Ethical Dilemma (Essay #1) EWRT 2
Fall 2016
Form: Please double-space and write on only one side of each page. Leave margins of at least one inch on all four sides so that I can write notes to you. Try to write at least three pages.
Content:
Describe an ethical dilemma you faced in the past or which you are facing now. Be very, very specific. Questions you may wish to answer:
a. What pressures did you face as you made the decision?
b. Who put the pressure on you? Why?
c. What were the stakes? (How important was the outcome? To whom?)
d. What factors did you consider as you made the decision?
e. Did emotion play a part? Whose emotion? What was the effect?
f. Which specific value assumptions were part of your thought process?
g. Of the five types of values on page 45, to which category did your thinking belong? Explain.
h. Were you using ideal values or real values?
i. Check the four tests on pages 50-51. Did you apply any one of these? Would your decision have changed if you had applied one or more?
j. Of the common rationalizations on pages 51-2, did you use any of them?
k. From the sheet listing of different points of view, do you believe that had you been making the decision from another point of view, the outcome would have been different? Why?
Grading:
70 points possible. 20 points for use of the vocabulary of critical thinking. 20 points for explaining the ethical dilemma clearly and with appropriate details. 20 points for answering some of the above questions. 10 points for grammar and punctuation.