Your second and final essay-writing exercise will involve three parts, which are as follows::

Part 1: An outline of your basic thesis, the structure of your essay, and the general line or lines along which you'll be arguing.  (5%)

Due Date:     Friday, April 8

Part 2:  A detailed outline of your central argument or arguments, and of your responses to the objections that you'll be considering.  (10%)

Due Date:     Friday, April 15

Part 3: The completed essay.  (15%)

Length of Essay:   1200-1500 words

Due Date:  Monday, April 25

Proportion of Final Grade for this Project as a Whole:   30%
 

        The first thing that you need to do is to settle on a topic for your essay.  At the end of this handout, I've listed a number of possibilities.  I've also listed anthologies that I've placed on reserve in the library, and that contain essays on a number of contemporary moral issues.  These may help you by suggesting other topics, possible arguments, or objections to your own position.

Instructions for Part 1:  A General Outline for Your Essay

        This first part involves writing a short outline for your essay as a whole.  This should consist of the following sections:

Section 1:  Your Basic Thesis

        In this first section, you should state the basic thesis that you will be defending.  This should require only a sentence or two.

Section 2:  The Structure of Your Essay

        In this section, you should describe, in a single, short paragraph, how your essay will be divided up into sections.

Section 3:  Your Main Supporting Argument or Arguments

        In this section, you should indicate how you intend to argue in support of your thesis.  Here you need to indicate what sort of argument (or arguments) you will be offering.  A detailed description is not necessary at this point: that should be left, instead, for Part 2 of this essay-writing exercise.  What you want to do here is to give a clear description that is sufficiently detailed so that I can see the general thrust of your argument, and thus be in a position to determine whether it seems like a generally promising line of argument, or whether there are possible difficulties that need to be taken into account.

Section 4:  Important Objections to Your Arguments or to Your Thesis

        A crucial part of any essay discussing a moral issue involves considering objections, either to the argument (or arguments) that you have offered in support of your basic thesis, or to the thesis itself, or to both.  The quality of an essay depends in large measure upon whether one has addressed the strongest and most important objections to one's own arguments and views, and whether one has dealt with those objections in a convincing fashion.  In this final section, then, you should briefly state the main objection (or objections) that you plan to consider, and how you will respond.  Here, too, your goal should be merely to enable me to appreciate the general thrust of the objection (or objections) that you will be considering, and of your response (or responses), so that I can determine whether there are any problems that you need to think further about.

Instructions for Part 2:  Detailed Outlines of Arguments and Objections

        This second part of the second essay-writing exercise involves producing an outline of your basic arguments, and of your responses to objections, in which you set those arguments, and responses to the objections, out in a clear, detailed, step by step fashion.  In formulating your arguments, and responses to objections, do make use of any comments that you received on Part 1.  In particular, if it seemed to me that some line of argument (or some response to an objection, was potentially problematic, either you should try to avoid the problem in question by arguing along different lines, or you should attempt to show that the potential problem was only an apparent one, and that it can in fact be handled.

        Your discussion should be divided into two main sections, one focusing upon your supporting argument (or arguments), and the other upon possible objections:

Section 1:  Your Main Supporting Argument (or Arguments)

        You may be offering a single argument in support of your basic thesis, or more than one argument.  If you do decide to offer more than one argument, this section should be divided into clearly labeled sub-sections, one for each of the arguments that you will be offering.

        Your objective in this section will be to set out your argument (or arguments) in as clear a way as possible.  Try to make all of your assumptions completely explicit, and to show exactly how those assumptions support the conclusion you wish to establish, so that the reader does not have to read between the lines, or guess as to how exactly your argument goes.

Section 2:  Important Objections to Your Arguments or to Your Thesis

        Here, too, if you decide that there is more than one objection to your argument, or to your thesis, that you need to address, divide this section up into clearly labeled sub-sections.
For each objection that you address, there are two tasks.  First, try to et out the objection both clearly and crisply, and in a way that makes the objection seem as strong and plausible as possible.  Your goal here should be to formulate the objection at least as forcefully as it might be formulated by someone who would direct that objection against you.

        Secondly, you then need to indicate how you are going to respond to the objection, and why you think that the objection, however plausible it may initially have seemed, is ultimately unsound.  In doing this, try to make it as clear as possible where you think the central flaw in the objection lies.

