The 4 Steps:
1) Read the Jordan and the Boonin papers (ideally, more than once).
2) Obtain correct and sufficiently detailed answers to all the questions on this Study Guide.
3) Be sure to know all key terms, since these refer to important concepts.
4) Be able to reconstruct a line of reasoning in support of the parity thesis and the difference thesis.
Key terms: the parity thesis, the difference thesis, morally justifiable vs morally unjustifiable discrimination, moral legalism, moral impasse, public dilemma, moral status, resolution by declaration, resolution by accommodation, overriding reason, private versus public domain, religion-based morality, the argument from conflicting claims
I. The Issue
1. "What is the moral status of homosexuality?" "Is homosexuality a sin?" "Is having sex with members of one's own gender morally wrong?"-All of these questions are ones that could concern a moral agent who faces sexual choices in his or her private life.
Do these questions precisely capture the issue of ethical concern to Jordan and Boonin? When they ask, "Is homosexuality and heterosexuality ethically on a par with each other?," what are they really asking? Is there a political aspect to the issue they are concerned with? If so, how would you restate the issue of concern so as to exhibit its essential political aspect?
II. The Positions on the Issue
2. Jordan introduces two theses-"the parity thesis" and "the difference thesis." How would you state these theses in relation to the issue under consideration? What is the logical relationship between these two theses?
3. What is, in Jordan's estimation, the strongest argument for the parity thesis? Does this argument succeed? If not, what objections can be raised against it?
III. Moral Impasses, Public Dilemmas, and State Resolution
4. What is a moral impasse? Explain by using an example. Do all moral impasses constitute public dilemmas? Specifically, what three conditions appear to be jointly sufficient to qualify a moral impasse as a public dilemma?
5. What two options are open to the State for resolving public dilemmas? In this context, explain the difference between "resolution by declaration" and a "resolution by accommodation." What is it about a public dilemma that could necessitate involvement by the State?
IV. The Argument from Conflicting Claims
6. What is the argument from conflicting claims. You should focus on being able to state the argument, so that it is a recognizable line of reasoning leading to its conclusion. For starters, get clear about what the conclusion of this argument is. Then work backwards from this conclusion to a set of premises that the conclusion could be viewed to follow from. To that end, consider these questions below:
7. What do Islam, Christianity, and Judaism all have in common? What type of God-Concept characterizes all these religions? Why might noting the type of God-concept be relevant to the issue of concern? What is Divine Command Ethics? What attitude do theists of these major Western Religions have toward homosexuality, conceived as a type of sexual behavior? How is this at all relevant to the discrimination issue?
8. What makes Jordan think that the difference thesis, not the parity thesis, is true? What single fact, if it obtains, is sufficient to logically refute the parity thesis?
9. Jordan points out that there is an important "asymmetry" between the State's taking the side of same-sex marriage versus its taking the side of religion-based morality. What is this asymmetry and why is it important? Why, according to Jordan, should the State not pursue resolution by declaration and instead pursue resolution by accommodation?
10. Jordan anticipates two objections to the Argument from Conflicting Claims at the end of his paper and makes some replies. What are these objections?
11. What is the second argument-the so-called "No Exit" argument-given at the end of Jordan's paper? For which thesis is this argument given?
V. Boonin Against Jordan
12. What side of the debate does Boonin represent? In other words, which of the two theses does he assert?
13. Concerning Boonin's attack on Jordan, what objection(s) does Boonin raise against him?