Assignment Content
Please read these assignment instructions before writing your paper and re-read them often during and after the writing process to make sure that you are fulfilling all of the instructions.
– By engaging with the course material, you now have had a chance to refine your thinking and broaden your understanding of the problem by approaching it from the perspective of multiple ethical theories.
In this paper, you will demonstrate what you have learned by writing an essay in which you
Present an ethical question and introduction to the topic.
Explain the kind of reasoning you think is the best way to approach this question, and how that reasoning supports the position you think is strongest.
Raise an objection and respond to it.
Write an essay that conforms to the requirements below. The paper must be 1500 to 2000 words in length (excluding the title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA, Chicago, or MLA style.
The paragraphs of your essay should conform to the following guidelines:
Introduction
Your first paragraph should begin with the topic question. It should be focused, concrete, and on a relevant moral problem.
The question should be specific:
For example,
Is capital punishment wrong?
Is it just to use capital punishment when there is the possibility of executing innocent persons?
Should abortions be allowed in certain cases, such as when the mother’s life is at risk or when a pregnancy is the result of rape or incest, but not in other cases?
Does a fetus have the right not to be killed from the moment of conception, or is that right acquired later in its development?
Should a women have a right to an abortion if we recognize the fetus as a person?
Does a person with a terminal condition have a right to physician-assisted suicide?
Does a person with a debilitating but non-terminal physical condition have a right to physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia?
Would it be wrong to produce clones of humans as a form of reproduction?
Should we permit parents to select the gender and/or other characteristics of their children if the technology allows?
Is it wrong to eat meat that comes from animals raised on factory farms?
Is it always wrong to eat animals?
Is it morally acceptable for the United States to torture individuals suspected of supporting terrorism in order to get information out of them?
Do individuals have an obligation to try to limit their contribution to…?
Specify an area of environmental impact such as global climate change, water pollution, landfills, deforestation, etc.
Is to morally justified for legal marriage to be available to couples of the same sex?
Should people who provide services for heterosexual weddings (cakes, photography, etc.) be free to refuse to provide those services for same-sex weddings?
You should then introduce the topic, reflecting the developed understanding and information you have gained about the topic and any necessary refinement of the scope.
Explain its relevance and importance.
Define any key terms and concepts.
Provide any relevant context and background information.
Briefly reference an idea, quote, or analysis of the issue that you have found in one of the required resources on the topic.
Explanation and Demonstration of Moral Reasoning
This section of the Final Paper will explain and demonstrate what you believe to be the best way of reasoning about the question you have chosen and show how that reasoning supports the position you have taken on the question. You might explain the principles, rules, values, virtues, conceptions of purposes and ends, and other general ideas that you find persuasive, and show how they support concrete judgments.
– In the course of doing so, you must make reference to at least one of the approaches that we have examined in the course (such as duty ethics, utilitarian, or virtue-based). For example, you might find the reasoning associated with Aristotelian virtue ethics to be the most compelling, and reference Aristotle in the process of showing how that reasoning supports a certain conclusion. In the course of this, you could contrast that with a utilitarian approach, referencing Mill for instance.
You need to have Explanation of the theory.
Explanation of the Ethical Theory
Ethical theories provide accounts of how to reason well about moral questions and of what justifies answers to those questions.
The discussion should include the following elements:
A brief account of the historical background of the theory and the philosopher(s) associated with it.
An explanation of the core moral principle of the theory, or if there is more than one, the principle that you will focus on in applying that theory to your question.
A brief, general explanation of how the theory and its core moral principle applies to moral questions, using an example different from the issue that is the main focus of your paper
Application of the Ethical Theory
Now that you have explained in general terms the core principle of the ethical theory you are focusing on in this paper, you will apply that theory and its core principle to your ethical question.
Explain as clearly and precisely as you can how that principle leads to a particular conclusion.
Objection and Response
After explaining the ethical reasoning that supports your position, you should raise an objection and respond to it. An objection articulates a plausible reason why someone might find the argument weak or problematic. You should explain how it brings out this weakness, and do so in a way that would be acceptable to someone who disagrees with your own argument. Then, provide the best response you can to the objection, showing how it does not undermine your position. Your response should not simply restate your original position or argument but should say something new in support of it.
In the course of doing so, you must make reference to at least one of the approaches that we have examined in the course (such as duty ethics, utilitarian, or virtue-based). Remember you need to explain and apply the theory to the counterargument.
Conclusion
In this section of the paper, provide a summary of what you have done in the paper by briefly describing what you accomplished in each of the above sections.
Resource Requirement
You must use at least four scholarly resources. You need to have at least one source for each theory. For example, if you discuss deontology and virtue ethics, you would need at least one resource under the “Deontology” and at least one resource under the “Virtue Ethics”.
For sources to count toward the resources requirement, they must be cited within the text of your paper and on the reference page. Sources that are listed on the references page, but not cited within the paper, do not count toward fulfilling the resources requirement.
The Final Paper:
Must be 1500 to 2000 words in length (excluding title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA, MLA, or Chicago style
Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement and statement of the procedure.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
Must make meaningful reference to at least two of the ethical theories studied in the course.
Must use two ethical theories
Must use at least four scholarly resources that fulfill the stated requirements.
TOPICS – You can choose one of these topics or choose another one.
These are the topics on which you are to formulate an ethical question to address in your papers, along with a few example sub-topics to help you narrow things down. You should peruse the list of required and recommended readings on each topic for further ideas, and you might think about or do some research into specific controversies that have appeared in the news, that you have heard about, or that you may have personally encountered.
Just War/Military Ethics
• The circumstances under which it is or is not legitimate to use military force against another group or country
• The conditions under which killing another person is or is not justified within the context of military action
• When it is or is not legitimate to use certain controversial weapons to conduct military operations, such as drones, nuclear weapons, chemical and biological weapons, carpet bombs, etc.
• Disobeying unjust or illegal orders given by one’s superiors
• The kinds of actions or responses are characteristic of “virtuous” military personnel and their opposites, and how we should understand those virtues.
Gender and Equality
• Sexual harassment in the workplace
• Equal pay for equal work
• Hiring discrimination
• Portrayals of men and women in the media or advertising
• The difference that feminine approaches might make to a specific ethical issue
Responsibility to Animals
• Raising animals in factory farm conditions
• Raising animals in alternative farming conditions
• Hunting animals for sport
• Using animals for scientific research, testing cosmetics, etc.
• Consuming animal products (meat, dairy, eggs, leather, fur, etc.) obtained from animals raised in poor conditions
Responsibility to the Environment
• Business practices that impact the environment
• Individual behaviors and choices that impact the environment
• The balancing of governmental regulations intended to protect the environment with individual liberty
• Climate Change
• Clearing forests for farmland
• Protecting wilderness areas
• Protecting endangered species
End of Life Medical Issues
• Physician-assisted suicide
• Voluntary active euthanasia
• Non-voluntary active euthanasia (such as seriously ill infants, people with dementia or brain damage, etc.)
• Active vs. passive euthanasia
• Euthanasia and/or physician-assisted suicide for non-standard reasons, such as non-terminal conditions (pain, disability, depression, free choice, etc.)
