Practical Ethics

Essay workshop: Please create a 500-word essay plan, plus biography of references used to research your essay

Any citation style is acceptable, provided it is used consistently throughout the essay.

Assessment Length: 2,000 words. Submissions with a word count greater than 2,200
will be penalized.

Further Research: It is not necessary to read beyond the required and recommended readings listed on the unit outline, which are in the library eReading system (http://opac.library.usyd.edu.au/search/r?SEARCH=phil2617), but you may choose to do further research if you wish. Note that further research will only be valuable insofar as it furthers your analysis and answers the given question.

Aims and Assessment Criteria: The essay questions below aim to give you an opportunity both to display your understanding of the class content, and also to display original thought. Your essay must engage with material covered in the lectures and unit readings. Any use of AI must be acknowledged as per University guidelines (see Unit Outline). Please refer to the Philosophy Grading Rubric (see Rubrics in the Canvas menu) for assessment criteria.

If you have not written a philosophy essay before, you may find it useful to consult the following essay-writing guide: http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html

Pick one of the following essay questions. Your answer must engage directly with relevant philosophical literature and arguments discussed in class and in the readings.

1. Why is killing wrong? What does this tell us about the morality of either (a) abortion or (b) euthanasia?
2. On the assumption that the foetus is a person, is abortion relevantly like uncoupling yourself from the violinist? What implications could this have for the morality of abortion?
3. Does the case of Smith and Jones prove that there is no intrinsic moral difference between active and passive euthanasia?
4. Should euthanasia be legal? (In your answer you may choose to focus on voluntary euthanasia, or on non-voluntary euthanasia, or both – you should make clear which type(s) of euthanasia you are considering).
5. Is the double-standard in our treatment of human and non-human animals ethically defensible?
6. Does the environment have intrinsic moral value? Why, or why not?
7. What, if any, obligations do we have as individuals to try to reduce the severity of harmful climate change?