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Philosophy · Unit 18

Aesthetics and Applied Ethics

Beauty and art, and ethics in the real world

Two areas where philosophy meets things people already argue about: what makes something beautiful, and what to actually do in a difficult situation.

The unit covers beauty, art and aesthetic value, applied ethics, bioethics and animal ethics, and thought experiments as a method.

This unit breaks down into 23 short steps and 121 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 5. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps
23
Questions
121
Difficulty
1-5

What this unit covers

  • Beauty
  • Art and Aesthetic Value
  • Applied Ethics
  • Bioethics and Animal Ethics
  • Thought Experiments

Where this fits

The final unit. Needs Ethics. Connects to Art's Art Theory and Criticism.

Where people slip

Thought experiments test principles, not predictions. Objecting that a trolley problem is unrealistic misunderstands what it is for.

How the unit is structured

Aesthetics and Applied Ethics runs as 23 short steps that unlock in order. 17 are practice rounds and 6 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 5 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 23 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 121 in the unit altogether.

Applied Ethics

  • Multiple choiceLevel 1

    1. What does applied ethics do?

    • Applies moral thinking to real-world issuescorrect
    • Studies distant galaxies
    • Measures the weather
    • Designs bridges

    Applied ethics takes moral ideas and applies them to practical, real-life questions.

  • Odd one outLevel 1

    2. Which of these is NOT a branch of applied ethics?

    • Trigonometrycorrect
    • Bioethics
    • Environmental ethics
    • Business ethics

    Trigonometry is math; the others are areas of applied ethics.

  • Choose all that applyLevel 2

    3. Which of these are branches of applied ethics? Choose all that apply.

    • Bioethicscorrect
    • Business ethicscorrect
    • Environmental ethicscorrect
    • Astronomy
    • Geometry

    Bioethics, business ethics, and environmental ethics are all parts of applied ethics.

  • Fill the blankLevel 2

    4. Applied ethics uses moral ideas to think about ____ problems in the real world.

    • practicalcorrect
    • imaginary
    • ancient
    • musical

    Applied ethics is about practical, real-world moral problems.

  • Match the pairsLevel 2

    5. Match each area of applied ethics to what it studies.

    Answer: Bioethics = Medicine and life sciences; Environmental ethics = Duties to nature; Business ethics = Right and wrong in trade; Just war theory = The ethics of war

    Each area applies moral thinking to a different real-world field.

  • Sort into groupsLevel 2

    6. Sort each question into Applied ethics or Not applied ethics.

    Answer: Is factory farming wrong? = Applied ethics; Should euthanasia be allowed? = Applied ethics; What is the square root of nine? = Not applied ethics; How far away is the Moon? = Not applied ethics

    Moral questions about real practices are applied ethics; factual math and science questions are not.

Art and Aesthetic Value

  • Multiple choiceLevel 1

    7. What big question is at the heart of the philosophy of art?

    • What makes something art?correct
    • How much does paint cost?
    • Who owns the museum?
    • When do galleries open?

    Philosophers of art ask what makes something count as art.

  • Choose all that applyLevel 2

    8. Which of these are theories about what makes something art? Choose all that apply.

    • Representationcorrect
    • Expressioncorrect
    • Formalismcorrect
    • Digestion
    • Refrigeration

    Representation, expression, and formalism are three classic theories of art.

  • Fill the blankLevel 2

    9. A theory that says a painting is art because of its shapes, colors, and lines is called ____.

    • formalismcorrect
    • realism
    • capitalism
    • tourism

    Formalism focuses on the form, meaning the arrangement of colors, shapes, and lines.

  • Odd one outLevel 2

    10. Three of these are theories of art. Which is the odd one out?

    • The calorie theorycorrect
    • The expression theory
    • The imitation theory
    • The institutional theory

    There is no calorie theory of art; the others are real theories of art.

  • Put in orderLevel 3

    11. Put these ideas about art in order from oldest to most recent.

    Answer: Imitation theory in ancient Greece -> Expression theory in the 1800s -> Formalism in the early 1900s -> Institutional theory in the 1960s

    Thinking about art moved from imitation, to expression, to form, and then to social context.

  • Match the pairsLevel 4

    12. Match each philosopher of art to their idea.

    Answer: Clive Bell = Significant form; George Dickie = Institutional theory; Arthur Danto = The artworld; Leo Tolstoy = Art as emotional communication

    Each of these thinkers is remembered for a distinct account of art.

Beauty

  • Fill the blankLevel 1

    13. The saying 'Beauty is in the eye of the ____' suggests that beauty depends on the person who is judging.

    • beholdercorrect
    • teacher
    • artist
    • scientist

    In the eye of the beholder is a friendly way of saying beauty may be subjective.

  • Multiple choiceLevel 1

    14. What does the branch of philosophy called aesthetics mainly study?

    • Beauty and artcorrect
    • The stars and planets
    • Numbers and shapes
    • Laws and government

    Aesthetics is the study of beauty, art, and taste.

