Introduction to Ethics: Human Acts, Personhood, and Modifiers

Which best captures the core focus of ethics as a discipline?

• Study of customs and moral agents

• Catalog of cultural habits only

• Practice of religious rituals mainly

• Training in legal procedures primarily

Which statement best distinguishes human acts from acts of man?

• Human acts proceed from will and knowledge

• Acts of man always require careful planning

• Human acts occur without mental awareness

• Acts of man are guided by deliberate choice

Which is the best example of a human act?

• Tutoring slow learners after class

• Perspiring on a hot afternoon

• Blinking rapidly in bright light

• Sneezing during a cold day

Which is the best example of an act of man?

• Breathing during deep sleep

• Preparing for a board exam

• Choosing to follow a proper diet

• Volunteering at a shelter

Personhood is most directly defined as the

• state or quality of being a person

• ability to follow moral rules

• capacity to perform paid work

• membership in a political unit

Which criterion of personhood focuses on having human DNA?

• Genetic criterion of personhood

• Social criterion of personhood

• Cognitive criterion of personhood

• Sentience criterion of personhood

Which criterion emphasizes consciousness, reasoning, and self-awareness?

• Cognitive criterion of personhood

• Genetic criterion of personhood

• Sentience criterion of personhood

• Gradient theory of personhood

Which view holds that personhood depends on social recognition or care?

• Social criterion of personhood

• Genetic criterion of personhood

• Cognitive criterion of personhood

• Sentience criterion of personhood

The sentience criterion of personhood centers on the ability to

• feel pleasure and pain

• use symbolic language

• hold property rights

• exercise political power

The gradient theory claims that personhood

• comes in degrees and can vary

• is fixed by birth genetics

• exists only with legal status

• requires full rational maturity