Instructions for Part 3:  The Completed Essay

Length of Essay:   1200-1500 words

1.  Before doing a draft of your essay as a whole, it may be a good idea to skim through the handout, "Writing a Philosophy Essay".

2.  The main points to keep in mind are summarized on the "Essay Checklist and Cover Sheet".  This is to be attached to the front of your essay, and before doing the final draft of your essay, you should go through your essay carefully to see whether your essay is satisfactory in the relevant respects.

3.  The heart of your essay is in the argument (or arguments) that you offer in support of your basic thesis, in the objections you consider that might be directed either against your thesis, or against your supporting arguments, and in the plausibility of your responses to those objections.  My comments on Part 2 of this essay-writing exercise should give you a good idea whether your positive argument (or arguments), and your discussion of objections, are falling into place, or whether some strengthening is called for.  If the latter is the case, do talk to me if further advice might be helpful.  On the other hand, if there wasn't much that seemed to me problematic with Part 2, then it's basically a matter of incorporating your argument (or arguments) and your discussion of possible objections into a nicely structured and polished essay.

4.  The topics listed below are meant merely to suggest some possibilities.  Some of the topic descriptions are very brief.  Others contains a number of questions.  In the latter case, the questions are intended merely to suggest some things on which you might focus, and if you choose one of those topics, you should not feel that you must address the specific questions that I have raised.

5.  If you've thought about the issue you're writing on, done some reading in the area, talked about it with friends, etc., you may very well be able to start right in on writing your essay.  But if you feel that it would be good to read what some philosophers have had to say on the topic that you have in mind, and to see what sorts of arguments they have put forward, then you might want to look at relevant articles in one of more of the anthologies listed below.
 

TOPICS

1.   The sexual revolution was naturally very appealing to many, and the rejection of traditional sexual morality may well have appeared to be a liberating move that would both give women sexual equality, by eliminating the notorious double standard, and also further human happiness in general.  But while the sexual revolution may have increased the short-term happiness of some, for society as a whole it has meant, among other things, the replacement of relations involving long-term commitments by extremely superficial relations, the ever-increasing breakdown of marriages, with the obvious negative effects upon children, the birth of more and more children outside of a stable and supportive family environment, and an explosion of sexually transmitted diseases that involves an enormous cost in human suffering and death.  In short, while the sexual revolution looked like a good idea, the experiment has now been performed, and the results are in:  it is one of the greatest disasters in human history.  The time has come to return to traditional sexual morality, to chastity and fidelity."

        Discuss this argument.  If you think that the argument is sound, set out what you take to be the most important objections to the argument, and indicate carefully why you think those objections are unsound.  If, on the other hand, you think that the argument is unsound, indicate very clearly what objection or objections you would raise to the argument.

        In either case, be sure to consider possible objections to your own line of argument.

2.   Is prostitution morally wrong?  What are the most important arguments that might be offered in support of the view that it is?  What are the most important arguments that might be offered against that view?  Which position would you defend, and why?  What is the most important objection (or objections) to your own view, and how would you respond?

3.   Sexual activities involving individuals of the same sex are illegal in many American states.  Should those laws be repealed or not?  What are the most important arguments bearing upon this question, and which view would you defend, in the light of those arguments?  What's the most important objection that might be raised against your own position, and how would you reply?

4.   Should all explicit, erotically stimulating material be illegal?  Why, or why not?  What objections would someone who disagreed with your view be likely to raise?  How would you try to sustain your view in the face of those objections?

5.   What are the most important arguments bearing upon the question of whether prostitution should be illegal?  What view would you defend, and why?  What important objections are there to your position, and how would you respond to those objections?

6.   Should there be a law against adultery?  What arguments might be offered in support of the view that there should be?  And what arguments could be offered on the other side?  What is your own position, and what are your reasons for holding it?  What is the most important objection to your view?  Why do you think that that objection is unsound?  (If you are defending the view that there should not be a law against adultery, be sure to respond, at some point in your essay, to the following argument.  "Adultery is morally wrong. That in itself, of course, may not be a sufficient reason for having a law against it.  In addition, however, adultery often inflicts harm upon innocent people - the other spouse, and any children that there may be.  And this is a good reason for treating adultery as a crime - even as quite a serious crime.")

7.   If a person is not suffering from an incurable illness, is suicide ever morally permissible?

8.   Discuss the claim that, provided that one has no special obligations to others - such as one's family - suicide is never morally wrong in itself.

