Hi all,
As mentioned in class yesterday, there is no class with professor Nobis this Friday. So, reading and writing assignments are on the course blogs:
 
He will be at some events at the Emory Ethics Center and the Law School. FYI, the program for the Ethics Center is below and the law school event info is here:
http://www.law.emory.edu/academics/academic-programs/feminism-legal-theory/upcoming-events-workshops.html


ANIMAL STUDIES WORKSHOP

Center for Ethics
1531 Dickey Drive
Emory University
Friday, March 30, 2012

9:00 – 10:00
Killing Animals
“Animal vs. Human Euthanasia.” Paul Root Wolpe. Center for Ethics, Emory University.

Forging Animal Rights

“Communicating Concepts: How do we articulate animal rights concepts to
the public?” Lori Marino. Center for Ethics and Institute for Liberal Arts,
Emory University.

“Diversity and Nonhuman Rights.” Carrie Packwood Freeman.
Communication. Georgia State University.

Lunch

Thinking Animals I

“The Ethics and Poetics of Becoming Animal in Metamorphosis Literature.”
Naama Harel. Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies, Emory University.

Thinking Animals II

“The Philosophical Animal.” Sean Meighoo. Institute of Liberal Arts, Emory
University.

Sponsored by
Center for Ethics, Emory University
Center for Faculty Development and Excellence, Emory University

Paper 2 assignment

REVISED ASSIGNMENT:
THE "METHODS" SECTION WILL BE DUE MONDAY, APRIL 2 IN CLASS; 
THE ENTIRE PAPER WILL BE DUE MONDAY APRIL 9.


First, read the "writing tips" from Dr. Nobis below, and review the guidance from an earlier post.

Second, for next Monday, April 2, write a paper where you state at least 5 arguments for the conclusion that "abortion is prima facie wrong" in logically valid form and explain whether each is sound or unsound and why.


Your paper must have an introductory section where you explain the methods you will use in your task: that is, explain the steps involved in formulating an argument in logically valid form and what questions you must ask in determining whether an argument is sound or not. This section requires that you reflect on the process we have been using in class to state and evaluate arguments.

Your paper should have an introduction and a thesis concerning the arguments you discuss and conform to all the guidance given about writing, including that given by Pryor.

Some tips from me:

• The most common comments I write on papers are these: (1) What do you mean? and (2) Why think that? The first is in response to unclear claims: write clearly. The second is in response to claims that need defense: give reasons.
• Write in short sentences: if any longer sentence can be broken into two or more sentences, do it because it's easier to read then.
• Each paragraph should deal with one, and only one, topic. You should be able to say, "This paragraph is about this: _____."
• Omit all needless words and needless discussion. Your reader's time is valuable so don't waste it.
• Make sure everything is clear. Use simple words: no need for anything nebulous.
• Your papers should have a short introduction, culminating in a thesis, a main point, the point that your paper is supposed to defend. The most direct way of presenting this sort of thesis is this: "I will argue that _(short sentence here: 'all abortions are wrong', 'Dr. Doopy's argument against euthenasia is unsound,' etc.___."
• Your introductory paragraph, or a paragraph immediately after it, should give the reader an overview of what you will be doing in the paper. It should briefly explain the overall structure (e.g., "First I will ___ and then I will ____. Finally I will ______.")
• Omit anything totally obvious and uninformative (e.g., "This issue has been debated for hundreds of years."). Everyone already knows this, so don't waste time telling us what we already know.
• Don't write, "Well, _____." No "well's".
• Don't say, "'Mr. Bubbles feels that this is wrong." Say, he believes, or thinks, or (if he does) argues. His views are probably not his "feelings" or his emotional reactions.
• Also, no ' . . . ' unless you are shortening a quote. No "trailing off" in hopes that the reader will think what you are hoping they will think.
• Don't ask rhetorical questions. Make statements, don't ask questions. Your reader might answer your questions for you in ways you'd like. But if you do ask questions, make sure there is a question mark.
  
