Chapter 12 Quiz: Applied Ethics

Part I: Concept Check (Multiple Choice)

1. The term "algorithmic bias" most precisely refers to:

a) Intentional programming of discrimination into AI systems
b) The tendency for humans to trust computer output more than human judgment
c) AI systems producing discriminatory outcomes because they learned from data encoding historical discrimination
d) Biased interpretation of AI results by human operators

2. Which of the following best captures the Kantian objection to an AI hiring system that discriminates against women?

a) The system produces worse aggregate outcomes for society
b) The system reduces persons to data points correlated with group membership rather than evaluating them as individuals with inherent dignity
c) The system violates legal anti-discrimination requirements
d) The system makes decisions that human managers should be making

3. Beauchamp and Childress's four principles of biomedical ethics are:

a) Justice, beneficence, liberty, and care
b) Autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice
c) Rights, welfare, dignity, and fairness
d) Consent, honesty, competence, and compassion

4. In bioethics, the principle of autonomy most directly reflects which broader philosophical tradition?

a) Consequentialism
b) Care ethics
c) Kantian ethics and respect for persons
d) Virtue ethics

5. Milton Friedman's shareholder theory holds that:

a) Corporations should balance the interests of shareholders with those of employees and communities
b) A corporation's only social responsibility is to maximize profits within legal limits
c) Corporations are public institutions and owe obligations to the democratic community
d) Profit-seeking by corporations inevitably harms society

6. R. Edward Freeman's stakeholder theory challenges Friedman's view primarily by arguing:

a) Corporations should be more profitable so they can give more to charity
b) Government regulation is a better mechanism than market competition for ensuring ethical behavior
c) Corporations exist within a web of relationships with multiple parties who have legitimate claims on their behavior, not just shareholders
d) The purpose of business ethics is to protect managers from legal liability

7. Peter Singer's argument for expanding moral consideration to animals rests primarily on:

a) The argument that animals have rights derived from natural law
b) The principle that the capacity to suffer is the morally relevant criterion for inclusion in the moral community
c) The religious obligation to care for creation
d) The practical argument that animal welfare improves human welfare

8. Derek Parfit's "non-identity problem" is most accurately described as:

a) The difficulty of knowing which future generation will be most harmed by climate change
b) The puzzle that people we harm through environmental inaction are different people from those who would have existed had we acted differently, complicating standard harm-based arguments
c) The problem of assigning individual responsibility for collective harms like pollution
d) The question of whether future people have rights before they exist

9. The phrase "the expanding circle," associated with Peter Singer, refers to:

a) The tendency of corporations to expand their market share at the expense of smaller competitors
b) The historical process by which moral consideration has expanded from the tribe to all humans, and potentially beyond
c) The philosophical claim that all living things have equal moral status
d) The mathematical relationship between population and resource consumption

10. A Rawlsian analysis of resource allocation in medicine would most likely emphasize:

a) Giving priority to the most efficient use of medical resources
b) Allocating resources according to patients' ability to pay
c) Designing allocation rules that would be acceptable to anyone regardless of whether they would be the most or least advantaged patient
d) Following the physician's professional judgment in all cases

Part II: Short Answer

11. Explain how care ethics (as discussed in Chapter 10) contributes something distinctive to the analysis of algorithmic bias that consequentialist and Kantian frameworks miss. (3–5 sentences)

12. The "playing God" argument is often invoked in debates about genetic engineering. Most philosophy textbooks dismiss it quickly. Reconstruct the most philosophically serious version of the argument — the version that does not depend on religious premises. (3–5 sentences)

13. What is the difference between Milton Friedman's shareholder theory and R. Edward Freeman's stakeholder theory? Briefly explain each, then identify one case where the two theories would recommend different corporate behavior. (4–6 sentences)

14. Explain the non-identity problem in your own words. Then identify one response to the problem — one argument that environmental obligations exist even given the non-identity puzzle — and briefly assess whether it succeeds. (4–6 sentences)

Part III: Analysis Questions

15. A city's police department is considering deploying a predictive policing algorithm. The system would analyze historical crime data to predict where crimes are likely to occur and recommend where officers should be deployed. Critics argue that because historical crime data reflects patterns of discriminatory policing, the algorithm will simply tell officers to patrol predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods more heavily — regardless of actual crime rates — thereby reinforcing the discrimination already baked into the data.

Apply two of the five frameworks discussed in Chapter 12 to this scenario. For each framework, explain: (a) What considerations the framework brings to the analysis
(b) What action or policy the framework recommends or prohibits

16. A major food company sources cocoa from West African farms where child labor is widespread. The company's own internal audits acknowledge this. The company argues that it "does not condone child labor" but that changing its supply chain would take years and might simply push poor families toward worse alternatives. Meanwhile, it continues sourcing from these farms because the price advantage is significant.

This scenario involves questions of corporate complicity. Using the concept of complicity and at least one ethical framework from this chapter, analyze the food company's position. Is its argument that it "does not condone" the practice ethically adequate? What would genuine ethical responsibility look like in this situation?

Part IV: Synthesis

17. The chapter argues that when ethical frameworks converge on an answer, you have stronger reason to act on it; when they diverge, the point of divergence reveals what is actually at stake.

Choose one case from this chapter — from any of the four domains — where the frameworks genuinely diverge rather than merely give different reasons for the same conclusion. Identify the point of divergence precisely. Then explain: what is the underlying value conflict that causes the frameworks to divide? Which side of the conflict do you find more compelling, and why?

Answer Key available in the Instructor Guide.

Multiple choice answers: 1-c, 2-b, 3-b, 4-c, 5-b, 6-c, 7-b, 8-b, 9-b, 10-c