news

news Order Description The purpose of this assignment is to clarify the relevance of having well-thought out answers to questions concerning human nature insofar as they have bearing on contemporary discussions of philosophical issues. Your grade will be based on how well you fulfill the following requirements: When the course begins you must consult groups (News) to find the due date for your news presentation. This is not a group project; the groups (News) serve simply the purpose of supplying the date of your presentation. Click through each news group file until you find yourself and your date. If you do not find yourself in a group, email me. You cannot do the same topic that another student from an earlier news group has already done (if by chance two people assigned to the same news group pick the same article, they will not be penalized). For this reason it is important that you read all news topics. If you do a topic another student has done you will get a zero for this assignment. If you are not sure whether a topic is sufficiently different, do not hesitate to email me. 1) In a newspaper, magazine, etc. find a debated issue that either directly bears on some aspect of human nature or where understanding some aspect of human nature will shed light on the question. If the source is an online source, provide the link. If it is a printed source, you need to scan the piece and attach it (if you do not have a scanner then you must use an online source). 2) State what the issue is (a) making clear that it is a philosophical issue (it has to be a general question whose answer would be instructive to ancient Greeks, to future humans living in outer space, in short to everyone); a debate centering around the details of a specific incident, such as whether police force was justified in this specific case, is not a philosophical debate; (b) specify the branch of philosophy it pertains to); 3) state one pro and one con on the issue, relying on the article. The article must give at least one argument for one side or it is not acceptable. If the article only gives an argument for one side, then you must yourself come up with an argument for the other side; 4) show how the issue relates to a question (or questions) concerning human nature, if possible. There are two common mistakes (which results in very poor grades) that you want to avoid: 1) picking a piece where you are just given information/news, and no issue is being debated; 2) an issue is being debated, but it is not the general sort of issue that philosopher debate, but is rather of limited interest to a given group of people at a given time. For example, whether or not a given candidate should receive the Democratic Party in America’s presidential nomination is not a philosophical issue. Here is a sample (which means this topic is no longer available): 1. The Seattle Times, Originally published Wednesday, January 11, 2012, “AP: Gay marriage within reach in Wash. Legislature,” - https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2017212895_apwaxgrgaymarriage3rdld.html 2. This news item raises the ethical issue of whether gay marriage is moral, and the political issue of whether it should be permitted. 3. The article itself does not give any arguments. One argument for is that any two people who love each other should be able to get married. One argument against is that marriage can only be between a man and a woman because only in this case can both partners use their reproductive organs in a manner that respect their function. 4. Aside from the meta- ethical question of how considerations about nature are to be taken into account in determining morality, there is the question for natural philosophy as to what is the natural function or purpose of reproductive organs.