Essay Literary studies

PAPER II: Argumentative Essay (900-1100 words) FIRST DRAFT DUE: 10/29 FINAL DRAFT: 11/05 ABSTRACT: In 900-1100 words, grounded in Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror, Alexander Weinstein’s Children of the New World, or Karel Capek’s R.U.R., write an argumentative essay exploring the thematic concept of business ethics and technology. PROMPT: Business ethics, as framed by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, is the study of the ethical dimensions of productive organizations and commercial activities, with business defined as a productive organization whose purpose is to create goods and services for sale, usually at a profit. With R.U.R., Children of the New World, or Black Mirror as your exhibit text, what role does/can literature (or film, for Black Mirror’s case) function as when engaging with 21st century business ethics? How might literature—both broadly conceived as well as more particularly with your chosen exhibit text—help illuminate, problematize, hinder or advance contemporary conceptions of business ethics in an increasingly mechanized and digitalized business world? You are strongly encouraged to connect the themes of your exhibit text to a current trend in 21st century business, entrepreneurship, and technology; for example, if your exhibit text were Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, perhaps you would connect the novel’s themes to current trends in genomic research and questions concerning designer babies, making an argument that Shelley’s novel functions as a cautionary tale for not merely the unchecked hubris of scientists/engineers but rather, perhaps, unregulated markets abroad and the human species at large. Regardless of your paper’s connection between exhibit text and background materials, your paper must make an argument about the thematic statement of the exhibit text and must do so by incorporating appropriate engagements with (and proper citations of) Background sources, Exhibit sources, and Argumentative sources as follows:

• At least one peer reviewed academic article (Argument). • At least two articles from the New York Times, Boston Globe, Wall Street

Journal, or Washington Post (Background). • At least one book review of exhibit text (Background/Argument) • Multiple direct quotes and references to the text (Exhibit)