Paper Topics 3
4
pages (1200 words)
Your
paper should be submitted via Turnitin.com or sent to me by e-mail, to perringc@dowling.edu. If all else fails, you can give me your
paper on disk. Make sure your name
appears at the top of your paper.
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class ID: |
41307 |
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enrollment password: |
firealarm |
Due
by midnight on Wednesday December 4, 2002.
Late papers will lose 5% for each day late. Do not miss class even if your paper is not done: talk with me
about it and we can come to some mutually agreeable arrangement.
Any
quotations from other sources should be very clearly indicated, and you should
say exactly what that source is, including page numbers, in parentheses or in a
footnote. It is often a good idea to
include short carefully selected pieces of the text you are discussing (not
more than a sentence or two) as part of your paper, to illustrate the author’s
ideas. For these questions, it may be
helpful for you to do some research into secondary sources such as encyclopedia
articles or overviews of philosopher’s ideas, but be very careful in selecting
your sources – make sure the author is an expert and make sure that you fully
understand what the author is saying.
If
you want me to comment on a draft of your paper, you must email me a
copy by Wednesday November 27.
Answer
ONE and only ONE of these questions.
1. Compare and contrast Thomas Murray's
position on drug use, in “Drugs, Sports, and Ethics” (pp. 351-357), with that
of Thomas Szasz, in “The Ethics of Addiction” (pp. 327-325). Does the use of performance-enhancing drugs
fall under Szasz's "right of self-medication"? You can if you want explain which you
believe to be the more plausible position.
You should justify your answer as best you can.
2. Discuss how Mary Anne Warren, author of “The
Moral Significance of Birth” (pp. 127-134) might respond to the claim of Judith
Boss in “Pro-Child/Pro-Choice” (pp. 139-144) that abortion on demand is wrong
because it is harmful to the parent/child relationship. Compare and contrast their arguments
regarding the effect of the pro-choice ideology on empowering women. You can if you want explain which you
believe to be the more plausible position.
You should justify your answer as best you can.
3. Compare the arguments of Ernest Van Den Haag,
in “The Ultimate Punishment” (pp. 267-272) and Jeffrey Reiman, in “Why the
Death Penalty Should be Abolished,” (pp 291-298). Explain which philosopher makes the most convincing arguments in
your opinion, justifying your opinion.