PHIL 230: F09 Paper Assignment:
Assignment: You are to write a 5-8 page paper on one of the topics covered in the last part of the
course: possible topics include (1) female genital mutilation/circumcision (Stanfield), (2) Creation of a
stem cell donor (Kahn and Mastrionni), (3) The market for transplant organs (Wolf), (4) prostitution
and commodification of the body (Nussbaum), (5) Free expression v. animal rights (Hilden), (6) Gay
marriage and equality under the law (IA Supreme Court).
Your paper should be organized to include the following sections:
I. Introductory section with a thesis statement that tells me exactly what you’ll do in your paper. A
thesis statement should clearly identify the problem you will discuss, the philosophical materials you
will use to discuss it, and the claims you will support.
II. The case to be discussed. A clear account and explanation of the moral problem about which you
have chosen to write. In this section you should clearly identify the ethical issues raised, and different
arguments that might be used to support different views about the problem. This section should include
discussion of arguments present in the class reading that treated the problem you have chosen. For
example, if you choose to write on gay marriage, you would present in this section the arguments of the
IA supreme court—at least those arguments you plan to examine in your paper.
III. Use of Philosophical Materials from the First Part of the Course: A section in which you
provide an account of the problem you have chosen from the perspective of one of the philosophers we
have discussed in class. For example, you might consider whether a market for transplant organs
would violate the requirement that people should not be treated as ‘mere means,’ or you might consider
what a utilitarian like Mill would have to say about prostitution. You might consider the implications
of Mill’s harm principle or Rawls account of justice for gay marriage.
IV. Your considered philosophical view about the problem, including reasons to back up your
view. In this section, you should include a careful account of your own view, backed up with good
reasons, about the problem you have chosen to discuss.
V. Conclusion paragraph.
YOUR TOPIC: In class on 19 November, you should submit to me a one-paragraph account of
the topic you’ve chosen.
Note: This is not a “research paper,” and you need not refer to any sources other than those assigned
in class. You should, however, refer to several different sources used in class, and your paper should
have a clear structure as described above.
Your essays must meet the following standards: Please use this list as a check-list before you turn
in your paper.
1) Your name should appear only on the back of each page.
2) You should include a title at the top of the first page.
3) Your paper should be divided into sub-sections. Please give each sub-section a numbered subtitle in
bold type.
4) In the first section, you should include a thesis statement of the form “In this paper I will…” telling
me exactly what you will argue and how you will do it. The more explicit and detailed your thesis
statement is, the better.
5) The last section of your paper should include a conclusory statement, in which you explain what
your paper has argued and what you’ve accomplished.
6) This is a writing assignment. Spelling, grammar, correct footnote and bibliographic format,
appropriate formatting and neat presentation do matter and will be taken into account in your grade.
7) You must list all works you mention in your paper in a bibliography, and all quotations must be
appropriately identified with reference and page number.
8) Pages should be numbered. Please staple your paper in the upper corner—please do not use a shiny
term-paper cover.
Example of a Thesis Statement: “In this paper I will evaluate Norman Daniels’s claims that there is a
right to a basic minimum provision of health care, that this right justifies the creation of social
institutions to provide such care, and that this right has its justification in the principle of equality of
opportunity [PEO]. I argue that that the most plausible and uncontroversial conception of PEO
guarantees only negative rights, while Daniels understands his own principle of PEO to support a
positive right to care. It follows that Daniels’s principle is stronger and requires a different kind of
support from the more familiar version. As I will argue, Daniels has not provided such support.”