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PHIL 2003 – ETHICS AND MORAL THEORY ESSAY ASSIGNMENT Due Date:  Sunday April 3, at midnight, uploaded on blackboard

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PHIL 2003 – ETHICS AND MORAL THEORY

ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

Due Date:  Sunday April 3, at midnight, uploaded on blackboard.

Instructions: Please answer 1 of the following 4 questions:

 

1. Dostoevsky wrote – ‘If God does not exist, then everything is permitted’ – explain the meaning of this provocative claim and contextualize it with one of the theories we have explored in our course. Do you agree with this claim? Why or why not?

 

2. Why be moral? The question of ‘motivation’ to be moral is a foundational question to ethics. Explain the reasons to be moral (or not be moral) and contextualize this with one of the theories we have explored in our course. Do you think there is adequate reason to be moral? Why or why not?

 

3. Choose a specific ethical case study:

 

1. 1. The moral status of non-human animals
   2. The ethics of friendship
   3. The ethics of free speech

 

Sketch the moral case study and explain the controversy/puzzle. Then contextualize the case study in the context of one of theories we have explored in the course. What is your position on the case study? Provide arguments/reasons/objections to your argument.

 

4. Propose your own topic. Be sure to contact me for the go-ahead. There are numerous issues surrounding love and sex and if you have a particular interest, by all means suggest something to me.

 

This is not a research paper. Cite quotations from course readings in text like this:

(Name of philosopher/author, title, page number in textbook). You may use the

course notes, but you must cite them (quotation marks, and in text citations). To cite

lecture notes like this: (Landry, Name of Lecture, page number).

 

Requirements:

• Length: 1200 words. Do not write less 1200 words and no more than 1300.

• Write in your own words.

• Use paragraphs, complete sentences: no point form.

• Do NOT include a cover page. Do NOT use headers and footers.

• Typed, Times New Roman font, double-spaced, include the word count at the top of the first page.

Submit an electronic copy through Blackboard. Electronic submissions are put through plagiarism detection software.