Ethics & Society

Final Essay for PHIL 1320: Ethics & Society

Please discuss both how and why your views have changed as a result of taking this course. Or, if your views haven’t changed at all as a result of taking this course, please discuss why that might be. It would be very difficult to complete this assignment in less than 700 words. Submit your work in Assignments by the deadline on the syllabus. As always, be sure to save the email from TRACS that confirms your submission, and remember that I don’t accept papers submitted in .pages format. (If you use Pages, please convert to .docx or .pdf before submitting.)

As you prepare to write your essay, please note the following:

1. A good essay will focus on specific changes for specific reasons. So, your essay should contain sentences like these:

a. “I used to think x about particular-topic, but now I think y. This is because I was convinced by Author’s argument that summarize-Author’s-argument-here.”

b. “I had never really thought about particular-aspect-of-particular-issue before. But after watching certain-video about it, I think blah-blah-blah because gimme-some- insight-into-your-thought-process.”

c. “I came into this class believing x about particular-topic, and that hasn’t changed. But after our conversations in lab, I’m more open to fill-in-the-story-here.

2. Your views can change in lots of ways. You can change the content of your view. (“I used to think x, but now I think y.”) You can change how you hold a view. (“I used to be sure of x, but now I’m not.”) You can change your reasons for your view. (“I used to think x because blah-blah-blah, but now I think x because of yada-yada.”) And so on. Any such changes are worth discussing in your essay.

3. I am not fishing for compliments. You can get an A on this paper by explaining (in a thoughtful, reflective way) why this course had absolutely no impact on you. Perhaps you weren’t impressed by the particular arguments we discussed. Or perhaps you’re skeptical about arguments in ethics generally. (Either way, why? And what would have changed your mind? And if nothing would have changed your mind, why do you think that is?)