Ethical issues
This assignment requires that you write an essay of 5-7 pages (around 1500 words) in which you use the work of two philosophers whose ideas we’ve examined in the first half of the class to analyze an ethical problem drawn from your own experience or observation of the world.
Start by explaining an ethical problem that you’ve encountered in some way in your own life. You can use a situation that you found yourself in, or you can point to a situation you were aware of but didn’t necessarily play a direct role in. The key thing is that you should describe a situation you’re familiar with in which some kind of ethical judgment was called for.
Once you’ve set up the situation you intend to analyze, offer brief summaries of the ideas of two of the writers we’ve looked at in World Ethics, our course textbook. When you’ve outlined what you believe are the most relevant parts of the philosophers’ thought, show how you think you might apply the two thinkers’ ideas to the case you’re examining. What guidance does the work of each philosopher offer for figuring out how to solve the ethical problem at hand?
Next, comment on what you see as the value, both practical and ethical, of the philosophical ideas you’ve brought to bear on a real-world ethical problem. That is, talk about how the abstract theoretical approaches you’ve studied affected your view of the problem you applied them to.
The essay should:
Show a good understanding of the ideas of two philosophers we’ve read in World Ethics.
Be well organized, with each of the elements listed above addressed fully.
Feature an introduction and conclusion, with logical paragraph development throughout.
Be word-processed, double-spaced, and carefully proofread.