01
True or false
1 point
True or false: Applied ethics assesses practical cases by considering relevant facts, affected parties, uncertainty, and competing values, rather than simply attaching a moral theory to a case.
Free Practice Quiz Question List
10 Ethics in Public and Applied Life Online Quiz Questions
Use this free practice quiz with 20 questions to review 10 Ethics in Public and Applied Life, test your knowledge, and prepare for your next test or exam.
20 questions
02
Written response
1 point
What term names the capacity to suffer or experience well-being, which is one influential basis for moral consideration of animals?
03
Fill in the blank
1 point
An approach that values environmental protection chiefly because of its effects on people is .
04
Choose one
1 point
A public agency argues that it may use people merely as tools if doing so produces a larger overall benefit. Which ethical approach most directly challenges that reasoning by emphasizing duties and constraints on permissible action?
- A
A consequentialist approach, because it selects the action with the greatest total benefit.
- B
A deontological approach, because it emphasizes duties and constraints against treating people merely as tools.
- C
A virtue-ethical approach, because it focuses on the habits a practice cultivates.
- D
An anthropocentric approach, because it values nature chiefly for its effects on people.
05
True or false
1 point
True or false: A fair decision-making process guarantees that the resulting public policy will be perfect.
- A
True
- B
False
06
Fill in the blank
1 point
In a practical ethical analysis, after separating evidence from assumptions, analysts should identify what remains .
07
Choose one
1 point
A city adopts a rule that citizens reasonably disagree about. According to the idea of public reason, what should officials do?
- A
Officials must choose rules that every citizen already agrees with.
- B
Officials may rely only on administrative efficiency when explaining a rule.
- C
Officials should offer reasons others can assess and contest, without assuming that this guarantees agreement.
- D
Officials should keep the reasons for contested rules private to avoid disagreement.
08
Written response
1 point
Which ethical approach asks who receives benefits, who bears burdens, and whether decisions are fair?
09
Choose one
1 point
A community reviewing intensive animal agriculture asks whether routine practices express callousness and what habits of care a better system would cultivate. Which ethical approach is it using?
- A
Virtue ethics, because it examines whether practices express compassion or callousness and cultivate habits of care.
- B
Consequentialism, because it judges practices by their results and overall well-being.
- C
Deontology, because it emphasizes duties, rights, and constraints on permissible action.
- D
Justice-based reasoning, because it asks how benefits and burdens are distributed.
10
Choose one
1 point
When identifying affected parties in an environmental policy decision, which approach best follows the practical method for ethical case analysis?
- A
Include only people who currently have formal authority over the decision.
- B
Include people with less power, future generations, and relevant nonhuman interests.
- C
Include only those who can demonstrate an immediate financial loss.
- D
Exclude future and nonhuman interests because they cannot participate directly.
11
Choose all
1 point
A public agency uses an algorithm to help decide who receives a service. Which safeguards could support responsible use? Select all that apply.
- A
Test the system for its impacts before and during use.
- B
Treat the system's recommendations as final so officials are not responsible for its decisions.
- C
Provide human review of consequential decisions.
- D
Give affected people a meaningful way to appeal a decision.
12
Choose all
1 point
A conservation plan may control an animal population to protect an ecosystem. Which considerations are needed to examine the ethical conflict? Select all that apply.
- A
Assess the suffering and interests of individual animals affected.
- B
Assess the ecological effects of the possible interventions.
- C
Assume that protecting an ecosystem always settles the ethical question.
- D
Assume that avoiding harm to individual animals always settles the ethical question.
13
Open ended
1 point
A government proposes a transition away from a high-emission industry. Explain how an ethically responsible public decision should assess the proposal and its effects on workers, communities, and vulnerable populations. Include relevant moral considerations and explain why trade-offs and safeguards should be made explicit.
14
Choose one
1 point
A policymaker is assessing intensive animal agriculture. Which question best reflects consequentialist reasoning?
- A
Compare food production and livelihoods with animal suffering, environmental effects, and available alternatives.
- B
Ask only whether the practice follows an established duty, regardless of its effects.
- C
Assess whether the practice expresses compassion, without considering its consequences.
- D
Determine whether every affected group receives exactly the same benefit.
15
True or false
1 point
If evidence about a technology’s possible harms is incomplete, responsible ethical analysis should disregard those harms until they are proven.
- A
True
- B
False
16
Written response
1 point
What term describes whether an animal’s interests matter for their own sake?
17
Choose one
1 point
A public agency uses an algorithm to help decide who receives a service. Which concern most directly reflects deontological reasoning?
- A
Whether the algorithm maximizes the total number of services delivered, even if individuals cannot object.
- B
Whether affected people are treated fairly and can challenge decisions that affect them.
- C
Whether officials find the algorithm convenient to administer.
- D
Whether using an algorithm ensures that every decision has the same outcome.
18
Choose one
1 point
When evaluating climate policy, which question best reflects a justice-based approach?
- A
Require every community to pay the same amount, regardless of its circumstances.
- B
Choose the policy with the lowest cost, without considering how risks are distributed.
- C
Consider whether those who contributed least to the problem face severe risks and how costs should be shared.
- D
Prioritize only the interests of people living today.
19
Written response
1 point
What term describes valuing nonhuman life or ecological systems for their own sake, rather than only for their effects on people?
20
Choose one
1 point
An agency finds that an automated service system makes more errors for one group than for others. Which response most directly applies justice-based reasoning?
- A
Examine whether errors or burdens fall disproportionately on some groups.
- B
Choose the system with the highest average accuracy, regardless of who experiences errors.
- C
Assume that using the same algorithm for everyone guarantees fair outcomes.
- D
Focus only on whether the system saves the agency money.