Assignment Questions: You should answer two of the following questions. The overall word count of the exam is 2500 words (so write approximately 1250 words per question). Submissions with a total word count greater than 2,750 will be penalized.
Assignment aims & advice. Your answer should contain a clear argument for a thesis that answers the question. Try to make your main points as concisely as possible. Carefully set out each step in your argument and provide supporting reasons. Avoid wandering off track. Make sure you define key terms where necessary (e.g., ‘commodification’). Use lecture and reading material discussed in this course but engage with it critically. Feel free to use your own examples. Clear succinct writing, and evidence of critical reasoning, analysis and independent thought will be rewarded.
1. Ethics and World Poverty. Are affluent individuals morally required to assist those in absolute poverty until the point when further assistance would involve sacrificing something of moral significance?
2. Designing Children. Do parents show a morally problematic attitude to their children if they genetically enhance them?
3. Consent to Sex. Under what circumstances, if any, does “verbal coercion” invalidate consent to sex?
4. Commercial Surrogacy. Does commercial surrogacy commodify children in a morally problematic way?
5. Pornography, Free Speech and Censorship. Under what circumstances could legal regulation of (certain types of) pornography be justified?
6. Moral Ignorance. Can someone be excused for racist behavior if they are brought up in a society where racism is socially accepted?