General Essay - also worth 30-35 percent of the final exam grade.
Used for General Education Assessment in PHIL 321 (Garrett)
This page created April 13, 2005
Contact: Dr. Jan Garrett
Choose one of the two passages given, each of which is representative of an important ethical perspective studied in this course.
(1) Identify the perspective or a major thinker associated with this passage.
(2) Elaborate and explain the meaning of the passage; discuss the reasoning used to arrive at the position or conclusions drawn by the thinker from the position. Bring in elements of the individual's thought that are not explicitly mentioned in the passage insofar as they are needed to clarify its meaning.
Note:(3) Discuss the relevance or application of this theory to contemporary moral problems in business or the economy and/or(a) The text given may be somewhat incomplete and require qualification in order not to encourage misleading conclusions.
(b) Merely restating the passage with the use of a few synonyms will not likely demonstrate much comprehension.(4) Present critical challenges to the main ideas of this perspective. The critical challenges should, if possible, reflect other perspectives studied in this course that may be briefly introduced at this point.
Author or position from whose philosophy representative thoughts will be taken:1. Utilitarianism - Criticisms possible from, e.g., (2) or (3)Philosophers or other major thinkers associated with the above perspectives:
2. "Egalitarian" liberalism - Criticisms possible from, e.g., (5)
3. Libertarianism - Criticisms possible from, e.g., (2) or (5)
4. Virtue Ethics - Criticisms possible from, e.g., (2)
5. Care Ethics - Criticisms possible from (2) or (3)J. Bentham
J. Rawls
R. Nozick (anticipated in key respects by Locke)
Aristotle
C. Gilligan, N. Noddings, et al.Statements expressing a key thought taken from the ethical perspective at issue:
We ought to do the act, or choose the policy, that would produce more benefit than any other act or policy that we might have chosen in its place.Society should adopt principles of justice that would be chosen by rational self-interested persons who were well-informed about human nature and psychology but ignorant of specific facts about themselves.
There's only one basic principle of justice: freedom from coercion by others, which implies that all basic rights are non-interference rights.
Those acts and feelings are right that express a truly praiseworthy moral habit.
We should preserve and nurture the concrete relationships we have with specific persons.
Sample Essay This sample is based on one of the theories from Chapter 6.
Suppose this statement was given and you chose to discuss it: "The manufacturer ought to exercise all reasonable care regardless of whether he promised to do so in precontractual negotiations."
Essay: The Theory: This is the key idea of the Due Care (DC) theory of manufacturers' duties to consumers, the principle that distinguishes Due Care theory from the Contract Theory (CT). [If there were a well-known advocate of the Due Care theory, it would be appropriate to mention him or her at this point.]
The Core Idea: The DC theory includes the duties of the CT, the duty to disclose . . . the duty not to misrepresent . . . the duty not to coerce and the duty to comply with the contract, but goes beyond these duties and includes obligations not necessarily spelled out in the contract, as well as some obligations that cannot even be set aside by explicit disclaimers.
Background: Unlike the CT, which seems to assume a rough equality between manufacturer and buyer, the DC theory assumes inequality, with the manufacturer having greater resources, knowledge, and power than the buyer. DC theory is most appropriate when products are complex, with complex interactions with the environment in which they are used. The buyer cannot be expected to understand everything about the product before he or she consents to purchase it.
Details of the Core Idea: Given this inequality, it becomes a special duty on the part of the manufacturer to ensure that the buyer and users of the product is not harmed by the product. Negligence is the chief violation of the Due Care theory, i.e., failure to exercise all reasonable care in the processes of design and production, and in provision of the information that accompanies the product when it is transferred to the consumer. DC in design includes thorough testing of prototypes and correction of revealed flaws and selection of the least harmful materials compatible with the purpose of the product; DC in production includes quality control techniques, such as random sampling and testing of individual mass-produced items; DC at the information stage includes clearly written instructions on safe handling of the product along with fall-back procedures should unavoidable harms occur.
Criticism: Because widespread adoption of the DC principle would remove from the marketplace all products containing greater risk than the "reasonable care" idea would permit, the theory is sometimes challenged as paternalistic. This criticism is common among libertarians and other advocates of a largely unregulated market. DC is said to "deprive" consumers of the freedom to choose a cheaper product if they are willing to take a greater risk.