PHIL 1200 – Contemporary Social Problems (honors)
Spring 2020
Prof. Chris Heathwood
University of Colorado Boulder

Paper

Philosophy Paper FAQ.  Read this first.

Submit your paper by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, May 3rd by email in Microsoft Word format.  My normal policy is that late papers lose 1/3 of a letter grade each day they are late (see #15 on the Philosophy Paper FAQ), but given the unusual circumstances this semester, if your paper is going to be late, please just get in touch with me about and we'll try to work something out.  Name your file "PHIL 1200 Paper, ID# 123456789" except use your actual student ID# in the filename instead of this dummy student ID#.  Don't put your name anywhere on or in your document.

Instructions: Write a 900-1,800 word (roughly 3-6 page) paper in which you defend, by means of rational argument, a thesis of your choosing on one of the topics from our class. 

To give you a sense, here are some sample theses with an indication of what the argument for it would look like:

• "The argument we called 'The Antiabortion Argument' is not sound."
  [Argument: because we didn’t come into existence until well after conception]
  
• "The theory we described as 'Basing moral status in present or future fancy psychology' is better than the theory we described as 'Basing moral status in present fancy psychology or future and past fancy psychology'."
  [Due to the case of babies]
• "Boonin’s view on abortion in cases of fetal abnormalities is wrong."
  [Because the state should not allow that sort of discrimination]
• "The Argument by Analogy for the View that Elective Abortion Should Not be Legal after Viability is a sound argument."
  [Because it withstands all the objections I can think of to it]
• "The Responsibility Objection to Boonin’s position on the case of Barbara fails."
  [because even in the case of Todd and Timmy the state cannot force Todd to donate blood]
• "V's position commits him to the view that we should sterilize all species that kill and eat other animals."
  [Because it would prevent great suffering at minimal cost.]
• "Buying milk is morally worse than buying humanely raised beef."
  [Due to considerations of animal suffering.]
  

It is ok to have a thesis on a topic we read but didn't talk about in class (e.g., on of the many objections Boonin discusses).

The same goes for closely enough related stuff that we didn’t read or talk about (e.g., whether abortion should be regarded by the state as an essential medical procedure during coronavirus).