Assignment
Abstract: List 6–8 effects that arise from your environmental issue that have potential moral impact. Rank which of these are morally the most significant. Do that ranking from the viewpoint of an anthropocentrist and a nonanthropocentrist. Evaluate which ethic more convincingly grasps the moral significance of the issue.
This paper needs to include the following four elements:
- Further research your environmental issue so that you can name 6–8 effects that the issue will have on the animal, ecological, and human cultural world that have potential moral significance. Describe the issue and its effects. Note that while you will mention all these effects in the paper, your analysis will only focus on the most morally significant effects (around 1–2), as seen from the anthropocentric and nonanthropocentric ethical frameworks you have chosen to focus on for your paper.
- From the standpoint of an anthropocentric ethic (remember, there is more than one), make an argument for the moral significance of the overall issue based on the relative significance of its individual effects. In other words, in your argument you will need to distinguish which effects should command the attention of the anthropocentric ethicist, and which effects are of lesser importance. For those effect(s) that the anthropocentric ethic sees as vitally important, fully describe why it considers those effects as significant. Remember, you may conclude in this section that this issue has little to no moral significance for an anthropocentrist.
- From the standpoint of any nonanthropocentric ethic, make an argument for the moral significance of the overall issue based on the relative significance of its individual effects. In other words, in your argument you will need to distinguish which effects should command the attention of the nonanthropocentric ethicist, and which effects are of lesser importance. For those effect(s) that the nonanthropocentric ethic sees as vitally important, fully describe why it considers those effects as significant. Remember, you may conclude in this section that this issue has little to no moral significance for an nonanthropocentrist.
- Lastly, in your final section, argue which ethic makes a more convincing case for grasping the moral significance of the issue. To do this, you will have to practice metaethics, evaluating each ethical position on the basis of some other criteria. Examples of criteria include which ethic is more: Christian, beautiful, rational, coherent, likely to result in legislation, etc. You should be explicit in specifying what criteria you are using to evaluate the anthropocentric and nonanthropocentric positions. This final section should be at least one full page in length.
Here are examples of thesis statements which do the job:
- Within the context of the Christian worldview, Leopold's Land Ethic is superior to the Enlightened Self-Interest Ethic in providing a biblically consistent ethic addressing the problem of deforestation.
- In view of the beauty of living a simple human life, Deep Ecology provides a better ethical framework for understanding coral reef degradation than Eco-feminism which unneccesarily conflates the complexities of modern life with more basic kinship with the earth.
Notice how each thesis statement makes a specific appeal to some set of criteria to evaluate the ethical frameworks.
Due Dates of Milestones
- Annotated bibliography of five new non-web sources. Due Fri. Mar 9.
- One page overview of the 6–8 effects of the environmental problem. Due Mon. Mar 19.
- Outline of paper. Due Wed. Mar 21.
- Writing Advisor draft (must be complete, not just an outline plus a few paragraphs). Due Fri. Mar 23.
- Peer review draft (must be complete, not just an outline plus a few paragraphs). Due Mon. Apr 2.
- Final draft: Five-pages long, double-spaced, one-inch margins on all sides, 12 point Times New Roman. Five pages is the minimum and preferred length. Your list of references does not count towards the page requirement. Due Wed. Apr 4.
Grading
- 5%: Annotated bibliography (graded on pass/fail).
- 5%: One page overview of the 6–8 effects (graded on pass/fail).
- 5%: Outline (graded on pass/fail).
- 10%: Peer review feedback session, with feedback incorporated, as appropriate (graded on effort).
- 10%: Writing Advisor feedback session, with feedback incorporated, as appropriate (graded on effort).
- 65%: Final draft (graded on structure, argument, prose).
Please see the paper's grading sheet for specifics of what I'm looking for in your writing.
