GMOR 150 – Contemporary Moral Issues
Write a 1500-1700 word essay (about 5 pages if typed and double-spaced in
Times New Roman 12 pt. font) in answer to ONE of the following questions:
1) Explain how Kant’s “respect for persons” principle would apply to business practices. Can a business genuinely embody the ideals of a Kantian moral community, or are these ideals too demanding? Defend your answer drawing on the reading by Norman Bowie.
2) In his article, “Utilitarianism and Animals”, Gaverick Matheny concludes that we ought to make changes to our institutions and habits,“most immediately, that we become vegetarian or preferably vegan”(p.24). This viewpoint would be shared by the protestors at the Six Nations’ deer hunt described in the Globe and Mail newspaper article available in the Blackboard learning materials on this subject. Explain how Matheny reaches his conclusion along with how you think the deer hunt should be evaluated on utilitarian grounds. Do you agree with Matheny’s conclusion in light of your evaluation? Defend your answer.
3) Is medical assistance in dying (voluntary euthanasia) a morally acceptable practice in at least some circumstances? Drawing on our course learning materials and discussion of the debate in the present,
Canadian context, along with the readings by James Rachels and Thomas Sullivan, explain what you take to be the most persuasive arguments on both sides of this issue and defend a position of your own
with respect to it. (Hint: ‘most persuasive’ means you shouldn’t be summarizing every point raised in the assigned readings – be selective.)
Refer to the Essay Writing Checklist appended to this document for standards associated with grading your essay.
The essay is due on Tuesday, December 7 to be submitted electronically.
Note: You must make arrangements in advance of the assignment’s due date to negotiate any extensions due to illness, or other circumstances that may prevent you from completing it on time.
Essay Writing Checklist Summary
All the essay topics require both summary and evaluation. When summarizing a philosopher’s argument, focus on conveying the logical connections between the points you raise in a clear, step by step manner.
Avoid writing lists of what philosophers ‘say’ or ‘believe’, and instead think about how they are trying to convince you of something. In other words, try to get at the reasoning behind the claims they advance. Your paper should be 2/3 argument summary and 1/3 evaluation.
You need to demonstrate that you worked with the assigned course readings as your primary sources in writing your paper. The learning materials I have posted are intended to help guide you through these assigned readings they are not a substitute for them. Do not use any secondary sources, like summaries of the material that you find on the internet, as resources for the summary section of your essay. I am interested in knowing what you learned from our class, not what you learned from the
internet.
□ Substituting particular words or phrases with different ones is not what it means to summarize an argument. Do not ever use online tools or other programs that re-write passages of text for you. You cannot expect a passing grade if this is your approach to summarizing an argument.
□ Use your own words to explain philosophical arguments whenever possible;Can’t assess your understanding of the material if you are quoting the text too much.
□ You are welcome to discuss your assignment with anyone you choose but do not share copies of your written work with classmates. Have seen papers that end up looking very similar to one another and SafeAssign reports this. You do not want to be accused of academic misconduct or to have to share a single mark with someone else.
Evaluation
Argument evaluation may be positive or negative – in other words, you may agree or disagree with a philosopher’s conclusion. But what is important to remember is that you are not evaluating that conclusion in isolation from the reasons that back it up. An effective evaluation is one that addresses a specific premise, assumption, implication, or gap in the philosopher’s reasoning that would lead one to reconsider the conclusion he/she has drawn. (And yes, feel free to use ‘I’ when presenting your
evaluation).
Keep in mind that evaluation is more than a commentary on how the work affected you. Attributing praise like “everything was well-argued”, or “the author is brilliant”, is not very informative. After all, you could just as easily state the opposite in each case.
Style/Organization
Follow the lead of what you have learned in your writing classes. MLA is the most common documentation style for philosophy papers, but APA is fine if you prefer it.
Be sure to have a short, general introduction a concise statement of what will be your evaluation of the philosopher’s position.
Don’t commit to dividing your paper into a set number of paragraphs.Exploring more than one topic in a paragraph can get confusing, so try to think about the natural breaks in the themes you address and start new paragraphs accordingly. Not every paper you write in your life will fit into the standard, 5-paragraph essay format you learned in high school.
It can be helpful to read your paper back to yourself from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know the material at all. Ask yourself: would such a person understand what I’m talking about, despite not being familiar with the subject matter? Sometimes things might make perfect sense in your own
mind (especially late at night!), but if something you have written is not clear from an ‘outside’ perspective, then clarification may be needed
