Assignments

The course assignments provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of our five course objectives.

Reading Assignments

I expect you to come to class having prepared the reading assignment for that day. When called on, you should be ready to offer glosses on points in the reading or restatement of the arguments or view. I recommend that you take notes on the readings or create a map of the main argument from the reading that you can then read aloud to participate in class. Any changes in the reading assignments will be reflected on the reading schedule online. You are responsible for checking for changes.

Discussion and Group Work

Two of our course objectives involve your participation in class in hopes of fostering intellectual friendship. A prerequisite of achieving those objectives, of course, is being present. (See policy on attendance for details.) The more substantive component is the quality of your engagement in class. You will be expected to regularly speak up kn class discussions and to contribute to the group work assignments in class.

I expect you to engage thoughtfully—giving me and others your undivided attention, preparing for class with thorough reading, being mindful of how often and long you speak relative to others, and communicating your thoughts clearly by choosing your words carefully.

I expect you to engage respectfully—taking a posture of readiness to learn from me and others, listening closely to others’ comments and questions, giving due recognition to your peers for their insights and ideas, and responding directly or incorporating the comments of your peers in your own comments and questions.

Position Paper

The major writing assignment in the course is a 2500-3000 word paper on one of the cases discussed in the course. The paper must follow Chicago or APA style guides and a proper bibliography. See the Reading and Writing Philosophy tab under Resources for help. I also encourage students to visit the writing center in Marx Library at least once.

An excellent final paper will clearly state your position, identify important ethical considerations in the case, accurately and clearly restate relevant arguments from the literature, critically engage with them, and integrate this into your own original, valid, and convincing argument on behalf of your position.

Each stage must be completed before moving to the next stage.

Argument Map. In the first stage, you must meet with me and present your initial assessment of the ethical issues raised by the case, an outline or Mindmup map of arguments of the relevant arguments from the course texts. This is due on Thursday, October 11. Here are instructions on submitting your map. Submit your map here.

Draft. The second stage of the paper is the draft. This should be a complete, formatted version of the paper. It must follow the APA or Chicago manual of style and include a complete bibliography. You will receive feedback from the instructor and a peer on the draft. This is due on November 15.

Peer Review. Another way you can demonstrate your ability to engage thoughtfully and respectfully with others is by giving feedback to a peer on drafts of his or her position paper. You and an assigned peer will swap papers the day the paper draft is due. The peer review instructions and worksheet will be available on the Team Drive.

Save a personal copy of the peer review worksheet. Fill it out and submit it here.

You have one week to read your peer’s draft and complete the peer review worksheet. You will discuss your review of your peer’s paper and your peer’s review of your draft in class during the peer review workshop on November 15. You must complete the peer review to submit the final version of your own position paper.

Final paper. The third and last stage of writing your paper is the final draft. You must append a cover letter explaining how you revised the paper in light of the professor’s and peer’s feedback on your draft. This should be turned in electronically and paper by midnight on December 10.

Debates

There will be several in-class debates (three in which everyone participates, and one final debate for the top two teams). These debates offer the chance to demonstrate your competence in communicating your position and reasoning for your position on cases. Here is a set of guidelines for the debates (also on your team drive).

You will be divided into teams and assigned cases at the beginning of the semester. During the debates, a case is called each round and team A will present their position on the case in 8 minutes or less. Team B then has 5 minutes to confer and respond with questions or objections. Team A has 3 minutes for response. Then the floor is opened for questions from the audience. The process repeats with team B presenting. Each member of your team should have an opportunity to speak during the debate.

You and your teammates will meet in advance to discuss the case, come up with an argument for your position, and think about possible objections and responses. You should be prepared to repeat the arguments from texts we've discussed in class.

Debate dates:

Thursday, 9/20 Cases 1-4

Tuesday, 10/23 Cases 5-8

Tuesday, 11/27 Cases 9-12