• It's OK to use "I". People use "I" to communicate clearly, so use it.
• "Arguments" are not people's conclusions. They are the conclusions and the reasons they give in favor of those conclusions.
• If I ask you to raise objections to a theory, argument, claim, or whatever, it's fine to raise objections that are discussed in our readings. What's not good, however, is to raise an objection that is discussed in the readings but the author responds to the objection and shows that it's not a good objection. If you raise this same objection, but do not discuss the author's response (and respond to that response), this suggests that you didn't do the reading very closely.
• If an author states a conclusion (or a main point) and gives reasons for it, then that author has given an argument. If an author has given an argument, do not say that the author has not given an argument: you might not have found the argument (yet), but the argument is still there! Keep looking!
• Keep focused and don't argue for more than you can give reasons for.
• You have succeeded in writing a paper if you can give that paper to a smart and critical someone who is not familiar with your topic and this person will understand the views and arguments you are discussing, as well as whatever criticisms you raise. You can do an empirical test to determine whether you are writing well, and it's basically just to see if others understand your writing! If not, you need to keep working at it.
• Finally, good writing, like many things, takes a lot of time. If you don't take the time to work at it, you probably won't do very well and you probably won't improve. I recommend writing something about double the length needed and then editing down and re-organizing and re-writing to remove the needless words, irrelevant distractions, and -- most importantly -- improve your statement of whatever argument you are trying to develop.

FYI here is an interesting article on the Bible and homosexuality:
"What does the Bible really say about homosexuality?"

The Washington Post: On Faith
http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/12/what_does_the_bible_really_say_ab
out_homosexuality_reading_texts_of_terror.html

• This is available in full form here: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=1-nNUyaHCpottgznK_Cqp1sY_1lHirC--cn_AR-MPWmI0f8Q6N5MJR7n5nlC8&hl=en_US 

This is the first in a series of articles by The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire and a visiting Senior
Fellow at the Center for American Progress, Washington, D.C.

By next Wednesday, March 28, please write detailed summaries of these essays found in RTD and online (if you Google them, you will likely find these essays):

Read Mary Anne Warren, "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion."
Read Don Marquis, "Why Abortion is Immoral,"
Read Judith Thompson, "A Defense of Abortion," (only summarize the first 2 pages)

Here are some sources for suggestions on how to improve your writing; in my experience, one's writing can only be improved with reflective practice: writing, thinking about it and getting feedback from others and revising and re-writing. These sources give tips on how to do that:

1. An online article by Jim Pryor called "Guidelines on Writing a Philosophy Paper":
http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html

2. Some chapters on writing from A Rulebook for Arguments;
http://www.amazon.com/A-Rulebook-Arguments-Anthony-Weston/dp/0872209547/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332425273&sr=1-1

VII. Composing an Argumentative Essay
A. Exploring the Issue
VIII. Composing an Argumentative Essay
B. Main Points of the Essay
IX. Composing an Argumentative Essay
C. Writing
&
I. Composing a Short Argument: Some General Rules

3. Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, the section III. ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF COMPOSITION:
http://www.bartleby.com/141/strunk5.html

4. Some tips from me:

• The most common comments I write on papers are these: (1) What do you mean? and (2) Why think that? The first is in response to unclear claims: write clearly. The second is in response to claims that need defense: give reasons.
• Write in short sentences: if any longer sentence can be broken into two or more sentences, do it because it's easier to read then.
• Each paragraph should deal with one, and only one, topic. You should be able to say, "This paragraph is about this: _____."
• Omit all needless words and needless discussion. Your reader's time is valuable so don't waste it.
• Make sure everything is clear. Use simple words: no need for anything nebulous.
• Your papers should have a short introduction, culminating in a thesis, a main point, the point that your paper is supposed to defend. The most direct way of presenting this sort of thesis is this: "I will argue that _(short sentence here: 'all abortions are wrong', 'Dr. Doopy's argument against euthenasia is unsound,' etc.___."
• Your introductory paragraph, or a paragraph immediately after it, should give the reader an overview of what you will be doing in the paper. It should briefly explain the overall structure (e.g., "First I will ___ and then I will ____. Finally I will ______.")
• Omit anything totally obvious and uninformative (e.g., "This issue has been debated for hundreds of years."). Everyone already knows this, so don't waste time telling us what we already know.
• Don't write, "Well, _____." No "well's".
• Don't say, "'Mr. Bubbles feels that this is wrong." Say, he believes, or thinks, or (if he does) argues. His views are probably not his "feelings" or his emotional reactions.
• Also, no ' . . . ' unless you are shortening a quote. No "trailing off" in hopes that the reader will think what you are hoping they will think.
• Don't ask rhetorical questions. Make statements, don't ask questions. Your reader might answer your questions for you in ways you'd like. But if you do ask questions, make sure there is a question mark.
  