9.   Set out, and then evaluate, the most important theological argument (or arguments) against suicide.

10.   What questions arise concerning the morality of assisting someone to commit suicide, and what answers would you defend?

11.   Set out, and then evaluate, the empirical version of the wedge (or slippery slope) argument against voluntary active euthanasia - where voluntary active euthanasia involves taking active steps to end the life of a person suffering from an incurable, terminal illness who has made an informed request to have his or her own life ended.

12.   Aside from the wedge argument, what is the most important non-theological argument against voluntary active euthanasia?  Carefully evaluate that argument.

13.   Set out, and then evaluate, the most important theological argument (or arguments) against voluntary active euthanasia.

14.   Should voluntary active euthanasia be prohibited by law?

15.   It is often held that voluntary passive euthanasia is morally acceptable, but that voluntary active euthanasia is not.  Discuss this view.

16.   Is non-voluntary euthanasia morally acceptable in cases of the Karen Ann Quinlan sort?

17.   Under what conditions, if any, is non-voluntary, active euthanasia morally permissible?

18.   What is the most important argument either in support of the view that at least some non-human animals have a right to life, or in support of the view that no non-human animals have a right to life?  Can the argument in question be sustained?

19.  Do people in affluent countries have any obligation to help people in other parts of the world who face hunger and starvation?

20.  Is capital punishment morally permissible?

21.  Do we have any obligations to future generations?

22.  What arguments can be advanced for and against the view that torture is sometimes morally justified?  What view would you defend, and why?

23.  "Even if one assumes, for the sake of argument that war is sometimes justified, terrorism never is."  How might one defend this claim?  Can the claim be sustained?

24.   Set out, and then carefully evaluate, either the strongest argument in support of the view that potentialities suffice to endow human fetuses with a serious right to life, or the strongest argument against that view.

25.   What is the most plausible view concerning which non-potential property suffices in itself, and independently of any relation to other properties, to give something a right to life?  What is the most important objection to that view?  Can the view be sustained?

26.   It may be that all members of the biologically defined species, Homo sapiens, possess some property in virtue of which they have a serious right to life.  But does membership in the biologically defined species, Homo sapiens, by itself, and independently of its relation to other properties, suffice to endow an individual with a right to life?  Set out, and then carefully evaluate, the most important arguments bearing upon this issue.

Note:  As emerged in some of our class discussions, the topic of abortion is an especially difficult one, and there is a considerable gulf between philosophical and non-philosophical discussions.  This is a topic that is probably best avoided unless one familiarizes oneself with relevant philosophical literature.

 SOME RELEVANT ANTHOLOGIES

        The following anthologies contain philosophical discussions of a number of moral issues, and at least one copy of each has been placed on reserve:

1.  Matters of Life and Death - New Introductory Essays in Moral Philosophy, edited by Tom Regan.

        This anthology differs from the ones that follow in that, rather than containing a number of essays in a given area, it consists of a single essay in each area in which the author attempts to provide a reasonably dispassionate view of the central philosophical issues.  Among the areas covered are the following: euthanasia; suicide; war, revolution, and terrorism; capital punishment; abortion; obligations to the poor; and animals and the value of life.

2.  Ethics - Theory and Practice, edited by Manuel Velasquez and Cynthia Rostankowski.

        This anthology, and the ones that follow, all contain more than one essay on a given topic, written by authors who are defending very different views.  The topics covered here include torture, the ethics of nuclear war, suicide, abortion, euthanasia, sexual ethics, aid for the needy, racism and sexism, capital punishment, obligations to future generations, and animal rights
.
3.  Ethics for Modern Life, edited by Raziel Abelson and Marie-Louise Friquegnon.

        Among the topics covered in this anthology are suicide, euthanasia, abortion, capital punishment, obligations to future generations, animal rights, affirmative action, and the ethics of famine relief.

4.  Applying Ethics, edited by Jeffrey Olen and Vincent Barry.

        The topics covered in this anthology include sexual morality, pornography, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, job discrimination, and animal rights.

5.  Morality and Moral Controversies, edited by John Arthur.

        This anthology contains essays on various topics in the following areas: pornography, sex, and love; parents and children; euthanasia; abortion and the value of life; animal rights; war and nuclear deterrence; affirmative action; liberty and paternalism; punishment.