Thesis Construction
Choose one of the following issues and write a five paragraph essay in which you provide three reasons why the issue is ethically significant. The paragraphs of your essay should conform to the following guidelines:
a.Paragraph 1:
Provide a brief introduction to the issue. Your introduction must make clear to the reader exactly what issue you are choosing and what you take to be the boundaries of the issue. For example, if you were writing on criminal punishment, you would need to make clear whether you were considering only imprisonment and harsher penalties, or whether you were also considering penalties such as fines for speeding. (Note, you may not write on criminal punishment, this is just an example). The final sentence of your paragraph must be a thesis sentence which lists the three reasons you will put forward in your essay.
b.Paragraphs 2, 3, and 4:
The first sentence of each paragraph must be a topic sentence that clearly states what reason you will be considering. The remainder of the paragraph should make clear why this is a reason for thinking the issue you have chosen is ethically significant. Each paragraph must contain at least four sentences.
c.Paragraph 5:
Conclude your essay by very briefly reviewing the three reasons you have discussed and why they show the issue is ethically significant. Your paragraph should contain a paraphrased restatement of your thesis.
ESSAY CHOICE
End of Life Medical Issues (Week One)
• Do people have a right to end their lives whenever they choose to?
• Can people be mistaken about whether their life has value and ought to be ended? ? Does the answer to this question effect the answer to the first question?
• Can we set polices that determine in each case what the value of human life is and when it should or should not be ended? ? Does the answer to this question effect the answer to the first question?
• Does it make a difference whether a person's life is ended by an act of active killing, or whether it is simply allowed to expire? ? Does it make a difference whether the agent (i.e., the person causing the death), in either case, is the person himself or herself or someone else (such as a doctor)?
• Is there a limit to the amount of resources we should allocate toward the preservation of a life in the face of limited resources for other healthcare needs?
• Considering lives that are on the brink of death, under what circumstances (if any) would it be ethically wrong to prolong that life? ? Under what circumstances (if any) would it be ethically required to prolong that life?
? Under what circumstances (if any) would it be ethically required to end that life?