4 pages respond paper!!
Paper #3, MSB 287, fall ‘18
1) You are a senior advisor to President Donald Trump. The President’s attention lately has been focused on the recent elections and special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into allegations of Russian ties to the White House, but even so the President’s keen interest in domestic politics has not dulled. Moreover, the President likes to throw a curve ball now and again: in other words, he likes to surprise people—and especially the press—by suddenly focusing on an issue that no one had seen coming.
You wonder whether the issue of sex work would interest the President. In particular, should it be legalized or criminalized? You recently read an article by the journalist Emily Bazelon on this question. And here are some other perspectives: one emphatically opposed to legalizing buying sex; the other debating multiple sides of the question. Write a memo to the President 1) laying out the debate, 2) articulating both fairness objections and corruption objections to sex work, and 3) assessing which side of the debate has the stronger arguments. Cite and briefly explain in this regard the moral theory that supports your position. Finally, 4) propose some tweets that the President might consider making to announce his position.
2) You recently read an article by the journalist Emily Bazelon on the question of whether sex work should be decriminalized. And here are some other perspectives: one emphatically opposed to legalizing buying sex; the other debating multiple sides of the question. Bazelon herself reports on multiple sides of the question, but it seems clear she favors decriminalization. Write a long letter to the editor in response to her article. 1) Express appreciation for her article, but point out that she appears to favor decriminalization; 2) lay out the debate; 3) develop at much greater length than she does both the fairness and especially corruption objections to sex work; and 4) make clear your own position. Cite and briefly explain in this regard the moral theory that supports your position.
3) Read (or listen to) Shankar Vedantam’s story “Do Scores Go Up When Teachers Return Bonuses?” on National Public Radio, September 18, 2012. You are a teacher. Your school is debating whether to institute an incentive system like that discussed in the NPR story. But you have read Michael Sandel on the so-called “crowding out of non-market norms,” and so you have some concerns—though your mind is not entirely set one way or the other. Write an open letter to the principal and teachers in your school evaluating whether the incentive system in question is a good idea or not. What course of action do you recommend in the end? Should your school institute the incentive system, or reject it? Why or why not? 1) Open your letter by explaining to the principal and other teachers in your school the proposal at hand and the debate over it. Indicate reasons to institute the incentive system. 2) Draw from Sandel’s discussion to explain reasons to be wary of the incentive system. Consider whether the quality of the students’ education risks being compromised; whether the teacher-student relationship risks being distorted; and whether teachers’ motivation of professionalism risks being crowded out, leading some to burn out on teaching. 3) Explain how you come down and why.
4) You are the philosopher Elizabeth Anderson. Write a letter to a woman, __________, considering serving as a commercial surrogate. What’s the risk? Why not do it? Explain your argument against commodifying women’s labor (ignore what commercial surrogacy risks doing to children). Draw from this article about commercial surrogacy in China. (See the brief video, too.) Then be the woman, __________, to whom Anderson wrote. Write a letter in reply to her. Has she persuaded you or not? Why or why not? Be sure to engage her argument. Finally, feel free to extend the correspondence until it comes to a satisfactory close.
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