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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What is the greatest criticism levelled against Utilitarianism?
(a) That majority views are ignored.
(b) It is not strong enough.
(c) That minority views are ignored.
(d) It's not realistic.

2. What is the maxim of Utilitarian philosophy?
(a) The greatest good to the deserving.
(b) The greatest good for the greatest number.
(c) Might makes right.
(d) The greatest good to the wealthiest.

3. How, according to Rawls, does justice help to assign rights and duties?
(a) It enforces the law.
(b) It ensures that some people get more duties than others.
(c) It ensures that there is an equal distribution of such.
(d) It states who has the power and who doesn't.

4. What does the Individual gain out of the Social Contract?
(a) Money and wealth.
(b) Military might.
(c) Protection and security.
(d) Power and glory.

5. What is the implicit assumption that the Social Contract theory makes?
(a) That there is a scientific truth.
(b) That there is a God.
(c) That there is some form of agreement between Individual and government.
(d) That everyone intrinsically knows right from wrong.

6. Why is the argument called the Original Position?
(a) Because it was the first argument Rawls thought of.
(b) Because it comes before everything else.
(c) Because it was a very early argument that Rawls revived.
(d) Because it is about the first thing that a person sees when they wake up.

7. What is another name for the Original Position?
(a) The Man in the Barrel Argument.
(b) The First Argument.
(c) The Brain in the Vat Argument.
(d) The Waiting Room Argument.

8. How does the ignorant chooser know what is fair and what is not, according to Rawls?
(a) Because they are taught what to believe.
(b) Because God told them so.
(c) Because the monarch told them so.
(d) Because of an innate knowledge of fairness.

9. What does Rawls accept about his own theory?
(a) That there is a degree of Marxism within it.
(b) That there is a certain amount of Intuitionism present in 'fairness'.
(c) That it is quite socialist.
(d) That it might be hard to apply to the real world.

10. Why does Utilitarian thinking not really understand the difference between persons?
(a) That different people’s situations mean different levels of happiness, contentment or suffering.
(b) It perceives persons only as voters.
(c) Utilitarianism is never applied to the individual.
(d) Utilitarianism is never applied to the society.

11. What defines a good society, according to Rawls?
(a) A just society.
(b) A wealthy society.
(c) A strong society.
(d) A society that owns the most land.

12. In what era was the theory of the Social Contract in favor?
(a) The Enlightenment.
(b) The Modern Era.
(c) The Dark Ages.
(d) The Renaissance.

13. What is the essential problem of Intuitionism?
(a) It makes defending one’s country more difficult.
(b) Some people do not seem to act with a natural morality.
(c) It doesn't support a healthy economy.
(d) Many philosophers don't agree with it.

14. Who was the father of Utilitarianism?
(a) Spinoza.
(b) Karl Marx.
(c) David Hume.
(d) Jesus Christ.

15. What does Rawls believe is the dominant theory of political philosophy throughout the 20th Century?
(a) Utilitarianism.
(b) Socialism.
(c) Republicanism.
(d) Ontology.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do Intuitionist' believe in?

2. Whom of the following was a leading 'Intuitionist'?

3. In the chapter “The Original Position,” what does Rawls say must be assumed about the person?

4. What does Rawls claim about the Social Contract theory?

5. What branch of philosophy is this book concerned with?

(see the answer keys)

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