(Write out brief answers to this week's discussion questions and submit them via a direct message to me on Slack no later than 11:59pm on Sunday, September 5th. Your answers should be brief, no more than a few sentences each. Be prepared to discuss them in class.)
1. What is ethical relativism (a.k.a. cultural relativism)? Explain what you take to be the strongest objection to this theory.
2. Describe an intuitive counterexample to utilitarianism. This could be either (a) an action that a utilitarian would say is permissible but that seems morally wrong, or (b) an action that a utilitarian would say is wrong but that seems intuitively to be morally permissible.
3. Explain Mill's distinction between higher and lower pleasures. Describe a time in your life when Mill would describe you as having gained the ability to experience a higher pleasure. Is this pleasure really a higher pleasure, or is it just a different kind of pleasure?
This week's Zoom meeting will be on Thursday, September 9th, 11:10AM–12:25PM. Here is the link to join.
There is no writing assignment for week 2.