What Do You Think?

1. It is impossible to ever truly know anything for all we can ever have are opinions and beliefs.

2. It is possible to have knowledge about what reality is like in itself.

3. When my reason convinces me that something is true but my experience tells me otherwise, then I trust my experience.

4. When we come into the world at birth, the mind is like a blank tablet. All the contents of the mind can only come to us through experience.

5. Our knowledge about reality can never be absolutely certain. However, if a belief is true and we have sufficient evidence for its probability, then we can have knowledge.

6. When my experience convinces me that something is the case, but my reason tells me that it is illogical, I trust my reason.

7. At least some of the following ideas are directly known by the mind and are not learned from experience:
a. the laws of logic
b. the basic principles of mathematics
c. "every event has a cause"
d. the concept of perfection
e. the idea of God.
f. moral concepts and principles (such as "it is wrong to torture an innocent person.")

8. Through reason it is possible to have knowledge about reality that is absolutely certain.

9. We can have universal and objective knowledge of how reality consistently appears to the human mind, but we cannot know what reality is like in itself.

10. There is no absolute truth, for even when I say that something is "true," I am saying nothing more than "it is true for me" or that "the majority of the people in my society agree that it is true."

11. Rank each of the following items on a scale of zero to ten according to its degree of reality. Items that you don't think exist should be given a zero, and items that are most real should be given a ten. Anything in between is a lesser or derivative type of reality.
a. your body
b. your mind
c. Einstein's brain
d. Einstein's ideas
e. electrons
f. God
g. your car
h. your car appearing in a dream
i. a rose
j. beauty
k. a friend
l. love
m. the U.S. Supreme Court building
n. justice
o. a tooth
p. the tooth fairy

12. For someone's belief in God to be rational, she must have objective evidence supporting this belief.

13. It is possible to demonstrate the existence of God through rational objective arguments.

14. Objective evidence cannot decide the God issue, but there are practical or subjective reasons for believing in God.

15. Belief in God must be based on faith alone and cannot be justified by objective or subjective reasons.

16. God exists.

17. God does not exist.

18. God might exist, but there is no basis for knowing whether God does or does not exist.

19. Moral judgments are an expression of personal opinion. Just as "Oysters are delicious" expresses the speaker's opinion, so a moral proposition like "Capital punishment is wrong" is merely a matter of personal opinion.

20. When we declare that an action is morally right or wrong, we simply mean that the majority of people in our society would consider it right or wrong.

21. It is possible that an action (such as owning slaves) could be morally wrong, even if the person who did it or all the members of that person's society sincerely believed that the action was morally permissible.

22. The only moral duty that anyone ever has is to do those actions that will be good for him or her in some way.

23. The only thing that counts in deciding if an action is morally good is whether it leads to the best overall consequences " -for (he greatest number of people. Motives are irrelevant.

24. The only thing that counts in determining if a person acted morally or not is his motive. The results of the action are irrelevant.

25. The only thing that counts in determining if a person acted morally right or wrong depends entirely on whether it is what a morally virtuous person would do. Any application of moral rules is secondary and after the fact.

26. Males and females approach ethical issues with different perspectives and different concerns,

27. It is morally wrong for anyone, in any culture, at any time, under any circumstances, to torture an innocent child for no reason at all.

28. Even if it could be shown that cheating on a test led to the best consequences for everybody, all things considered, it would still be wrong.

29. Even if a person acted from a morally good motive, if the action resulted in an overall sum of more unhappiness over happiness for all concerned, it would be morally wrong.

30. It is never morally justified to control another rational adult's life. Therefore, whatever practical needs the government serves, its exercise of power over us is not morally justified.

31. It is morally justified for the government to exercise power over our lives if we have chosen to delegate that power to it.

32. Those who have the most ability are the ones who should be the rulers of a society and have the most political power. Hence, justice has nothing to do with democratic equality.

33. The main criterion for determining if governments and their laws are just or not is how moral they are.

34. The just society is simply the one that maximizes the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.

35. The just society is the one that maximizes political liberty while giving the priority to those who are least advantaged.

36. The best society is the one that places the highest priority on maximizing individual liberty and minimizing governmental control.

37. The best society is the one that places the highest priority on giving government the power to make life better for everyone, even at the sacrifice of some individual freedom.

38. Disobeying the law is never morally justified.

39. There are circumstances in which disobeying the law might be our moral obligation, even if we go to jail for it.