• It's OK to use "I". People use "I" to communicate clearly, so use it.
• "Arguments" are not people's conclusions. They are the conclusions and the reasons they give in favor of those conclusions.
• If I ask you to raise objections to a theory, argument, claim, or whatever, it's fine to raise objections that are discussed in our readings. What's not good, however, is to raise an objection that is discussed in the readings but the author responds to the objection and shows that it's not a good objection. If you raise this same objection, but do not discuss the author's response (and respond to that response), this suggests that you didn't do the reading very closely.
• If an author states a conclusion (or a main point) and gives reasons for it, then that author has given an argument. If an author has given an argument, do not say that the author has not given an argument: you might not have found the argument (yet), but the argument is still there! Keep looking!
• Keep focused and don't argue for more than you can give reasons for.
• You have succeeded in writing a paper if you can give that paper to a smart and critical someone who is not familiar with your topic and this person will understand the views and arguments you are discussing, as well as whatever criticisms you raise. You can do an empirical test to determine whether you are writing well, and it's basically just to see if others understand your writing! If not, you need to keep working at it.
• Finally, good writing, like many things, takes a lot of time. If you don't take the time to work at it, you probably won't do very well and you probably won't improve. I recommend writing something about double the length needed and then editing down and re-organizing and re-writing to remove the needless words, irrelevant distractions, and -- most importantly -- improve your statement of whatever argument you are trying to develop.

On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction [Paperback]

William Zinsser

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Well-30th-Anniversary-Nonfiction/dp/0060891548

 http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Reflections-Richard-Rhodes/dp/0688149480/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332200135&sr=1-1


On Writing Well by Zinsser, How to Write by Richard Rhodes, On Writing by Stephen King.
http://www.amazon.com/On-Writing-Anniversary-Edition-Memoir/dp/1439156816/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332200225&sr=1-1

The page by Fred Feldman on abortion that we discussed today is here:
http://aphilosopher.googlepages.com/fred_feldman_on_abortion.pdf 

Read: EMP Ch.4, "Does Morality Depend on Religion?"

Read Mary Anne Warren, "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion."
Read Don Marquis, "Why Abortion is Immoral,"
Read Judith Thompson, "A Defense of Abortion,"

Paper Assignment: due Friday, March 23:
First, read this article on how to write a philosophy paper by Jim Pryor: http://www.jimpryor.net/teaching/guidelines/writing.html 
Second, write a philosophy paper that does this:

• is on the the topic of the ethics of homosexuality (but NOT marriage);
• argues for a thesis on whether homosexuality is wrong or morally permissible (NOT whether it is 'right');
• presents at least 5 arguments in logically valid form;
• explains whether these arguments are sound or not and why;
• conforms to all the guidance from Pryor's article on writing philosophy (above);
• has an introductory paragraph, a thesis, and each paragraph or section focuses on one issue at a time;
• is generally well-organized, clear and grammatical.

 Length is probably around 4-5 pages to do an adequate job.

Here is some additional guidance:

• As Pryor makes clear, raising and responding to objections and questions to your position and arguments is essential for a good philosophy paper. So, of course, you must raise and respond to objections to your arguments. You especially do not want to ignore any critical discussion we had in class about some argument: i.e., if you endorse an argument that was discussed in class and - to many people - found to be unsound, you must engage that discussion and explain why that argument is indeed sound, despite the objections raised against it. 
• Here are two guidelines for possible strategies:
• 1. Present an argument (in logically valid form) that homosexuality is morally permissible; discuss objections to that argument, i.e., arguments for the conclusion that homosexuality is wrong, all again in logically valid form. Or,
• 2.  Present an argument (in logically valid form) that homosexuality is morally wrong; discuss objections to that argument, i.e., arguments for the conclusion that homosexuality is actually morally permissible, all again in logically valid form: these arguments might be objections to your argument that homosexuality is wrong.