Create a possible world 50 years in advance where three moral problems have been resolved.

  1. Make a list of today's moral problems.
  2. Formulate a set of pragmatic rules based on the class lectures and readings that will give guidance on how to resolve the selected problems.
    1. You must create rules that follow the guidelines of the systems we study, or creatively give reasons why those guidelines will not aid in the formulation of those rules.
    2. These rules must be flexible and general enough to apply to more than one situation.
    3. You may reformulate the general rules to apply to the various situations.
  3. Detail the methods required to implement solutions to those problems given the shape of the world you are creating.
  4. There will be nine teams of five persons each.
    1. You will choose your team mid-semester after the introduction of the basic ethical systems.
    2. Your team will be responsible for the production of a 20 page cooperative paper due two weeks before the end of class.
      1. Each person will be responsible for 4 pages. If a student drops the class before the end of the semester, your team will still be responsible for a 16 page paper.
      2. Each student will be responsible for one section of the paper.
      3. The team will decide who is responsible for which section.
      4. Each section will be subtitled and fulfill the requirements outlined in section E.
    3. The teams will be given at least three class periods to discuss and formulate answers to these issues.
  5. The paper outline will be comprised of five parts. Each person on the team will be responsible for one of these parts.
    1. The possible world and how the required moral problems (section 3 to 5) have been solved.
      1. Using some of the categories listed below this outline, you will describe what life is like 50 years from now.
      2. With the help of your teammates, you will give a brief overview (a few sentences) of how your team resolves the problems (E. 3., 4., 5.)
    2. Your chosen moral system with the pragmatic rules.
      1. Take one of the systems of morals we have studied in class Utilitarianism, Duty, Natural Law or Virtue and use it as a foundation for framing the legal system and the resolutions to the problems (E. 3., 4., 5.)
      2. None of these systems in themselves provide answers for every case and some problems resolve better under one system than another. So the pragmatic rules are decisions you will make to resolve problems that don't necessarily resolve under your basic system.
      3. As well the system you choose will not necessarily give you rules to work with but only general principles. You will have to draw out the rules for yourself.
    3. What is the limit of personal rights such as life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
      1. Why does a problem exist today? (2005-2009)
        Give reasons for the problem as you see it.
      2. What are the moral issues involved?
        Using the readings from class, comment on the issues.
      3. How does your possible world of 2056 respond to the moral issues?
        Compare and contrast the way we respond to the moral issues with the way we might respond in 2056.
      4. What are the weaknesses of your resolution?
        Show how your solutions can fail. What are the reasons they fail.
    4. The characteristics of and resolution to the capital punishment issue.
      a-d. (as in E. 3.)
    5. The characteristics of and resolution to the drug use and abuse problem.
      a-d. (as in E. 3.)
  6. The paper will be in this form.
    1. Use and cite at least three sources for each section of the paper.
    2. Put references at the end of the last page of text in each section.
    3. Each section will have a title at the top of the first page. (E. 1., 2., 3., 4., 5.)
    4. Each subsection will have a subtitle. (3.a. b. c. d., 4.a. b. c. d., 5.a. b. c. d.)
    5. Margins will be one and a quarter inch left and right.
    6. Top and bottom margins will be one inch.
    7. The type will be 12 point Times or Times New Roman double spaced.
    8. A decorative cover page will make me smile but accrue no additional points.

Issues to Examine for the Future World

These are the kind of things I want you to look at when you construct your future world of 2055.

  1. What is the future world like?
    1. Tell me about technology: what problems has it solved and what problems has it caused?
      1. Scientific advancement
      2. Communications
      3. Computer technology
      4. Space technology
      5. Life expectancy
      6. Transportation
    2. What is the state of the world as far as:
      1. Population
      2. Wealth/poverty
      3. Government structures
      4. What the status of the average citizen of the world is
      5. Education
      6. Resources
      7. Pollution
      8. Government intrusion into individual lives
      9. Is there war?
      10. If there is war, what is the issue over which it is being fought?
      11. Comparative economies of the world
    3. It the world a Distopia, a Utopia or something else?
  2. With respect to personal rights, capital punishment and drug use issues:
    1. What is the prison system like?
    2. What are the courts like?
    3. What are the attitudes of the common person toward government?
    4. What is government's attitude toward the common person?
    5. What is the moral outlook of the average citizen?
    6. Are we pessimistic, optimistic or already lost to the products of bad decisions?
    7. Who are our heroes?

These are just some starter issues that should give you ideas you need to be talking about in your papers.