midterm exam 10 – www.savvyessaywriters.net
midterm exam 10 – www.savvyessaywriters.net
7 pages!
PHIL 235-002, Midterm Examination
Spring 2018
This exam is take-home and due by Thursday, March 8, at midnight (11:59pm) via the Blackboard drop box. I will not accept late exams. The exam is open-book, so you can consult your notes and readings. However, you may not collaborate with other students in any way. Responses should be two pages per question, double-spaced, in 12-point font (Times New Roman or similar), with one-inch margins. Please use a standard header, with your name, date, and class. Use proper citations, as appropriate, to denote the work and ideas of others in your essay.
Choose two questions to answer. Responses need to be clear, well-structured, and respond directly to the question asked (not the question you might want to answer!). You should respond to each part of the question asked. Each response should reference at least three readings, although you may need more than three references. Also, remember that responses will require you to demonstrate familiarity with the readings, but you should not rely on extensive summarization or too much quotation. In your response, you should also consider counter-arguments.
- Are rights conditional? Which ones, and under which conditions?
- Is there a common good? If so, how do we determine what it is? If not, on what basis are societal decisions made? This question requires you to consider the social basis of society – group vs. individual – and to defend the role of rights and justice in the context of your answer.
- Defend Bentham’s statement: “Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.” (Anarchical Fallacies)
- By what standards should or can we deny human rights to individuals?
- You are constructing a democratic political system. To promote your plans, you need to defend yourself to a committee. Do you promote the system because the process is fair, because the outcomes are beneficial, or a combination of the two? How do you sell the system? Consider and discuss concepts such as equality, rights, and justice.
May the Force be with you.
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