Overview
Chapter 7
Describe the theory of psychological egoism and explain why it is not considered a theory about ethics. Then, explain why the truth of psychological egoism would nonetheless have serious implications for ethics if it were true.
Chapter 8
Why be moral? How does the ethical egoist answer this question? How might someone who denies egoism answer it? Is one of these answers more satisfactory than the other? Defend your answer.
Chapter 9
According to utilitarianism, there is no essential connection between the morality of an action and the morality of the intentions behind it. Describe the utilitarian approach to evaluating actions and intentions, and explain why utilitarians are committed to seeing the two as disconnected. Do you find this feature of utilitarianism to be plausible?
Chapter 10
Develop a utilitarian decision procedure. In other words, given utilitarianism, how should we decide what to do? Does your account help utilitarianism avoid any of the objections from this chapter? Why or why not?