Category: Philosophy : Ethics

Topic A: Rawlsian Justice
John Rawls claims that justice comes down to a notion of fairness. He proposed a thought experiment wherein he proffers an ideal “original position.” The idea is that representatives of the people operate behind a “veil of ignorance” when determining what policies are in the best interests of all of the citizens. In brief, representatives are ignorant of their “The race, ethnicity, gender, age, income, wealth, natural endowments, comprehensive doctrine, etc. of any of the citizens in society, or to which generation in the history of the society these citizens belong” and “The political  system of the society, its class structure, economic system, or level of economic development” (Wenar 4.6). They do understand different people have different life plans, that even if resources are scarce, “there is enough to go around,” and have good common sense.
Discussion task: Imagine you are a representative behind this veil. Discuss and defend several measures you would take to ensure a fair and equitable redistribution of resources.
Wenar, Leif, “John Rawls”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy  Edited by Edward N. Zalta 9 January 2017.
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/

Return to the topic you chose in the week three assignment. Articulate a specific dilemma in a situation faced by a particular person based on that topic. The situation can be real or fictional.
Summarize the dilemma.
Define any needed key terms associated with the dilemma.
Analyze the conflicts or controversies involved in the dilemma.
Revise and rewrite based on any feedback you received in your previous draft (week three). Reference and discuss any professional code of ethics relevant to your topic such as the AMA code for doctors, the ANA code for nurses, etc.  State whether and how your chosen topic involves any conflicts between professional and familial duties or conflicts between loyalty to self and loyalty to a community or nation.
What in your view is the most moral thing for that person to do in that dilemma? Why is that the most moral thing? Use moral values and logical reasoning to justify your answer
Next, apply the following:
Aristotle’s Golden Mean to the dilemma
Utilitarianism to the dilemma
Natural Law ethics to the dilemma
Which of those three theories works best ethically speaking? Why that one?
Why do the other two not work or not work as well?
 Is it the same as what you said is the most moral thing earlier? Why or why not?
Use the 5 articles from your annotated bibliography to support your answers. (Additional academic scholarly research from the past 5 years can be included as well.) 
Include a reference page at the end of your paper in APA format that includes your bibliography with the annotations removed and any other sources used in your final paper.
Length: 3-4 pages (not including title page or references page)
1-inch margins
Double spaced
12-point Times New Roman font
Title page
References page (minimum of 5 scholarly sources)

Clients come to professionals because they need professional expertise; they don

Clients come to professionals because they need professional expertise; they don’t have it themselves. They will depend on you in the most important areas of their lives, such as money, health, education, and safety, and you will be responsible for the decisions you make. That’s why, throughout this course, you will be creating an ethical decision-making toolkit that you can use throughout your professional career. Creating a toolkit now means having a plan in place for the times when tough decisions must be made.
You’ll build your toolkit in a guided, step-by-step manner, using Microsoft’s SmartArt or a comparable tool. Visualization is creative and inspiring, and it has the advantage of capturing complexity in a relatively simple form that you can quickly consult as needed. By completing these Evolve activities over the next several weeks, you will equip yourself with a visual representation of ethical decision-making that is personally useful to you and faithfully represents your values, standards, and inclinations. You will create your own guide to making ethical decisions, reliably and with confidence, no matter how challenging they may be.
In this module, you have discovered your default mode of ethical reasoning and explored its relationship to other default modes. Now you’ll begin to create your visual toolkit by representing these default modes and what they mean to you. In the next module you’ll add to it, and over the next six weeks you’ll continue to bring in new elements until you have a fully-realized visual representation of your toolkit. At the end, you’ll reflect on the process.
 
Activity Instructions We recommend Microsoft’s SmartArt. It is easy to learn and easy to use.  Watch a short tutorial on creating and changing SmartArtLinks to an external site.. You are also encouraged to use any other graphic design tools to create charts or infographics for this type of activity in the future. Please export your graphic as an image.
TaskUse SmartArt to depict what you learned this week about your default mode, and how it relates to the other two (principles/duties, consequences, virtues). Model the relationships that you see between the three modes, and/or their relationship to you, in a way that feels right to you. Don’t get overwhelmed by the number of templates. Keep your image simple, because it’s just a working document. You will play with it throughout the course as you pick up more tools and learn how they will work best.
Once you are satisfied with your model, post it to the discussion for this activity, and comment briefly on the following questions: 
What did you learn about yourself in relationship to the ethical concepts that you tried to portray in your visual?  
Why did you use a certain template, with certain shapes?
Why did you include certain parts and concepts? 

