Writing an Essay Project
Essay Project is a discussion of your guiding question using consequentialist thinking. In preparation for writing, you will need to consider how you would answer your question on the consequentialist assumption that the moral rightness or wrongness of actions is determined by the overall positive or negative effects that those actions have. Use Mill’s Utilitarianism as your framework. Consider the proper standard for moral evaluations to be the positive or negative effects that actions have on the well-being of society as a whole. Decide how that standard can be invoked in relation to the particular question you are posing, what you think the results of applying the theory would be, and what (if any) challenges you to find in trying to apply that standard to come up with a definitive answer to your question. Then, write a short essay that takes your reader through that process. In the essay, do the following: -Provide a one-paragraph introduction that tells the reader what the guiding question is, what answer you think a utilitarian would give to the
question, what your main claim (thesis) about the process of thinking through the issue from a utilitarian standpoint is, and how the remaining paragraphs of the essay will provide support for that thesis. -Describe
the theory of Utilitarianism in enough detail for your reader to understand the basics of the view and what it tells us about making judgments concerning the moral status of actions. -Discuss the steps involved in the process of applying the theory to the issue in an attempt to answer your guiding question. -Reflect on the process itself, the results it yields in relation to your question, and your own reasons for accepting those results, rejecting them, or withholding judgment. -Provide a one-paragraph conclusion that reminds the reader what the guiding question is, what answer you think a utilitarian would give to the question,
and what your main claim (thesis) about the process of thinking through the issue from a utilitarian standpoint is.