving wealth from rich countries to poor.

True

False

. Hardin's primary complaint about "the sharing ethics" is that it is unfair.

True

False

. Singer argues that the desires of others count more than our own.

True

False

. Singer claims that developing nations with rich deposits are always better off than otherwise comparable nations without those resources.

True

False

. Arthur denies that our moral code gives any weight to the greater moral evil principle.

True

False

. It is rational to support a moral code, says Arthur, only if that code is able to gain the support of almost everyone.

True

False

. Pogge argues that we do not have a duty to change the global economic order in light of world poverty.

True

False

. On Ashford's view, our duty to donate to aid agencies arises from the failure of a more basic duty to change the structures that underlie poverty.

True

False

. On Ashford's view, backup duties are generally not morally urgent.

True

False

. According to the World Bank, 1.4 billion of the world's population lives in extreme _________, which it defines as not having enough income to meet one's most basic needs.

. The duty of _________ (or charity) is, roughly, the duty to help those in dire need.

. According to Hardin, in thinking about hunger and poverty as moral issues, it is useful to think of them in terms of the metaphor of the _________.

. A social system is stable, according to Hardin, only if it is insensitive to _________.

. Singer states, "The fact that we tend to favor our families, communities, and countries may explain our failure to save the lives of the poor beyond those boundaries, but it does not justify that failure from a(n)_________ perspective."

. Singer describes moral _________ as the view we should accept that everyone is entitled to follow his or her own (moral) beliefs.

. Arthur says that negative, unlike positive, rights are _________; which ones you have depends on what you are.

. Ignoring past guilt, according to Arthur, shows a lack of regard for _________.

. On Pogge's view, many citizens of wealthy countries bear the _________ for the current global institutional arrangements.

. Ashford thinks that some positive duties, like the duty to provide means of subsistence, are also duties of justice, owed to each person in virtue of his or her _________.

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