PHI208 Ashford University Hate Crimes Racism and Discrimination Essay
This course has three written assignments that build upon one another and are designed to take you step-by-step through a process of writing a paper that identifies an ethical question, examines the context, issues, and arguments surrounding the question, and attempts to defend an answer to that question using strong moral reasoning.
This first written assignment is a six-part exercise comprised of the following sections:
Ethical Question
Introduction
Position Statement
Reasons in Support of Your Position
Opposing Position Statement
Reasons in Support of the Opposing Position
The assignment should be 500 words, written in essay form, with six clearly labeled sections as indicated below, and include a title page and reference page.
Part 1: Ethical Question
Before writing the paper, you will need to spend some time thinking about the specific ethical issue you want to focus on throughout this course.
Begin this task by viewing the list of approved ethical topics and questions provided in the Week 1 Announcement titled: “Written Assignment Ethical Topics and Questions List.” Take some time looking over the list and browsing through some of the material in the corresponding chapters of the textbook in which each topic is addressed and decide which to focus on.
Once you have done this, choose one of the ethical questions associated with that topic. If you wish to do so, you may formulate your own ethical question, but it must be on one of the topics listed in the announcement. Be sure to carefully study the provided questions and model your own question after them in terms of specificity and ethical focus.”
Place the ethical question under the Part 1: Ethical Question heading at the top of the paper.
Part 2: Introduction
In this section of your paper, you should introduce the topic and question at issue by doing the following (not necessarily in this exact order):
Explain its relevance and importance.
Define any key terms and concepts.
Provide any relevant context and background information.
Briefly reference an idea, quote, or analysis of the issue that you have found in one of the required resources on the topic. Required resources include the textbook chapter focused on that topic (6, 7, 8, 9, or 10), the “Primary Sources” listed at the end of Chapters 6-9, and the “readings listed under “Further Reading” at the end of each section in Chapter 10.
The introduction will be the longest section of this assignment and should be at least 300 words in one or two paragraphs. Place the introduction material under the Part 2: Introduction.
Part 3: Position Statement
Your work on the introduction section has likely unearthed various positions one might take on the ethical question you have chosen. In this section, you will formulate a position statement.
A position statement is a one sentence statement that articulates your position on the issue and directly answers the question you have raised. For example, if the question was, “What is a physician’s obligation with respect to telling the truth to his or her patients?” a position statement might be “A physician may never directly lie to a patient, but it may be moral for a physician to withhold information if the physician reasonably believes doing so directly benefits the patient.” A different position statement might be: “A physician may use any means necessary, including lying to a patient, if the physician believes that will produce the best overall results.” However, the following statement would not be a sufficient position statement: “A physician must always respect the rights of his or her patients.” The reason this is not a sufficient position statement is that it does not directly answer the question concerning truth telling.
Think of the position statement as the strongest claim you would make if you were a prosecuting attorney making your opening statement to a jury, where you want to state precisely and directly the position you want them to believe.
Place the position statement under the Part 3: Position Statement heading.
Part 4: Reasons in Support of Your Position
Now that you have articulated a position on the issue, write a short paragraphjust a few sentencesthat presents and explains one or two of the strongest reasons in support of your position statement.
You want your supporting reason to explain why someone should support the position you are taking on the ethical question. A supporting reason is a consideration that helps to show why your position is stronger than another position.
One way to approach this is to imagine yourself in friendly conversation with someone who does not necessarily agree with your position (perhaps they disagree, or perhaps they are undecided). When you state your position, they might ask why you think that; the kind of response you would give is a supporting reason.
Supporting reasons can
