Positive Freedom is the ability to do what one should do. Negative Freedom is the ability to do what one should not do.
Each of the following is an example of either positive freedom or negative freedom (N). Indicate which each is by circling the Be able to explain your choice.
1. P N To be absent from school or work without excuse.
2. P N To live in a pollution-free environment.
3. P N To work most of the summer to afford college.
4. P N To study without distractions.
5. P N To get intoxicated.
6. P N To graduate from CUA.
7. P N To drive as fast as you want to go in the city.
8. P N To be required to take driving lessons in order to drive a car.
9. P N To learn how to forge a check.
10. P N To lock your door whenever you leave your room/apartment/house.
11. P N To obey the No Smoking rules.
12. P N To have easy access to pornographic material.
13. P N To learn how to use crutches effectively after breaking your ankle.
14. P N To use someone else's ID to buy beer.
15. P N To sell drugs without getting caught.
16. P N To learn how to use METRO.
17. P N To read an assigned book.
18. P N To go on a 30-day hunger strike to influence political change.
19. P N To overindulge in food and/or drink.
20. P N To copy someone's homework to make the deadline.
21. P N To go on your earned vacation.
TRUTHFULNESS
Read the entire chapter first. Then answer the questions, following the text. Circle the True or the False.
Your answers are equal to 2 quizzes.
Do this assignment on your own. Write your answers clearly in black or blue ink.
1. Define a lie in the strict or formal sense.
2. Explain what is meant by communication?
3. What is the principal purpose of communication?
4. Fiction is not true. True. False,
5. Fiction is not a lie. True. False.
6. Explain your answer in #5 and illustrate with an example.
7. Deception is morally wrong in itself. True. False.
8. Explain your answer in #7 and illustrate with an example.
9. What is the relationship between deception and lying?
10. Read the last paragraph on p. 297 and continued at the top of p. 298. P. 298: Read Col. 1, #2 and the response to it in Col. 2, #2.
Summarize the point of #2 in Col. 1 and the response to it in #2 in Col. 2.
11. What should be the norm regarding truthfulness in the doctor-patient relationship?
SECRETS
12. What is a strict secret?
13. What is a natural secret?
14. What is a secret of promise?
15. What is a secret of trust?
16. Explain why secrets of promise and secrets of trust can also be natural secrets. Illustrate with an example.
17. We are sometimes permitted to conceal the truth. True. False.
Explain.
18. Concealing the truth means telling a lie. True. False.
What four means can be used to keep a secret when directly questioned about it? Briefly explain what is meant by each means.
19.
ANALYZE AND EVALUATE THE FOLLOWING CASES according to the underlined guidelines. Write your account clearly on the back in ink or attach a separate sheet if you wish. Each case is one quiz, 100 points each.
1. This case involves the distinction between deception and lying.
A woman has written a novel with the hopes of obtaining substantial financial returns in order to support her retarded child. She discusses the hoped for returns with her publisher and they decide she should publish her novel under a male pseudonym. The information about the author on the book jacket is accurately and truthfully stated. No picture of the author appears and no his or her pronouns are used. The novel is a great success and the author begins to realize her hoped for returns.
A prestigious organization invites the author to speak to its members, both male and female, at its well-attended annual meeting. The author accepts in the name of her pseudonym and appears at the appointed time. When the president of the organization discovers that he is introducing a woman instead of a man, he feels she has deliberately lied to him. Has she? Explain your answer.
2. This case involves the obligation of truthtelling and the principle of double effect. John Smith is married to your friend, Alice, and they have three children. You met John only once, when he and Alice were married 15 years ago. They live in Chicago. Every year you hear from them at Christmas.
You are not married and live in New York. There you have a good friend, Joan, who is not married. At a party in New York shortly after Christmas, you meet Joan, who introduces you to her fiancee, John Smith, who is in New York on a business trip, having come from Chicago. Joan is full of happiness at the prospect of their marriage. When Joan introduces you, she uses only your first name.
You are stunned and speechless because you are quite sure that this is the same John Smith who is married to Alice. Later, you are able to confirm this. Moreover, you just heard from Alice and John at Christmas and their letter gave you the yearly account of an apparently happy family.
After the party, you wonder if you should let Alice and/or Joan know the truth. You know that if you tell either or both these friends, Alice and/or Joan will be extremely upset. You are afraid that telling the truth to Alice could very well destroy her marriage. You don't want to hurt your friends, but you also do not want worse hurts to come to them.
While you are still trying to form your conscience (i.e., making up your mind about what you should do about this), Joan calls you to ask why you looked so stunned and speechless when she introduced you to John. She asks, "Aren't you happy for me? Or, are you jealous or envious?"
What should you answer? Could you be morally justified in telling Alice and/or Joan the truth? Should you tell either or both the truth? Apply the Principle of Double Effect to the act of telling the truth to each woman. Alice and Joan.