1.When, in your opinion, does human life begin? Substantiate your answer with as much evidence and reasoned argument as you can.
2.Would you view abortion as murder, mercy killing, self-defense, or merely the elimination of human tissue that is not yet a person? Give reasons to support your answer.
3.Discuss if human life is intrinsically valuable? Give reasons to support your answer.
4.Discuss the conditions under which it is moral and immoral to have an abortion. Give specific reasons to support your answer.
5.What workable alternatives to abortion would you recommend, and why?
6.Do you agree that the mother must be the one to make the final decision on whether to have an abortion? Or, should anyone else be involved in the decision? If so, who should it be? Give reasons for your answer.
7.Does the fetus have legal or moral rights? Give reasons to support your answers.
8.Discuss the moral disagreement in the claim that a woman has absolute rights over her own body and the position that a conceptus has an absolute right to life. Be specific in your answer and make clear distinctions.
9.Give a clear example of each of the following: lying, cheating, breaking promises, stealing, white lies, and acts of commission and omission.
10.What are the arguments against lying, cheating, breaking promises, and stealing, and to what extent do you agree or disagree with them? Be specific. Present any other arguments you can think of and justify them as fully as you can.
11.What is the “domino argument,” and how does it apply to the four moral issues described in this chapter?
12.To what extent do you feel that lying, cheating, breaking promises, and stealing really have an effect upon society in general? Give specific examples or illustrations.
13.What are the arguments for lying, cheating, breaking promises, and stealing, and to what extent do you agree or disagree with them? Be specific.
14.To what extent do you feel that doing these things really has an effect upon the one who does them? Give examples to show how they do or do not have an effect.
15.Defend or attack the position that “little white lies” are not important or serious in any way and are in fact needed in our everyday human relationships.
16.To what extent do you agree or disagree with the statement that “promises and agreements need to be written down more today than in the past because fewer people actually honor their promises and agreements?”
Why? Give examples to support your position.
17.To what extent do you support the contention that that it’s all right to lie, cheat, break promises, or steal, “as long as you don’t get caught.” Why?
18.To what extent and in what instances do you lie, cheat, break promises, and/or steal? Why or why not? Be specific and give examples.
Sample Solution
