Module 4

You are discouraged from using additional sources. If you do choose to use an outside source, be sure to cite your source, just as you do when you use the course texts. If you use a quotation or an example from a website, cite the website’s url and the date accessed.

Once you are ready for your classmates to read it, post the thread containing your essay. Then go to the TurnItIn dropbox section here in Blackboard and post your Word document into the dropbox. You do not need to include your response to another student in the file that you upload to TurnItIn.

Finally, read your classmates’ posts. A complete assignment includes your written response to at least one essay besides your own–part of your score is based on your reply to at least one of your classmate’s posts. It should be a meaningful reply that continues the discussion, points out something good about the post, and makes a constructive suggestion for improvement.

Essay Length tips–To answer these topics completely, it takes a minimum of 350 words. Use the topic questions and the scoring rubric to see if your draft responds fully to all parts of the question. A complete thoughtful answer is more important than word count.

Topics for your Essay, Choose one

Topic 1:

Respond to The Moral Dilemma of Climate Change at the top of page 440. Should we pay now to try and rein in global warming and its awful effects, or should we let our kids pay? Do we have moral obligations to future generations, to people who don’t yet exist? If we do have obligations to them, how much should we sacrifice now to do our duty?

Topic 2:

Explain and defend your views on the following: Is there anything wrong in offering unauthorized immigrants “a path to citizenship”? Should children brought into a country illegally ever be deported?

Topic 3:

Respond to Singer or Hardin at the top of page 829. What would be the proper moral response of rich nations to this impending tragedy? Do you favor Garrett Hardin’s approach in which rich countries would not send food aid? Or Peter Singer’s path in which affluent individuals would be obligated to give much of their wealth to feed the hungry? Or a middle way in which the rich would have a duty to give some aid but would also have obligations to themselves and to their family and friends? Explain your view.