PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning

Environmental Ethics (Chapter 10)  

· Do individuals have an obligation to try to limit their contribution to climate change? 

· Do institutions have an obligation to try to limit their contribution to water pollution? 

· Should the government put regulations on businesses to limit their contribution to climate change, water pollution, landfills, or deforestation?  (Choose just one.)  

· Is there a moral obligation to boycott products whose production is destructive to climate change, water pollution, landfills, or deforestation?  (Choose just one.)  

· Should the United States legalize the production of hemp even if marijuana remains illegal in drug form?  

 

War, Torture, and Terrorism (Chapter 10)  

·  To what degree must we avoid civilian casualties in war?  

· Is it acceptable for a nation to use drone strikes on suspected terrorists, even when they are citizens of other nations with whom we are not in conflict?  

· Is it ethical for a nation to go to war against another nation that does not attack it first, such as by engaging in a pre-emptive strike?  

· Is it acceptable for a powerful nation to support the overthrow of the government of less powerful nation if doing so would support its own long term economic and strategic interests?  

· Is it permissible for a country to go to war for the sake of humanitarian intervention as opposed to self-defense?    

 

Capital Punishment (Chapter 10)  

· Is it just to use capital punishment when there is the possibility of executing innocent persons?  

· Is capital punishment just if there is evidence of racial bias in the system?    

·  Should capital punishment be at the discretion of a judge or a jury?  

 

Assisted Dying (Chapter 7)  

· Does a person with a terminal condition have a right to physician-assisted suicide?   

· Does a person with a debilitating but non-terminal physical condition have a right to physician-assisted suicide?   

· Does assisted dying respect human dignity or undermine it?    

· Is euthanasia or assisted suicide contrary to a physician’s role or can it be part of its fulfillment?    

· Should physicians be allowed to opt out of assisting with suicide if it is legal and a person requests it?    

 

Biotechnology (Chapter 8)  

· Is genetic enhancement something we should be encouraging, allowing, strongly restricting, or forbidding?    

· Would it be wrong to produce clones of humans as a form of reproduction?  

· Is there a morally significant distinction between therapy and enhancement in the use of biomedical technology?   

 

Animals and Eating (Chapter 9)  

· Is there an important moral difference between meat, egg, and dairy produced on factory farms and such products produced in other kinds of conditions?  

· Is there a moral distinction between testing non-medical consumer products, like cosmetics, on living animals and testing medical products, such as drugs?    

· Is it wrong to perform scientific experiments on animals?    

· Is there a moral obligation not to buy products (e.g. beef) whose production has shown to be damaging to the environment (e.g. by contributing to climate change and ocean dead zones)?  

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