DSST Ethics in America study plan
DSST Ethics in America · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 7 hours per week
Ethics in America
Map the exam's content outline into a personal topic list covering metaethics, normative theories, applied ethics, and professional ethics
Define the core vocabulary of moral philosophy (normative, descriptive, metaethics, moral realism, relativism, objectivism) in your own words
Distinguish consequentialist, deontological, and virtue-based reasoning by classifying five everyday moral judgments
Build a spaced-repetition deck seeded with 40 key terms and thinkers
Your checkpoint
A one-page concept map plus a 40-card deck with definitions you wrote yourself
Ethics in America
Explain utilitarianism from Bentham through Mill, including the hedonic calculus and the harm principle
Compare act and rule utilitarianism and articulate two standard objections to each
Apply utilitarian reasoning to a resource-allocation scenario and defend your conclusion in writing
Identify where consequentialist reasoning conflicts with respect for individual rights
Your checkpoint
A 400-word written analysis of one allocation dilemma argued from both act- and rule-utilitarian positions
Ethics in America
State Kant's categorical imperative in both formulations and explain the difference between hypothetical and categorical imperatives
Apply the universalizability and humanity-as-ends tests to three cases
Contrast Kantian duty ethics with utilitarianism on a single dilemma
Explain the role of intention and good will in deontological evaluation
Your checkpoint
A comparison table scoring one dilemma under utilitarian and Kantian frameworks, with a paragraph explaining the divergence
Ethics in America
Describe virtue ethics from Aristotle through contemporary revivals, including eudaimonia, the golden mean, and practical wisdom
Distinguish virtue ethics from rule- and consequence-based approaches on moral education and character
Evaluate the doctrine of the mean against a case where extremes seem required
Explain the ethics of care and how it critiques impartialist theories
Your checkpoint
A timed 25-question self-test across all three normative families, scored and error-logged
Ethics in America
Trace the social contract tradition through Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau and state what each thinks legitimacy requires
Explain Rawls's original position, veil of ignorance, and difference principle
Apply contractarian reasoning to a question about distributive justice
Connect rights-based reasoning to constitutional and civil-liberty arguments
Your checkpoint
A written answer to a distributive-justice prompt using Rawlsian reasoning, plus a list of three counterarguments
Ethics in America
Analyze the major metaethical positions: moral realism, relativism, subjectivism, emotivism, and error theory
State the is-ought problem and explain naturalistic fallacy arguments
Evaluate the cultural relativism debate using at least two concrete cross-cultural examples
Explain how moral skepticism and moral nihilism differ from moral disagreement
Your checkpoint
A debate outline arguing for and against moral objectivism, with citations to positions rather than to any test-prep source
Ethics in America
Apply ethical frameworks to applied domains: bioethics, environmental ethics, business ethics, and punishment
Analyze professional codes of conduct and conflicts between role obligations and universal duties
Reason through classic thought experiments such as the trolley problem variants and the experience machine
Identify the ethical dimensions of a contemporary public-policy controversy
Your checkpoint
Four short applied-ethics responses, one per domain, each naming the framework used and its limits
Ethics in America
Consolidate the full concept map into a single review sheet organized by theory family
Drill weak areas identified in your error log until each missed concept is explainable aloud
Complete two full-length timed practice sets under exam conditions
Rehearse concise written justifications for ethical positions in 3-5 sentences
Your checkpoint
Two scored practice sets with a final error log and a one-page master review sheet
Milestones
Week 2: Can explain and critique utilitarianism without notes and correctly classify five unseen moral judgments by framework
Week 4: Scores at least 70% on the 25-question mixed normative-theory self-test and has logged every miss with a corrected explanation
Week 6: Can state the is-ought problem, define relativism versus objectivism, and argue both sides of the objectivism debate in under ten minutes
Week 8: Scores at least 85% on both timed practice sets and can justify any answer in three sentences or fewer