Final Capstone Proposal Essay Rough Draft
Purpose:
Please write a rough draft of

Final Capstone Proposal Essay Rough Draft
Purpose:
Please write a rough draft of the Final Capstone Proposal Essay. This draft should demonstrate that you are making substantial progress towards your final essay. The draft should be 4-6 double-spaced pages and have a minimum of 4 sources. You should have content for each section. It is understood that this is very much a work in progress; however, you should demonstrate that you have already made considerable effort in the thinking and planning of the final project.
The Final Capstone Essay is an attempt to persuade the reader to adopt the proposal’s solution to a problem or need.  Your problem solving should evidence both ethical and interdisciplinary modes of inquiry. This project gives you the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have gained during your college career.
Instructions:
Problem Statement Assignment: “Should the city council implement a ban on disposable foam containers, considering the economic impact on local businesses against the environmental benefits for the community?”
Stakeholders:
1. Local Government Officials
2. Businesses (Restaurants and Cafés)
3. Environmental Groups
4. Consumers
Rushworth Kidder’s Theory: End-base Thoery applied to problem
***TIPS: We discussed ethical dilemmas extensively in discussions and on a couple assignments. Remember that you’re NOT seeking a compromise between the two values, unfortunately a dilemma means that only one must be chosen however you can do the work of analysis for the reader by exploring what each choice would present. The application of the ethical theory (aka Resolution Principle) will most likely occur in the context of your stakeholder analysis…As mentioned earlier: You can introduce the stakeholder analysis in your capstone for the reader this way: There are stakeholders who must be considered, these are groups that are impacted by my topic both negatively and positively. These stakeholders are, x, y, z, etc, etc. Stakeholders have interests that intersect/overlap or are divergent/opposed. The overlapping interests for stakeholders x, y are a, b, c. On the other hand, stakeholders z, etc, etc, have conflicting interests e, f, g. You must fill in the details, but this is how you could word it in your capstone. Link this reflection to your Critical Thinking profile and the strengths and weaknesses you identified. And please think about the project and topic not in terms of an either-or or an oppositional View but more of an interdisciplinary collaboration. That is instead of the image of a chess board with two sides opposed you look at it as completing a jigsaw puzzle together each person/group/stakeholder has different pieces to contribute to understand the bigger picture, make the greater whole.
In this Final Capstone Essay, you will suggest specific steps to solve or alleviate a problem in your workplace or discipline. This is an 8-10 double spaced page proposal, with a minimum of 6 sources. Four of the six sources should be peer reviewed. The best projects are real and “close to home” rather than dealing with topics that are theoretical and national. Practical topics relate to your work, organizations, or field of specialization. Your research methods will include looking at secondary sources but can also include primary sources. Possible primary sources can include interviews, surveys, etc.
For the Final Capstone Essay please include the parts below:
Executive Summary: Summarize the entire report concisely. This includes summarizing the introduction, findings, conclusions, and recommendations. Significant information should be present. Sentences should be efficient, and the summary should not exceed 250 words.
Introduction: Provide a brief background of the problem. You can describe the extent of the problem and the effects that it has had. End the introduction with a clear statement as to what you are proposing as a way to alleviate or solve the problem.
Context of Problem: What are the causes that have led to this problem? It is important to describe the causes since any solution needs to address the causes of the problem. What are the effects the problem has had? Who has been most affected by this problem?
Past Solutions: Discuss what solutions have been currently proposed and/or tried in the past and explain why these solutions have not worked and will not work in the future. Discuss too what was positive about the past solutions and what aspects of past solutions may be worth trying again.
Explain Your Solution: Describe your solution in detail. Add in data and research to justify your solution. What is the timeline and any costs?
Benefits of Your Solution: Clearly state the reasons the solution is a good idea. Why is this the best solution to the problem? It may be good to address the causes of the problem that you have already referred to and explain how the solution will mitigate the causes that led to the issue occurring.
Ethical Justification: What resolution principles (re: Rushworth Kidder) or professional code of ethics support people adopting your solution? What are the competing discourses that frame the different sides of the ethical debate.  How does your solution support a particular ethical framework or set of principles?
Counter Arguments: Address any counterarguments and give either your refutations or accommodations here.
Conclusion: You can summarize what will happen if your solution is implemented. You could also show what will happen if your plan is not implemented.  You can choose to end your essay with a call to action.
Some References that I have you may use are:
References
Demchek, M. (2022). Fossil Fuels: The Dirty Facts. National Resources Defense Council. Retrieved from https://www.nrdc.org/stories/fossil-fuels-dirty-facts#sec-whatis
Department of Energy. (2023). Biden-Harris Administration Announces $7 Billion for America’s First Clean Hydrogen Hubs, Driving Clean Manufacturing and Delivering New Economic Opportunities Nationwide. Retrieved from https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-7-billion-americas-first-clean-hydrogen-hubs-driving
Hunt, N., Liebman, M., Thakrar, S, & Hill, J. (2020). Fossil Energy Use, Climate Change Impacts, and Air Quality-Related Human Health Damages of Conventional and Diversified Cropping Systems in Iowa, USA. Environmental Science & Technology, 54(18), 11002-11014. DOI 10.1021/acs.est.9b06929
Kidder, R. M. (2009). How good people make tough choices: Resolving the dilemmas of ethical living. New York: Harper.
NASA. (2022). The Effects of Climate Change. Retrieved from https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/#:~:text=We%20already%20see%20effects%20scientists,will%20also%20increase%20and%20intensify.
National Geographic. (2023). Fossil Fuels. Retrieved from https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/fossil-fuels/
Ramirez-Meyers, K., Mann, W.N., Johnson, S.C., Rhodes, J.D., & Webber, M.E. (2021). How different power plant types contribute to electric grid reliability, resilience, and vulnerability: a comparative analytical framework. Progress in Energy 3(3), 033001. DOI 10.1088/2516-1083/abf636
U.S. Department of Energy. (n.d.). Low Carbon Fuels and Energy Sources Basics. Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. Retrieved from https://www.energy.gov/eere/iedo/low-carbon-fuels-and-energy-sources-basics
 
Format and Length
Your report will include the following elements:
•                    Title Page
•                    Table of Contents
•                    Executive Summary
•                    Introduction
•                    Discussion Section
•                    Conclusions, Recommendations
•                    Correct Citations
•                    Appropriate Supplements (e.g., copy of survey forms)
•                    Visuals (tables, graphs, drawings, photos)