{"id":432885,"date":"2018-10-04T18:34:10","date_gmt":"2018-10-04T18:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essaypaper.org\/assignment-paper-thought-experiment\/"},"modified":"2018-10-24T08:33:58","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T08:33:58","slug":"assignment-paper-thought-experiment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/assignment-paper-thought-experiment\/","title":{"rendered":"Assignment Paper-Thought experiment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thought experiment<\/strong>
\nBefore doing this assignment, make sure to review the two Moral Frameworks The Good– which is Utilitarianism (Morality based on Good or Bad Consequences)– and The Right– which is Deontology (Morality based on Duty and Rights). In addition read, "Appendix B: How to Write a Philosophy Paper" pp. 415-424.
\nObjective of this assignment: <\/strong>To put theories into conversation<\/strong> with each other, in order to appreciate that:
\n\u00b7 Ideas are not isolated or made in a vacuum, but are created by real people grappling with real issues in conversation with others.
\n\u00b7 Disagreements aren\u2019t just matters of opinion, but rather can reveal underlying value frameworks. For instance, by analyzing the underlying frameworks of Mill\u2019s Utilitarianism and Kant\u2019s Deontology, we see that Mill and Kant don\u2019t merely disagree with what is moral or not, but they also seem to THINK about morality differently.
\nThis matters because it allows us to see that perspectives that are unfamiliar (or that we disagree with) are often nevertheless rooted in value systems that can be shared or at least understood. Recognizing underlying value systems is one of the first and best ways to move forward when people who disagree deeply are at an impasse.
\nOther Objectives:<\/strong>
\n\u00b7 Learn to express your ideas clearly and concisely in writing.
\n\u00b7 Learn the argument essay format.
\n\u00b7 Practice critical thinking by evaluating moral theories and constructing your own argument.
\nAssignment Instructions:<\/strong>
\nFor this assignment we will use a thought experiment like the Trolley problem that you read on philosophyexperiments.com and discussed in Weekly Discussion #7.
\nSuppose you are a train conductor on a runaway train. The train heads straight for five men who will not have time to get out of the way, and your train will kill them. But! You notice there is a track going to the right, and you have just enough time to pull the lever and turn onto that track. There is one person on that track who will die just as assuredly as the five would if you stayed on their track. Should you head to the right?<\/em>
\nYou will write an essay of approximately 1000 words which describes what you think John Stuart Mill would recommend that you do in the train scenario, what Kant would do in the train scenario, and what you would do in the train scenario and why you would choose to do that. This paper requires that you use in-text citations for any quotations you include and that you create a references page citing all of the references that you quote in the paper. You may use MLA style citations (a guide to these can be found here) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. or APA style citations (a guide to these can be found here) (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Submit your word processor document (Save your document as a PDF and attach the PDF).
\nUse the following guidelines to structure your paper. This is a kind of fill-in-the-blanks guide to writing this paper. Include the sentences in bold italic word for word in your paper. You will need several of your own sentences in addition to those provided below.
\nIntroduction (1 or 2 paragraphs):<\/strong>
\nYour introductory paragraph should have the following (not necessarily in this order).
\nA. Thesis statement- You should state what you think is best to do in the situation described by the scenario. I think I should<\/em><\/strong>___________________. Fill in the blank with either divert the train to the right killing one person <\/em><\/strong>or not divert the train to the right even though this will result in the death of five people.<\/em><\/strong>
\nB. Background for the thesis. This should include mentioning that you will be evaluating what Utilitarianism and Deontology say about this thought experiment and a brief description of the thought experiment.
\nC. Plan of the Paper. It might help your reader to tell them how your paper will go. Something like: "I will begin by describing what John Stuart Mill would have me do in this situation. Next, I will contrast that with what Kant’s moral theory
\nBody Part I:<\/strong>
\n\u00b7 John Stuart Mill would probably want me to<\/em><\/strong> ____________________,<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 because<\/em><\/strong> _<\/em><\/strong>[explain one or more of the primary principles of Utilitarianism and how he would apply it to the train scenario to decide what I should do]<\/em>.
\n\u00b7 As he says,<\/em><\/strong> \u201c<\/em><\/strong>[pick a quote from Mill\u2019s text that illustrates that specific principle]\u201d<\/strong> (cite it too) and explain what the quote means in your own words,<\/em>
\n\u00b7 His reasoning here plants him firmly within the Moral Framework called<\/em><\/strong> \u201cThe ____________,\u201d where morality is judged by looking at _______________________________<\/strong><\/em>
\n[Hint: the first blank should be either "good" or "right" and the second blank ought to be "consequences of our actions" or "what we have a duty to do."]
\nBody Part II:<\/strong>
\n\u00b7 On the other hand, Kant reasons from framework called \u201cThe ___________,\u201d where morality is measured by considering _________________<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 [Hint: the first blank above should be either "good" or "right" and the second blank ought to be "consequences of our actions" or "what we have a duty to do."]
\n\u00b7 Thus, he would most likely tell me to ___________________<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 For one thing, Kant\u2019s moral theory requires us to follow the Categorical Imperative: <\/em><\/strong>[pick one of the formulations of the CI and offer Kant\u2019s statement of it]\u201d<\/strong> . (cite it too).<\/strong><\/em>
\n\u00b7 What Kant means here is ______________________<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 So, you can see that he is primarily concerned about _________________________ and he would probably conclude that I should ________________.<\/em><\/strong>
\nBody Part III:<\/strong>
\n\u00b7 Personally, I think I should _______________________<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 Even though I might share some of the values underlying _________\u2019s position, like __________________________,<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 I nevertheless would decide to _________________________________<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 because __________________________________.<\/em><\/strong>
\n\u00b7 My reasoning here seems to fall under the framework called \u201cThe __________\u201d (or neither) because I am primarily focused on _________________________________<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thought experiment Before doing this assignment, make sure to review the two Moral Frameworks The Good– which is Utilitarianism (Morality based on Good or Bad Consequences)– and The Right– which is Deontology (Morality based on Duty and Rights). In addition Read More …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-432885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-essay-paper-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.benedictsol.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}