Study questions 1.1 | Philosophy homework help

After reading the selection from Think, by Simon Blackburn, provide written answers to the following questions.  Please give complete answers in complete sentences.

  1. What does Blackburn mean by “conceptual engineering” and how is it related to “self-reflection”?
  2. How does Blackburn distinguish between empirical and philosophical questions?
  3. Why are philosophical questions particularly “baffling”?
  4. What three “levels” does Blackburn identify when responding to his own question, “What is the point?”
  5. In what ways might philosophical reflection be practical?  Or, in what ways might one’s ideas or theories have consequences for how one lives and acts?
  6. What two ways of answering ethical/moral questions does Blackburn identify?

After viewing the video “Introduction to Ethics,” with Tom Burns, provide written answers to the following questions.  Please give complete answers in complete sentences.

7. What is normative ethics?  How does it differ from descriptive ethics?
8. How are the normative theories known as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics different from each other?
9. What is metaethics?
10. What is applied ethics?  Which of the three main normative theories is most difficult to apply?

The video to introduction to ethics.