BSE Paper Assignments

Paper 1

Write an argumentative paper on ONE of the following case-studies from the textbook (do not write about more than one!):

Case 6.1. "Breast Implants"

Case 6.2. "Hot Coffee at McDonald's"

Case 6.3. "Sniffing Glue Could Snuff Profits"

Case 8.3. "Speaking out about Malt"

Case 8.5. "Union Discrimination"

Case 10.1. "Changing Jobs and Changing Loyalties"

Case 10.2. "Conflicting Perspectives on Conflicts of Interest"

The paper is argumentative, which means you will present a clear thesis (which should be obvious from p.1) in the form of a corporate policy, and then you will justify that policy in a way that is designed to convince the skeptical reader. Imagine that you are trying to convince people who take the opposite position. You should identify a range of positions/policies which disagree with your own, and make it clear why we should adopt your recommendation. If you are arguing for a policy which no reasonable person could disagree with, it's not an interesting or substantive ethical debate.

You must make primary use of EXACTLY ONE normative theory (Utilitarianism, Natural Rights, Contractarianism, or Virtue Ethics) which will be used to justify your corporate policy. I strongly recommend discussing the normative theory in a bit of detail, how it works and why we should adopt it. I also recommend NOT discussing other normative theories in detail. However, you may raise them as objections (e.g., "a natural rights libertarian, who only values non-interference with basic protections of life, liberty, and property, might object...").

The paper must be a minimum of 7 complete double-spaced pages, and a maximum of 8 complete double-spaced pages. This does not include the works cited, title page, or intro heading. You may use any formatting or citation style (e.g., MLA, APA, footnotes or endnotes, etc.), as long as it is consistent throughout. If you are using LaTex, please only submit the output file (in PDF). Whatever document software you are using, I strongly recommend submitting the file to Canvas as a PDF to preserve all formatting.

I expect you to make use of the textbook as a primary source, as well as relevant secondary sources from academic sources. Sources like Wikipedia and YouTube may be a good starting point, but they are not rigorous and reliable source material for a term paper. For ethics materials, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent peer-reviewed resource written by experts in the field, which you can cite properly and use as a launching point for bibliographic materials.

You are welcome to see me in office hours to talk about outlines and drafts. I do not read drafts that you email me (unless there is a specific question associated with it), I will read through it with you in person and discuss it.

Finally: do not procrastinate! You have exactly one month to work on the paper, use that time. It is traditional and common for students (and all humans) to procrastinate until the last minute on these sorts of tasks. However, the quality of the paper is, up to a very high grade, usually proportional to the amount of time you put into it. Almost without fail, the more time you put in, the better it will be. This means early outlines, drafts, mock debates with family and friends, visits to office hours, etc. It’s very easy to see that a paper has been written the night before, and most failing papers also happen to fall into this category.

PAPER 2

Write an argumentative paper on ONE of the following case-studies from the textbook (do not write about more than one!):

Case 4.5. "Casino Gambling on Wall Street"

Case 5.2. "Drug Dilemmas"

Case 11.1. "Minority Set-Asides"

Case 11.2. "Hoop Dreams"

The paper is argumentative, which means you will present a clear thesis (which should be obvious from p.1) in the form of a corporate policy, and then you will justify that policy in a way that is designed to convince the skeptical reader. Imagine that you are trying to convince people who take the opposite position. You should identify a range of positions/policies which disagree with your own, and make it clear why we should adopt your recommendation. If you are arguing for a policy which no reasonable person could disagree with, it's not an interesting or substantive ethical debate.

You must make primary use of EXACTLY ONE normative theory (Utilitarianism, Natural Rights, Contractarianism, or Virtue Ethics) which will be used to justify your corporate policy. I strongly recommend discussing the normative theory in a bit of detail, how it works and why we should adopt it. I also recommend NOT discussing other normative theories in detail. However, you may raise them as objections (e.g., "a natural rights libertarian, who only values non-interference with basic protections of life, liberty, and property, might object...").

The paper must be a minimum of 7 complete double-spaced pages, and a maximum of 8 complete double-spaced pages. This does not include the works cited, title page, or intro heading. You may use any formatting or citation style (e.g., MLA, APA, footnotes or endnotes, etc.), as long as it is consistent throughout. If you are using LaTex, please only submit the output file (in PDF). Whatever document software you are using, I strongly recommend submitting the file to Canvas as a PDF to preserve all formatting.

I expect you to make use of the textbook as a primary source, as well as relevant secondary sources from academic sources. Sources like Wikipedia and YouTube may be a good starting point, but they are not rigorous and reliable source material for a term paper. For ethics materials, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is an excellent peer-reviewed resource written by experts in the field, which you can cite properly and use as a launching point for bibliographic materials.

You are welcome to see me in office hours to talk about outlines and drafts. I do not read drafts that you email me (unless there is a specific question associated with it), I will read through it with you in person and discuss it.

Finally: do not procrastinate! You have exactly one month to work on the paper, use that time. It is traditional and common for students (and all humans) to procrastinate until the last minute on these sorts of tasks. However, the quality of the paper is, up to a very high grade, usually proportional to the amount of time you put into it. Almost without fail, the more time you put in, the better it will be. This means early outlines, drafts, mock debates with family and friends, visits to office hours, etc. It’s very easy to see that a paper has been written the night before, and most failing papers also happen to fall into this category.