1. Seminar Three

2.  1. Review of Work Due  2. Course Content  Virtue Ethics  Abortion  Universal Health Insurance

3.  Discussion Board: One thread  Research based posting. Abortion is a sensitive topic, so it is important to research this issue from as many perspectives as possible. You are required to research at least three websites.  Your posting should evaluate the websites you are researching, not your own views on the topic.  Your task is to compare the arguments made in the various sources in terms of quality and to see which theories are being used to support the arguments being made.

4.  Position Paragraph Project  Your task is to write a one paragraph to one page position paper in which you argue for a particular position or stance. For instance, if writing about abortion, you may want to argue that it is never permissible, or alternatively, that it is justifiable under certain circumstances.  You should choose a topic from unit three, bioethics.  Your paper should reference key theories and/or concepts we have discussed thus far. For instance: duty-based reasoning, consequentialism, virtue ethics, prima facie rights, etc.  Don’t forget to check your paper against the grading rubric!

5.  Discussion Board: One thread  We have one discussion board thread this week on capital punishment. Our prompt is as follows: What are some of the arguments used for and against capital punishment? (You may want to complete some additional research to add to your knowledge.) How does the ethical debate on capital punishment touch on the issues of the value of human life, human rights, and human dignity? If you had a loved one who was murdered, would you want to have the option of capital punishment for the convicted murderer? Why or why not?

6.  Letter to your leader Option A  Compose a letter to the President regarding the current war. In this letter, explain your position regarding the ethics of war and responses to terrorism. In your explanation, be sure to draw upon ethical concepts and reasoning to support your position. State what you believe should be done and why. The letter should be one page in length, double spaced, and free of grammatical errors.

7.  Letter to your Leader Option B:  Compose a letter to your state governor regarding the death penalty. In this letter, explain your position regarding capital punishment. In your explanation, be sure to draw upon ethical concepts and reasoning to support your position. State whether or not the death penalty should be abolished and why.  The letter should be one page in length, double spaced, and free of grammatical errors.

8.  What question do we begin with in ethics?  One question: What makes an action right?  An alternative question: What character traits does a good person have?  Is one question a better starting place than another for ethical inquiry?

9.  Virtue ethics is an approach to ethics that focusing on the proper development of an individual’s character.  An individual should aspire to be a good person, by modeling the behavior of individuals known to be good and wise.

10.  A good person strives to develop virtues. Literally, virtue is understood as the performance of a function with excellence.  The function of a car for instance is to provide reliable transportation. A “virtuous” or “good” car doesn’t break down, stops when we apply the brakes, etc. Virtue is measured by our actions.  For humans, our unique function resides in our abilities to reason. So, the good person is the one who develops his or her ability to reason well in order to flourish in life—the good person develops practical wisdom, the ability to apply knowledge of what is good or bad for a human being as appropriate to particular situations.

11.  A virtue is characterized by a steady and fixed character.  We are always in the process of creating our future selves by the actions we repeat in the present.  We become honest people by telling the truth repeatedly until it becomes a habit, or second-nature.  The Golden Mean: A virtue is understood as a mean between two extremes, one of excess and one of deficiency. Courage, for instance, is the midpoint between cowardice and wrecklessness.

12.  A conflict of principles:  1) The value of life  2) The principle of individual freedom Question: When does life begin? A refined question: when does human life begin? What constitutes a human person? Upon what basis does a living being merit rights?

13.  The deontological approach: what duties must be considered? What rights do the various stakeholders possess?  The consequentialist approach: what are the consequences, both individually and socially of abortion policies or a particular decision to have an abortion?  The virtue ethics approach: what kind of person am I becoming when I consider this decision in terms of my life as a whole?

14.  How many people in the U.S. do not have health insurance?  No country spends more money per person for health care than the US, yet one in six residents have no insurance.  What are the consequences of this staggering fact?  Do individuals have a right to health care?

15.  What is a right? “To have a right to something means that if we desire that thing then other people are obligated not to deprive us of it.” (Martin, M. (2007). Ethics Applied to Life. Mason, OH: Thompson.)  So, if we have a right to health care, this means that if we desire health care, then no one may deprive us of it.  This is not a legal right in our country, but it is in most other industrialized nations.  If we do have a right to health care, is this an “inalienable” right, or is it a contingent one based upon certain circumstances?

16.  If we have the right to health care, then others have a duty or obligation to ensure that this right may be freely exercised. This leads to the question: WHO is obligated to ensure that we do have health care?  Our families?  Our local communities?  The federal government?

17.  The consequentialist approach.  Setting aside the question of rights, what are the consequences of denying access to health care, say to illegal or undocumented aliens?  Would universal health care lead to rationing health care?