Endgame for Ethics 111

Reminder: All work must be turned in by 12 noon, Wednesday, May 18th in order to be graded in time for the grade submission deadline on May 19th. Good luck friend and have a restful summer!

Final Exam for Thurs. May 12th

Essay questions. Answer ANY TWO of the following questions. Your answer should explore as many of the relevant aspects as possible (e.g. moral, legal, political, practical, theoretical, etc.) Use of notes for this in-class exam is allowed.

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1. When is killing ethically justified?

Use any issues and examples we discussed in class, along with the relevant theories, to answer this question. You may focus your answer on capital punishment, abortion, euthanasia, or another context, or you may address each of these.

2. What do we owe to those in need?

In our rights-based ethical language, we have both negative (e.g. non-interference) and positive (e.g. duties to help others achieve well-being). What are we ethically obligated to do to help those in need around us?

3. What kind of material inequality is justifiable in a just society?

How much material inequality is too much inequality for a society to be considered just? How would the US need to be altered, if at all, in order to make it a just society in terms of the distribution of wealth and social privileges?

4. What kinds of representations, if any, are not ethically justifiable?

In certain discussions of media ethics, images of sex and violence are deemed unethical and seen as toxic for the society. Are there such images which are toxic? If so, in what sense are they toxic and what are the ethical dimensions of allowing, or censoring their expression?

5. How far should acknowledge of fundamental Lockean rights be extended to include the non-human world?

Utilitarians argue that the ability to suffer is the fundamental criterion for considering something as having interests which make an ethical claim on us. The Bolivian government recently called for acknowledgment of rights even for entities considered non-sentient, such as water, air and minerals. Is this extension too much or is it necessary for environmental sustainability? Is so, why? If not, why not?

6. When is one ethically justified in disobeying one’s government?

According to Lockean rights, the institution of civil society requires the alienation of the right to judge and execute the moral “law of nature.” When does the unethical behavior of a government justify civil, or non-civil disobedience to the state?

Environmental Ethics: Making Sense of the Intrinsic Value of the Earth

Ethical Anthropocentrism: The view that prioritizes those attitudes, values or practices which give exclusive or arbitrarily preferential consideration to human interests as opposed to the interests of other beings or the environment.

Mother Earth To Be Given Rights Equal to Humans In New Bolivian Law

by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY on 04.11.11

Pachamama, the goddess revered by indigenous Andean people as 'Mother World'. Image:Wikipedia.

A brief update on a story from a year ago: Bolivia is about to pass laws granting all of nature equal rights to human beings. The laws were first proposed after the World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth and show the deep differences in zeitgeist between Bolivia and, well, pretty much every other nation-state on the planet.

Rights enshrined into law include:

The right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered. Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature "to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities".(The Guardian)

The new law goes on to articulate how Mother Earth, Pachamama is, "sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb. She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organization."

That view is rooted in the indigenous beliefs of the Bolivian people and has much in common with the beliefs of indigenous peoples throughout the world--and while described somewhat differently, is roughly similar to traditional Hindu beliefs about all of existence being sacred, worthy of reverence, as well as pre-Christian beliefs of European peoples.