Global Ethics Project 2

Addressing a Community Issue - Global Ethics Project

Overview

Identify an important ethical issue in your community and create a hypothetical community organization that addresses it. Design a poster for this organization that describes the community and the problem, presents the organization’s services, and includes the ethical framework in which it operates. There are 3 checkpoints in this project:

1. Part 1: Select a community issue – a problem or need in the community that is also interesting or meaningful to you considering your values and your moral foundation – and create an imagined community organization that will help address that problem/need. Identify the guiding ethical principles that will drive your organization’s work.

Part 1 Project Checkpoint: Community Issue Proposal

To complete this checkpoint, select a specific city, town or community within a larger city or region and conduct research on the community you select. You may wish to select a town or area familiar to you, such as your home area or your current place of residence.

Using reputable news sources, identify a problem or need that this community is facing. You can use the Widdows textbook and other course materials to identify potential issues that you could then explore in your community. Issues may relate to:

·  public health

·  gender, race, ethnicity, LGBT+ (consider discrimination or bias)

·  poverty

·  climate change

·  business and labor conditions including employment

·  access to resources (i.e. income, food, water)

·  education or healthcare (consider disparities)

·  war/the military

·  law enforcement and the judicial system

·  the US political system (local, state or national)

Finally, consider the three ethical frameworks we have studied so far – Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Virtue Ethics. How would a global ethicist apply each theory to the issue you have selected? Which theory best aligns with addressing the problem/need you identified?

Assignment Instructions: Your week 3 submission should include answers to the following questions. Your answers may be brief, 2-4 sentences for each question, but must convey that you did some research:

1. What community is your organization going to serve? This must be a specific city, town, or region. Why did you choose this community?

2. What ethical issue did you identify as a problem/need in the community? How do you know this is an issue? Why is this issue interesting to you – how does it connect to your values/moral foundation? (include a link to a reputable news article if appropriate)

3. Which ethical theory or framework could act as a guide for your organization’s mission and work? Describe which of this theory’s principles line up with addressing this community problem. NOTE: YOU MAY CHANGE THE THEORY LATER. We will learn about additional theories as we move through the term, and you may decide at any checkpoint to switch theories if a different theory makes a stronger connection.