List of Topics for Final Paper
Please choose one of these topics for the central question around which you will construct your Position Paper. Be sure to follow all of the assignment guidelines as well as consulting the Final Paper Rubric.
1. Can an unexamined life ever be worth living for a human being?
2. Can a clear distinction be made between morals and ethics? Is the philosophical delineation of ethics as a principled form of moral inquiry and self-reflection really different from the practice of sharing moral ideals?
3. Are there universal moral principles that are right for all persons at all times?
4. Do people, at the end of the day, always do what they desire most? Or do people sometimes act strictly for the good of "the Other," without even a trace of self-interest?
5. Is there a reliable way for a person to rationally determine the ethically right thing to do in most cases of human behavior and decision making?
6. Are religious ethics interchangeable with philosophical ethics? Can one take the place of the other in living a morally good and Socratically examined life?
7. Are virtue ethics, or ethics of character, superior to an ethics of conduct?
8. Can a theory of justice, such as that of John Rawls, that is grounded in an abstract conception of the social contract, ever provide a satisfactory practical framework for a totally egalitarian and completely just society?
9. Are existentialist thinkers who claim that there is no pre-existing moral reality or pre-determined purpose in human life right?
10. Are feminist ethics necessarily a version of the ethics of care? Is it possible for a version of feminist ethics to be based solely on the exercise of abstract, logical reason?
-1800-2300 words
-write in the third-person voice
-include at least three citations from the course text (Rosenstand. The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics, 7th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2013), and at least two sources external to the course text, for a total min of 5 sources cited in the paper.
-MLA format