Two final writing assignments:
due at time of the final

1. ALIEN INVASION

Aliens have landed, and they are hungry for humans! They very much enjoy the taste of human flesh -- teenagers, adults, the elderly, the severely mentally disabled and especially young children and babies! -- and have come to Earth to eat their fill. They could survive just as well on orange juice (indeed their doctors recommend an orange-juice diet for them, as it is healthier), but they get so much pleasure from eating humans that they continue doing so.

Your first job in this paper is to explain whether and, if so, why, these aliens would be doing something morally wrong in eating these humans (including you and your baby [imagine you have a baby[!]). These aliens consider themselves reasonable beings and are willing to listen to good moral arguments and they agree that if you can provide good reasons to think that what they are doing is wrong, they will refrain from eating you.

Your second job is to explain whether it is morally permissible to raise and kill animals to eat them, or whether this is wrong. In doing this, you should explain John Simmon’s and/or Peter Singer’s basic arguments (these arguments might be helpful in addressing the aliens also!). Explain whether their arguments is sound or not.

Raise the strongest objections to your arguments and respond to them as you think either Simmons &/or Engel would or you would hope the best defender of humans from the aliens would respond also.

Defend your views carefully! Be creative too!

4-5 PAGES


2. Top Ten List

Make a "Top 10 List of helpful things to do and/or not do when thinking about moral issues." For each of your suggestion of what to do (or not do), illustrate it with an example (or examples): explain why your suggestion is a good one. The goal of this assignment is for you to critically reflect on what we have done and develop a list of helpful ideas that you can use in the future (and help others use) when thinking about moral issues. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU THINK FOR YOURSELF AND COME UP WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS. IF YOU MERELY TAKE IDEAS FROM OTHERS’ (E.G., HANDOUTS IN CLASS) – TAKE THEIR WORDS ANDAND DO NOT DO YOUR OWN THINKING – YOU WILL GET A ZERO ON THIS ASSIGNMENT! 2-3 pages.