Ethics Case Analysis Paper

Instructions and Guidelines for Preparing Ethical Case Analysis

Final Papers
Prof. Rodriguez: PHIL 230 Section AO

The purpose of this assignment is to give you a chance to work out your own views about the
issues raised by a case study involving an ethical dilemma and, more generally, to practice the
procedure for analyzing ethical dilemmas. This assignment requires you to prepare a written
analysis of a case you choose in which you develop then defend your own ethical analysis.

Your case analysis should be written in essay format and be approximately 5-10 pages max. The
papers should be typed double-spaced pages, 12 point, New Times Roman font. The papers
should have a title page and a bibliography (these do not count as pages; the 5-10 pages must be
of text.)

The papers are due no later than midnight Monday June 19, 2016.

The papers should be submitted through BlackBoard email on the class page. I will not accept
after this deadline.

Read the cases and choose one case. In preparing your paper, organize your report using the
outline given below.

Outline for your paper

In analyzing an ethical problem and describing your position, you need to systematically reason
to a rationally defensible, moral judgment using ethical principles and moral rules. Use the
following steps in analyzing your case and preparing your paper:

1. Briefly summarize the case (no more than a paragraph)

2. Identify the salient issues, facts, and conceptual ambiguities
3. Identify and address the reasonable options for action
4. Choose an ethical principle and develop ethical arguments for and against each option
5. Evaluate these arguments
6. Make a decision of the most ethical course of action

The detailed outline below is intended to suggest the important points that should be covered in
your analysis. You are not required to respond to every point, but use the general six point
structure of the outline. Be sure to identify each section of your paper by labeling it with one
of the six bold face headings below. Remember, your paper should be in essay form not in
outline form.
The Case

-Briefly summarize the important points and the decision(s) that needs to made.

Issues

- What is the most significant moral or ethical issue raised by the case?
Are there other significant moral issues that deserve consideration? What?

- What essential facts are known? What, if any, facts important to the issues
raised are not known? (If such facts are determinable, attempt to find
answers from external sources. If they are not, make reasonable
assumptions. (Note: Describe your findings or assumptions about the facts
that are not given in the case in the Options section rather than here.)

- Are there any conceptual issues--such as what a key concept means or

whether it applies? If so, what are they and why are they relevant to this
case?

- Who are the major stakeholders--individuals whose interest could

reasonably be affected by the decision made in the case--and how might they
be affected? Which of the stakeholders deserves the most consideration? Why?

- Does technology play a role in the case? If so, how? Has this changed recently?

Options

- Resolve the factual issues that are not given in the case description. These
may involve questions about technology, medicine, safety, the law or
other issues. Use research to resolve those that are determinable. Make
plausible assumptions--and state them clearly--about factual issues that
cannot be determined.

- Describe each option that you believe could reasonably be taken.

In some cases, these may only include those explicitly suggested in the
case description. However, in most cases you will think of other alternative
actions that are reasonable or even preferable. (Simply describe rather
than evaluate the options in this section.)

Ethical Arguments

- Identify one of the four moral standards discussed by Harris (Rule Egoism,
Natural Law, Utilitarianism, and Respect for Persons) that you believe
can be appropriately applied to this case.

- Describe the essential ideas of the theory and its pertinence to the case.
 - Using this theory, give the arguments for and against each of the
alternative actions (options) that you identified. You must include as one
of these alternatives the action that you will later recommend be taken.
(Note: Defer evaluating these arguments until the next section.)

Evaluating the arguments

- Based on the theory you chose, evaluate the arguments you developed for each
option. Which arguments should be considered most important, which
seem moderately important or of only minor importance?

- Are there any factual assumptions or unresolved conceptual issues that

that are critical to the case?

- Does applying this theory tend to yield converging or diverging judgments

about what action ought to be taken?

- Consider similar or related situations to those in this case where there is

reasonable consensus about what action is ethically appropriate.

Decision

- Decide which of the options you would recommend or judge to be ethically

the best way to deal with the issues presented in this case.

- Defend your decision by a brief summary of the arguments that you

believe are most compelling including their relationship to the moral
theory you have selected.

- Present the strongest arguments that a critic of your position might try to
use to argue against it using other ethical reasons or another ethical theory.
Then, present a rebuttal or counter argument in defense of your decision.

- Could you personally live with this decision?

- Discuss what your initial gut reaction was to this case when you first
read it, and what you instinctively felt was the right thing to do. Compare this initial
reaction to the final decision you reached after applying the moral theories and
completing the analysis.

How I will evaluate your paper

The object of this assignment is to identify out and logically defend a particular decision about a
controversial case. It is important that you take a position, and answer both the explicit and
implicit moral questions raised. Do so even if you are unsure about what you really think is
ethically best. I will evaluate your paper according to how well you articulate and argue for a
moral judgment about the case using known facts, reasonable assumptions, and relevant ethical
principles not whether I agree personally with your particular ethical judgment.

Your paper will be evaluated on a scale of 0-100.

Each section (5) of your paper will receive a maximum of 15 points (for a total of 75 points).

The case summary will be worth 10 points.

Your overall presentation quality--writing craftsmanship and absence of errors -- will contribute
to 15 points.