Ethics              Second Paper Assignment                                                     Due: Friday, May 9

 

Basic assignment: Write a 4-5 page (typed, double-spaced) paper explaining and supporting your position on one of the issues we have (or will have) discussed in the second half of this course. 

 

Some guidelines:

 

1.      Be sure that the question or issue your paper is addressing is clear and well focused.

2.      Be sure that you have provided a clear statement of your position on that issue (or your answer to that question).  Be careful to explain any technical terms you use and to try to distinguish your position from other similar positions with which it might be confused.

3.      Taking a position is not the same thing (necessarily) as taking a side.  You may find yourself wanting to stake out a "middle ground" position.  Or your position may be that no definite opinion on your topic can be adequately defended.  Any position is O.K. as long as it is clearly explained and carefully reasoned. 

4.      In addition to explaining what you think, your paper should contain reasons why you take the position you do.  Your main job is to explain why a reasonable person should agree with the opinion or position you are expressing.

5.      Whatever your position is, there will be other points of view on the issue or topic you are discussing.  So, include in your paper at least one statement of an objection to your view and a reply to that objection.  How might someone who disagreed with you criticize your argument?  And how can you respond to that criticism?  (Statements and replies to several objections would be even better.)

6. I will be evaluating your paper primarily by assessing how clearly you state your position and the reasoning behind it; how alert you are to the variety of possible alternatives and objections to your position that might come from other ethical perspectives (especially those contained in the articles we have read); how accurately you have explained the arguments of those who disagree with you; and how cogent and thorough your replies to those arguments are..  I will not be judging your paper on the basis of my opinion about the correctness of your position.
7. You are not required to consult any other sources besides those assigned for class reading.  (You should read the articles discussing the issue you are writing about, even if we haven’t got to them yet.)  If you do use any other sources, give them credit for whatever you take from them: list them in a bibliography at the end of your paper and give specific references for any ideas you have borrowed.  For references to class readings, give a page number and name in parentheses.

 

Sample questions:

1.      Are some virtues non-relative, i.e., necessary to any person who wants to lead a good life, regardless of cultural differences?  Or are virtues always relative to one’s time and place?

2.      Does it make sense to condemn homosexual acts because they are unnatural?

3.      How can we distinguish between ethically permissible and ethically unacceptable sex acts?

4.      Should gay and lesbian couples have the right to get married?

5.      When, if ever, are abortions morally justifiable?

6.      What rules, if any, should restrict women’s right to choose to obtain an abortion?

7.      Is there anything wrong (ethically speaking) with being a consumer of pornography?  (Is regular consumption of pornography a vice?)

8.      Is it a good thing or a bad thing if pornography is freely available and/or widely enjoyed in our society?

9.      Should pornography (or some kinds of pornography) be censored or banned?

10.  Should a university like Hamline have any rules restricting speech or expression?

11.  Is an “ethic of care” needed to correct the male bias of mainstream ethical theory?