PHL 363 Final Paper

Analyzing an environmental issue or event in terms of harms done and in terms of moral responsibility is a crucial skill needed for making policy decisions. In professional settings in which environmental issues are discussed, you will need to be able to demonstrate the ability to apply ethical theories to environmental issues and events, and present your own conclusions about how best to morally evaluate the situation.

The project is supported by four formative milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Two, Three, Four, and Five. The final paper will be submitted in Module Seven.

This paper will assess your mastery with respect to the following course outcomes:

• Appreciate the relationship between humans (especially yourself) and the environment

• Write and speak persuasively about ethics and be able to defend your own views, and the views of others, on topics and problems in environmental ethics (communication)

• Apply ethical principles to environmental related situations and problems (personal and social responsibility)

• Understand environmental issues, and critically evaluate positions and perspectives of representative philosophers – including the analysis and evaluation of ethical thinking (knowledge)

• Apply knowledge of basic principles, concepts, methods and arguments to support positions in environmental ethics

Prompt

Your paper should answer the following prompt: What is the proper moral evaluation of the actions that led to the environmental disaster you chose as your topic? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the two ethical theories you applied to the environmental disaster?

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

Introduction

1. Provide background information on your chosen event, by addressing the following:

1. What is the event?

2. When and where did it occur?

3. How were people affected by the event?

4. How was the environment affected by the event?

5. What is the impact of the event? (For instance, based on the event that you chose, there might have been a significant impact on individuals who live in the area or work in the area, harms to wildlife, contamination of water or air, significant harm to an endangered population, etc.)

6. Include other information relevant to an assessment of moral harm or moral wrongdoing. (For example, if corporate policies were made which ignored the risk of dangerous consequences, or if someone acted in a negligent way, that should be included. If the event was an unforeseeable accident, that should be included.)

Application of Approaches in Environmental Ethics

1. How does contemporary environmental ethics help explain the ethical evaluation of the event?

1. 1. Theory I: Select a theory from the course that could assess moral harm and moral wrongdoing. Include at least one representative, peer-reviewed article that presents central ideas from the theory, and use the article to illustrate how the theory would apply to the event.

   2. Theory II: Select a second theory from the course that could assess moral harm and moral wrongdoing. Include at least one representative, peer-reviewed article that presents central ideas from the theory, and use the article to illustrate how the theory would apply to the event.

1. Critically evaluate these applications.

1. Assess strengths and weaknesses in the two applications. For example, does one theory (or do both theories) fail to acknowledge a serious moral harm that occurred as a result of the event? Does one theory provide a superior analysis of the moral wrongdoing that occurred?

Ethical Evaluation

1. What is the appropriate ethical evaluation of the event?

1. Provide an argument for the appropriate assessment of moral harm in this case. (For example, what objects, beings, or persons should be considered to have been morally harmed?)

2. Provide an argument for the appropriate assessment of moral wrongdoing in this case. (For example, what person or persons should be considered morally responsible for the event, and what specific wrong was committed?)

1. What conclusions should be drawn about the ethical theories you applied? (For example, is one of the theories clearly superior to the other? Are both theories flawed? Is one better suited for application to the kind of event you considered?)

Milestones

Milestone One: Discussion

In task 2-2, you will choose an environmental disaster that was caused, at least in part, by human agency, and that occurred in the past five years. This disaster will be the one you focus on for your final paper. Find an article that describes the event. In this discussion, post a link to the article and present a brief summary of the event. The ethical dimensions of an environmental disaster cannot be analyzed until the basic information about what actually happened is understood, so being able to explain the event and its consequences is a crucial first step to performing an ethical analysis. See Discussion Board 2-2 for a full description of this assignment. This milestone is graded with the Discussion Board Rubric.

Milestone Two: Short Paper

In task 3-2, you will carefully describe the event you have selected, explaining the consequences of the event to living and non-living things. Then, you will assess the damage that occurred as a result of the human agency. In other words, you will begin to assess the moral responsibility attached to the event. Your paper should be 3-5 pages long with at least one scholarly resource. Refer to the Final Paper Guidelines and Rubric found in the Assignment Guidelines and Rubric Folder for a full description of the requirements for the final paper. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Discussion

In task 4-2, you will find an article that assigns moral responsibility for the environmental disaster you chose in Module Two. Share the link to the article (or provide the bibliographical information) and briefly summarize the argument given in the article. Once you have posted your article and summary, reply to at least two of your classmates. Objectively evaluate the argument presented in their article. Do you agree or disagree? Explain your reasoning. See Discussion Board 4-2 for a full description of the assignment. This milestone is graded with the Discussion Board Rubric.

Milestone Four: Presentation

In task 5-2, you will submit a presentation of your final paper. Presentations are important part of policy discussions and decisions. Often you will need to present your ideas and findings to a group of people. Being able to effectively present information and crucial claims is a skill needed in the field. This assignment is worth 200 points, should be a minimum of 10 slides (not including the title and reference slides), and should include at least two resources that you will use in writing your final paper. The presentation will include the same elements as the final paper, but will be in outline form. These elements include:

an introductory section, which includes a brief summary of the environmental disaster you have chosen, the human actions which contributed to or caused the disaster, and the harm resulting from the disaster; two ethical analyses of the disaster, which include an explanation of how each approach would assess moral responsibility for the environmental disaster and strengths and weaknesses of each theory’s analysis; your position, which includes a discussion of which theory, in your view, provides the best analysis (If you conclude that neither theory adequately addresses the situation, you should explain this instead), your conclusion about the appropriate assignment of moral blame and moral harm, and your conclusions about the ethical approaches you applied. This list is derived from the critical elements, which will be used for grading the final submission. Your instructor will provide feedback on the current state of your argument, with a specific aim to provide feedback on your inclusion of the critical elements. This milestone is graded with the Milestone Four Presentation Checklist.

Final Submission: Final Paper

In task 7-2, you will submit your final paper, which will include a description of an environmental disaster caused at least in part by human agency, the application of two ethical theories to the disaster, your evaluation of those analyses, and your own argument for how we should assess moral responsibility attached to the event. This milestone is graded with the Final Paper Rubric (below).

Deliverable Milestones

Requirements of Submission: This submission should conform to APA formatting guidelines. The completed paper should be 8-10 pages in length (not including the cover and Works Cited pages), with standard fonts and margins, and at least three scholarly resources.

Instructor Feedback: Students can find their feedback in the Grade Center.