Paper length: 1000 – 1500 words.

Paper Prompts: Write on ONE of the following topics:

(1) The paradox of analysis is suggests that conceptual analysis is either false or uninformative. Explain the paradox of analysis and your favorite solution.

(2) Explain and defend your favorite definition of technology.

(3) Discuss the pros and cons of human gene patents from an ethical point of view.

(4) Explain the paradox of constitution. Ted Sider distinguishes four solutions to the paradox of constitution. Which of these solutions strikes you as plausible and why? What, if anything, is problematic about your favorite solution to the paradox of constitution?

(5) Explain the Ship of Theseus paradox. Explain the transitivity of identity. Why can we not solve the paradox by imposing a threshold of how many parts of thing (e.g., a ship) may be changed (e.g., 5%) before it is not the same thing any longer? How would you solve the Ship of Theseus paradox?

(6) “There are … no tables and chair, and there are no other artifacts. … Artisans do not create; not, at least, in the sense of causing things to exist. They rearrange objects in space and cause bonding relations to begin to hold or to cease to hold (as in the case of the sculptor who chips away at a block of marble) between objects …” (Peter can Inwagen, Material Beings, Cornell University Press 1990, p. 116). Do you agree with the view expressed in this quote? Explain your answer.

What are the ethics around the coronavirus? What would the different ethical theories have to say about our rights and responsibilities, both as individuals and as a society, in these times? Is hoarding egoistic or just selfish? What virtues are required and what vices should be avoided? Social distancing seems like an obviously utilitarian practice, but what about the economy? What does it look like to treat other people as ends in this situation and what is and isn’t universalizable as a maxim. Is there a risk to our civil rights with curfews, quarantines, racial and social stigmatization, and general mass hysteria? How can you care for yourself, your friends and family, and others?

Authors and journalists are filling the internet with ideas about what we should do and how we should behave in these times. Do research. You will find that, consciously or not, many authors are working from a basis of one of the ethical theories you have studied. Don’t just look at the egoistic, “how do I survive this” articles. And avoid weirdos’ blogs, etc.! Find examples of ethical claims made in accordance with the theories we’ve learned.

Don’t read yourself into paranoia. Take a step back when you need to and get some perspective. But take this seriously, it is important.

Choose either Topic A or Topic B. To answer these topics completely, it takes a minimum of 2 pages – 8-10 paragraphs. Use the topic questions and the scoring rubric to see if your draft responds fully to all parts of the question. A complete thoughtful answer is more important than word count.

Topic A:

What is Martin Gardner’s argument for the objectivist view of art? Do you agree? Why or why not?

Use Vaughn’s textbook to help you explain Gardner’s theory and its strengths and weaknesses. Choose an object, performance, or piece of writing as an example, and explain whether Gardner’s theory would classify the object as Art. Do you agree with objectivism about Art or do you find another theory more convincing? Defend your point of view.

Topic B:

Explain Locke’s view of human nature. Use details from the textbook to support your description. Explain Hobbes’s view of human nature, again using details from the textbook to support your description. How do Locke’s view of human nature and Hobbes’ view differ? Which do you think is more accurate? Explain, and defend your answer

Word Ethics Applied Ethics Debate is the Assignment.

You have to submit two document. The Defense and the Rebuttal.

I will upload supporting document.