Essay Questions

Essay Assignments

First Paper

In "Paternalism," Gerald Dworkin argues that paternalism — i.e., interference with the liberty of an individual for the sake of that individual — is sometimes justified. In the article, Dworkin speaks most frequently of paternalistic legislation. If his general argument supporting some forms of paternalistic legislation is successful, however, it may also support some forms of paternalism that occur within the doctor/patient relationship. Your assignment is to connect Dworkin's general argument for paternalism to the doctor/patient relationship and to evaluate Dworkin's argument.

In the first section of your paper, explain why and when Dworkin thinks that paternalism is sometimes justified. In the second section, explain what Dworkin's line of argument suggests about the doctor/patient relationship, identifying the sorts of cases (if any) in which, if Dworkin's line of argument is correct, it can be appropriate for doctors to treat their patients paternalistically. The third part of your paper should provide your own evaluation of Dworkin's justification of paternalism. For this third part, you may focus either on Dworkin's general justification of paternalism or on how that justification applies to the doctor/patient relationship. No more than half of your paper should be spent explaining why Dworkin thinks that paternalism is sometimes justified.

Paper length: 4-6 pages.
(Dworkin's article can be found on pages 125-134 of your textbook.) 

 

Second Paper

Mary Anne Warren's "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion" makes the case that, whatever rights a fetus may have, it does not have full moral rights, which attach only to members of what Warren calls "the moral community." For Warren, a fetus does not have such membership because it is not a person according to Warren's five-fold criteria for personhood. Because a fetus is not a member of the moral community but a pregnant woman is, a fetus does not have a full-fledged moral right to life, and any pregnant woman who so desires has the right to an abortion.

Your assignment for this paper is to explain and evaluate Warren's position on what it takes to be a member of the moral community. In the first part of your paper, you should explain Warren's notion of "the moral community," Warren's five criteria, teh connection that Warren thinks holds between these criteria and the moral community, and why Warren thinks that this connection holds. The second part of your paper should include your own evaluation of Warren's position on the requirements for the membership in the moral community. For this second part of your paper, you should provide an unambiguous argument for or against Warren's position. If you think that Warren's position is mistaken, you should develop an alternative criterion (or criteria) for membership in the moral community. If you develop an alternative criterion that involves the concept of potential personhood, please attend to Warren's discussion of potential personhood.

Please note that the focus of this paper is what is required for membership in the moral community. The focus is not whether the fetus satisfies these requirements or what a fetus' status with regard to these requirements says with regard to the morality of abortion.

Paper length: 4-6 pages.
(Warren's article can be found on pages 586-594 of your textbook.) 

 

Third Paper

Allen Buchanan's "Is There a Right to a Decent Minimum of Health Care?" argues that even if we cannot settle the question of whether or not there is a universal right to health care, it can still be established that the government (at least in the United States) should ensure that all of its citizens are provided with a decent minimum of health care. Your assignment is to assess whether or not Buchanan, without assuming a universal right to health care, successfully show that the U.S. government should guarantee a decent minimum of health care for its citizens.

In the first part of your paper, explain what a 'right', in Buchanan's sense of the term, is and why Buchanan refrains from assuming the existence of a universal right to health care. In the second part of your paper, explain why Buchanan thinks that, ignoring the question of whether there is a universal right to health care, it can be shown that government should guarantee health care for all of society. The third part of your paper should evaluate Buchanan's argument. You must either take the position that Buchanan's argument, taken as a whole, successfully establishes that the U.S. government should guarantee its citizens health care or that Buchanan's argument does not establish that point. That is to say that your paper should be concerned with whether or not Buchanan's argument works, not with whether or not there is in fact a universal right to health care. 

Paper length: 4-6 pages.
(Buchanan's article can be found on pages 525-529 or your textbook.)

 

Assignment Notes (All Assignments)

You should write your paper as if writing for a reader who has no background in philosophy and who has not read the texts that you are referring to. Include any information that would be necessary for such a reader to understand your points.

The cardinal virtue of philosophical writing is clarity. Choose your words carefully and avoid saying things because you think that they sound philosophical. Use technical terms only when necessary, and always explain them.

Be sure to do everything that the assignment asks you to do. Make it clear at each point in your paper what you are attempting to accomplish. The reader should never have to ask "Why are you telling me this?"

When explaining a philosopher's views you should support your interpretation with quotations, but do not treat the quotations as a substitute for explaining the philosopher's views in your own words. Also, do not assume that the meaning of a quotation will always be obvious to your reader. If the meaning of a particular quotation would not be immediately apparent to an intelligent general reader then add whatever comments are necessary to make its meaning clear.