Russ Shafer-Landau Is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison

question 4

Multiple Choice

Russ Shafer-Landau is professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author, editor, or coeditor of several books including The Fundamentals of Ethics, fourth edition (2017) and The Ethical Life, fourth edition (2017) . He is also the editor of Oxford Studies in Metaethics. In this reading he reviews some common criticisms of utilitarianism and argues that although some of them are less than decisive, others pose serious problems for the theory. Utilitarianism's most crippling shortcomings are its insistence that there is no intrinsic wrongness (or rightness) and its requirement that we must maximize well-being even if justice is thwarted.
-According to Aristotle, virtues are

• A) moral states.
• B) emotions.
• C) faculties.
• D) physical conditions.

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Definitions:

Imprinting

A rapid learning process that occurs early in an animal's life, where it forms attachments and recognizes patterns.

Assimilating

The cognitive process of fitting new information into existing cognitive schemas, perceptions, and understanding.

Equilibrating

The process of balancing or maintaining equilibrium in physical systems, psychological states, or socio-economic contexts.

Attenuating

The reduction in force, value, intensity, or magnitude of something; often used in context with signals or biological responses.