In this final written assignment, Case Study: Ethical Theory Application and Evaluation, you will create your own case study based on
an ethical issue or social problem in your local community (neighborhood, town city, school district, religious community, local politics, water safety, housing issues, etc.),
an ethical issue in your current job, or
an ethical issue in your field of study.
This final written assignment should be an essay and include the following sections with headings in bold font:
Part 1: Introduction, Case Study, and Ethical Question
In this section, you will create the case study. To complete this section,
Present a brief introduction to the case study.
Discuss background information.
Identify the central moral controversy at stake in the case study.
Articulate an ethical question based on the central moral controversy.
This section should be around 300 words.
Part 2: Philosophy Reading Reflection
In Sections 4 and 5 you will use two ethical theories to analyze your case study. In this section, you will choose a philosophical text associated with one of the ethical theories you will be using in Section 4 or 5. The philosophical text can be the same one you used in the Week 3 written assignment, or you can choose a new text. Copy and paste the text into this section. After applying the metacognitive strategies on reading philosophical texts from Week 1,
Examine the meaning of the text.
Discuss how your understanding of the text evolved after multiple reads.
Explain how the text might apply to the case study.
This section should be around 150 words (excluding the philosophical text).
Part 3: Explanation of First Ethical Theory
In this section, choose either utilitarianism, deontology, or virtue ethics. This will be the primary or first ethical theory you will use to consider the case study. You can choose the same ethical theory you used in the Week 3 written assignment or choose a different ethical theory. To complete this section,
Discuss the historical background of the ethical theory and the philosopher primarily associated with it.
Articulate the core principle(s) of the ethical theory.
Demonstrate how the principle(s) applies to an ethical question different than the ethical question in your case study.
This section should be around 250 words.
Part 4: Application of First Ethical Theory
In this section, you will apply the principle(s) of the ethical theory to the case study. To complete this section,
Clarify the central moral controversy at stake in the ethical question.
Analyze the core principle of the ethical theory.
Explain how someone using the core principles of the ethical theory would answer the ethical question addressed by your case.
This section should be around 350 words.
Part 5: Explanation and Application of Second Ethical Theory
In this section, you will choose a second ethical theory and apply it to the case study. The explanation and application here will be briefer than the first ethical theory. To complete this section,
Discuss the core principle of the ethical theory.
Explain how someone using the core principles of the ethical theory would analyze the case study and answer the ethical question.
This section should be around 150 or 200 words.
Part 6: Evaluation of First Ethical Theory Application
In this section, you will evaluate the results of applying the ethical theory to the case study. The idea here is to assess the success (or failure) of the theory in providing an adequate or actionable solution to the central moral controversy in the case study. To complete this section,
Discuss the answer to the ethical question provided by applying the first ethical theory.
Compare the answer to the ethical question provided by applying the first ethical theory to the second ethical theory’s application.
Explain which ethical theory you think offers the strongest resolution to the ethical issue.
Evaluate the strength of the application by considering one or more of the following questions:
Does applying the theory present an adequate response to the issue, or are there significant aspects of the issue the theory does not address?
Does the application differ from how the issue is currently being addressed?
Does the application present a better approach to how the issue is currently being addressed?
Does applying the theory to the issue raise other problems or concerns?
This section should be between 300 and 350 words.
Part 7: Conclusion
In this section, you will describe what you have accomplished in the paper. To complete this section,
Summarize the analyses and conclusions of applying the first and second ethical theories to your case study.
Evaluate the results of applying the theory
Did it offer an adequate solution to the issue?
What is the greatest strength or weakness of the theory when applied to the issue?
Provide any additional recommendations you think might help address the central moral controversy in the case study.
This section should be around 150 words.
Category: ethics and moral reasoning
Please carefully read and think about the entire prompt before composing your first post. This discussion will require you to have carefully read Chapter 5 of the textbook, as well as the assigned portions of Aristotle’s (1931) Nicomachean Ethics.
If you recall from Week 2/Chapter 3, John Stuart Mill (2008) defines happiness as the experience of pleasure and the avoidance of pain, which means that happiness is very much a matter of how I feel “on the inside”. However, Aristotle (1931) holds a rather different view of happiness (or in his terms, “eudaimonia”). One way that we think about this difference is to conduct a “thought experiment” in which we imagine that we have certain “inner” experiences, but outwardly things are quite different. One such thought experiment is provided by the philosopher Robert Nozick in his description of the “experience machine”:
“Suppose there were an experience machine that would give you any experience you desired. Superduper neuropsychologists could stimulate your brain so that you would think and feel you were writing a great novel, or making a friend, or reading an interesting book. All the time you would be floating in a tank, with electrodes attached to your brain…Of course, while in the tank you won’t know that you’re there; you’ll think it’s actually happening…Would you plug in? What else can matter to us, other than how our lives feel from the inside?” (Nozick, 1974, p. 43)
In the course of the week’s discussion, you will need to do the following (not necessarily in this order):
Engage with the text: Using at least one quote from the assigned texts, explain Aristotle’s notion of eudaimonia. Then, discuss whether Aristotle would consider someone hooked up to the experience machine to be “happy” in the sense captured by that notion of eudaimonia. Reflect on yourself: If you had the chance to be permanently hooked up to the experience machine, would you do it? Explain your choice. For example, if you would not hook up, you may discuss the kinds of goods or aims that would be lost by hooking up, or you may discuss the core, essential features of your life (or of human life in general) that are undermined by being in such a state. Reflect on human life: Based on your response, do you think that we can describe aspects of a telos (in Aristotle’s sense) that applies to humanity in general, or at least most people? Correspondingly, could there be a difference between feeling happy and being happy? Do you think that people can be wrong about happiness? (Notice that this isn’t asking whether there are different ways in which people can find happiness; it’s asking whether some of those ways could be mistaken.)
This week, we will discuss artificial intelligence in the context of virtue ethics. Examing AI is an ethical dilemma that affects our growth and development and challenges our views of what it means to be human. After reviewing the course materials for this week on virtue ethics and considering the resources for this discussion and questions, we will think about the ethical implications of artificial intelligence. Technology and AI are created to make our lives easier. The following resources provide an overview of the discussion of an AI device oddly called Aristotle that monitors and interacts with one’s child, but which was discontinued over various concerns (Tsukayama, 2017). Some were privacy concerns (utilitarianism, deontology) others had to do with the role that technology is playing in childhood development, and whether that’s conducive to flourishing children and parents (virtue ethics) (chipchick, 2017).
After viewing the resources for this discussion and this week, write your initial post answering the following questions
What are the ethical implications of artificial intelligence according to virtue ethics?
what does artificial intelligence tell us about what it means to be human?
If machines could be programmed to understand emotions, what would that say about human development?
Can AI be a virtue? Why or why not?
Your posts should remain focused on the ethical considerations, and at some point in your contribution, you must specifically address the way someone with a virtue ethic view would approach your issue by explaining, evaluating, and defending that approach. Make sure to support your ideas with citations and references. In addition to the course materials, make sure to include at least 1 more academic, scholarly source.