  • Odd one outLevel 1

    15. Which of these is NOT something the field of aesthetics studies?

    • Photosynthesis in plantscorrect
    • Beauty in nature
    • The value of art
    • The feeling of the sublime

    Photosynthesis is biology; beauty, art, and the sublime are aesthetic topics.

  • Match the pairsLevel 2

    16. Match each aesthetics word to its meaning.

    Answer: Aesthetics = The study of beauty and art; Subjective = Depending on the person judging; Objective = In the thing itself; The sublime = Awe at something vast

    These are basic terms for talking about beauty.

  • Choose all that applyLevel 3

    17. Which thinkers are known for their views on beauty and taste? Choose all that apply.

    • David Humecorrect
    • Immanuel Kantcorrect
    • Edmund Burkecorrect
    • Isaac Newton
    • Julius Caesar

    Hume, Kant, and Burke all wrote important works on beauty, taste, and the sublime.

  • Guess the numberLevel 4

    18. Around which year did Kant publish his Critique of the Power of Judgment, his main work on beauty and the sublime?

    Answer: 1790 year

    Kant published the Critique of the Power of Judgment in 1790.

Bioethics and Animal Ethics

  • Multiple choiceLevel 1

    19. Bioethics studies moral questions about what?

    • Medicine, health, and life
    • The price of gold
    • The rules of chess
    • The speed of cars

    Bioethics is about right and wrong in medicine, health, and life.

  • Choose all that applyLevel 2

    20. According to Peter Singer, which facts help explain why an animal's suffering can matter morally? Choose all that apply.

    • They can feel paincorrect
    • They can suffercorrect
    • They have interestscorrect
    • They can do algebra
    • They can vote

    Singer stresses that animals can feel pain, can suffer, and have interests that count.

  • Match the pairsLevel 2

    21. Match each ethics term to its meaning.

    Answer: Autonomy = A patient deciding for themselves; Beneficence = Doing good for the patient; Non-maleficence = Avoiding harm; Speciesism = Favoring one's own species

    These are common terms in medical and animal ethics.

  • Odd one outLevel 2

    22. Which of these is NOT one of the four common principles of medical ethics?

    • Popularitycorrect
    • Autonomy
    • Beneficence
    • Non-maleficence

    The four principles are autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice; popularity is not one.

  • True or falseLevel 2

    23. Informed consent means a patient should understand a treatment before agreeing to it.

    Answer: True

    Yes, informed consent requires that the patient understands and freely agrees.

  • Fill the blankLevel 3

    24. The word ____ describes a being's capacity to feel pain and pleasure, which Singer says matters morally.

    • sentiencecorrect
    • silence
    • distance
    • balance

    Sentience, the ability to feel, is central to Singer's argument about animals.

Thought Experiments

  • Choose all that applyLevel 1

    25. Which of these are famous philosophical thought experiments? Choose all that apply.

    • The trolley problemcorrect
    • The veil of ignorancecorrect
    • The experience machinecorrect
    • The grocery list
    • The weather forecast

    The trolley problem, the veil of ignorance, and the experience machine are all well-known thought experiments.

  • Multiple choiceLevel 1

    26. What is a thought experiment in philosophy?

    • An imagined situation used to test an ideacorrect
    • A test done in a chemistry lab
    • A survey of real people
    • A math proof on paper

    A thought experiment is an imagined situation used to test an idea or intuition.

  • True or falseLevel 1

    27. The trolley problem imagines a runaway trolley and a hard choice about whom it will harm.

    Answer: True

    Yes, the classic trolley problem asks you to make a hard choice about a runaway trolley.

  • Fill the blankLevel 2

    28. In the classic trolley problem, you decide whether to divert a trolley so that it harms one person instead of ____.

    • fivecorrect
    • zero
    • twenty
    • one hundred

    The standard version weighs one life against five.

  • Put in orderLevel 2

    29. Put these famous thought experiments in order from oldest to most recent.

    Answer: Plato's Cave -> The trolley problem -> The veil of ignorance -> The experience machine

    Plato's Cave is ancient, while the trolley problem (1967), the veil of ignorance (1971), and the experience machine (1974) are all modern.

  • Type the answerLevel 4

    30. Which philosopher devised the experience machine thought experiment in his book Anarchy, State, and Utopia?

    Answer: Nozick

    Robert Nozick introduced the experience machine to argue against hedonism.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 10 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

  • Choose all that apply
  • Fill the blank
  • Guess the number
  • Match the pairs
  • Multiple choice
  • Odd one out
  • Put in order
  • Sort into groups
  • True or false
  • Type the answer

Practise Aesthetics and Applied Ethics

121 questions across 23 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Aesthetics and Applied Ethics

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

More units in Philosophy

See all 18 units in Philosophy →