Please choose one of the following four topics to write a 1500-2500 word essay:
A: Read the short story “Speech Sounds” from Octavia Butler
in order to analyze what the relationship between ethical decisions, communication and emotions might be in situations where the social contract has seemingly broken down. Are ethics in a social contract even important in this dystopic society? If so, why? If no, why not? Please integrate one of the ethical theories we have talked about in class to explain your position.
B: Under what circumstances is violence acceptable to defend abstract ideals and/or to preserve moral agents that do not directly have a relationship with you? Is violence acceptable to defend moral patients? You will want to include a definition of violence in addition to an explanation of the system of thought you are utilizing.
C: Do we have an ethical obligation to health? You may want to consider the role of the social contract, definitions of disease, and the structures of agency in relation to power to answer this question. Please define how you are constructing health to answer this question.
D: It is the future and you are a judge in a case where a human-like robot is suing their owner for freedom, claiming they hold all of the same qualities, desires, functions and emotions that a human does and therefore they are more than property and should be granted personhood in the eyes of the law. Will you hear this case? Does the robot have sufficient personhood to argue this? Consider the role of the social contract, of agency in an ethical sense, and of what it means for a being to have personhood.