Final Exam Study Questions

Instructions:  Three of the following nine questions will be on the final.  They will be randomly selected.  The exam is open  book and notes.  It lasts from 12:30 - 2:00 PM.  Fully justify your answers to all questions.  Essays will be evaluated on standard compositional criteria as well as apparent degree of familiarity with the relevant readings.

1. Use the evolutionary perspective of Singer, Wilson and others to examine and evaluate cultural relativism as articulated by Rachels.

2. Explain how values enter in to the process of scientific inquiry and articulate the concept of value-free science in a way that is logically compatible with this fact.

3. Summarize NOMA.  Is NOMA compatible with an evolutionary perspective on religion and morality? 

4. How may future technological developments negatively impact the poor, and what can be done to prevent it?  (Dyson, Singer, Kass are some of the relevant authors here.)

5. Evaluate the following statements in light of the readings:  If I could just win the lottery my life would be great. If  I ever got in an accident and became a quadriplegic, I know I would want to die.

6. Can science alone provide us with correct approach to dealing with climate change? 

7.  Is it reasonable to use social policy to attempt to eradicate the differential representation of women and men in math and science careers? 

8. Is their a biological basis for the reduction of violence within and between modern societies? 

9. What is structural violence and how is it manifested?  Does its existence require us to rethink Pinker's views on violence?