University of Kansas, Spring 2003
Philosophy 555: Justice and Economic Systems
Ben Eggleston—eggleston@ku.edu
Paper Topics / Test Questions—Unger
Your assignment is either to write a paper or to take a test on Unger’s
Living High and Letting Die: Our Illusion of Innocence. You have to do the
analogue of whichever option you didn’t pick for the Nozick assignment, so that,
when the course is over, you’ll have written two papers (one on Rawls and one on
Nozick or Unger) and taken two test (one on Rawls and one on Nozick or Unger).
I. Paper
If you recall the paper assignment for Anarchy, State, and Utopia,
this one will come as no surprise. Like that book, Living High and Letting
Die is rich in contentious claims—some of them
directly relevant to the author’s overall aims, others confessedly tangential. The
paper assignment is to write a paper of not more than six pages (of double-spaced,
12-point type) focusing on one of Unger’s significant claims and developing the
most effective objection to it that you can. In order to succeed on this
assignment, you must understand that you will be graded not only on the
effectiveness of your objection, but also on the significance of the claim to
which you offer your objection. In choosing a claim to critique, then, you must
strike a balance between (1) choosing a claim that is easy to refute, but that
is also quite trivial, and (2) choosing a claim that is undeniably significant,
but that is also very hard to refute.
In order to fulfill the two main requirements of this assignment, you might
well want to structure your paper in the following way.
- First, describe the claim that Unger makes that will be the object of
your critique. This could probably be done in a short opening paragraph.
- Second, explain why this claim is significant to Unger’s theory.
- Third, explain why the claim you have identified, and whose significance
for Unger’s theory you have established, is objectionable. This will require
arguments, and should occupy the bulk of your paper.
One mistake to avoid is attempting a general criticism of Unger’s theory. For although such a paper would obviously
have no trouble with the “significance” criterion, it would surely falter on
the “effectiveness” criterion, since Unger’s theory is is too broad and
multifaceted to be
dealt with effectively in a six-page paper. (That is why I say to pick a narrower
claim as the object of your critique, and then explain how that narrower claim
is an essential, or at least necessary, element in Unger’s theory). The opposite sort of mistake, of course, is to offer a
criticism of something so minute or peripheral that it lacks significance. The
demands of significance and effectiveness tend to oppose each other; so, as I said
above, part of your job is to strike a balance between the two.
There are two due dates
for this paper:
-
The first due date is for peer
commenting on papers. On Wednesday, May 7, you will meet with two of your
classmates, and the three of you will read and comment on each other’s papers.
(You will do this during class, unless your group agrees on another time,
and at a place to be chosen by your group—except not in our classroom,
since some of your classmates will be taking the test then, as described
below.) You
should have your classmates read as final and polished a version
of your paper as you can manage, so that you can get feedback on your best
work.
-
The second due date is for
turning in the final version of your paper to me. Final copies of papers
will be due in my office on Monday, May 12. Be sure to indicate, on your
paper, which of your classmates commented on it.
In writing your paper you are
welcome to use resources beyond those used in class, but you do not need to do so. For additional suggestions about writing philosophy papers generally, see my “Guidelines
for Writing a Philosophy Paper.”
If you want me to mail your paper to you
after I grade it, give me an envelope with your address on it. If you don’t turn
in an envelope to me, you can pick up your graded test from me any time until
the end of May.
II. Test
The test will be given in class on Wednesday, May 7, and will consist
of 100 points’ worth of the following questions. There may also be a bonus
question or two, not listed here. Please bring a blue book.
- (20 points:) Summarize Living High and Letting Die. Keep this
brief—no more than, say, one sentence per chapter or two, presented so that
collectively your paragraph (or maybe two) describes the overall trajectory
(not necessarily many of the details) of the whole book.
- (10 points:) What, according to Unger, is the relationship among (1) the
truth about morality, (2) our Basic Moral Values, and (3) our intuitive moral
judgments about particular cases?
- (20 points:) How do Preservationism and Liberationism differ in regard to
(1) the relationship they posit between our Basic Moral Values and our
intuitive moral judgments about particular cases and (2) the the substantive
moral views they assert?
- (20 points:) What is Unger’s two-part method for examining the moral
significance of a factor that a Preservationist might claim dispels a
particular puzzle? Integrate, into your explanation of Unger’s method, an
example—use one of the nine factors that Unger lists on pp. 53–54.
- (10 points:) What is a negative subjective factor? I’m asking for an
explanation of the concept, not just an example, although an example might
complement your explanation of the concept.)
- (10 points:) What is projective separating?
- (10 points:) What is an example of a puzzle that projective separating
helps to explain?
- (10 points:) What is the method of several options?
- (10 points:) What is the method of combining?
- (20 points:) What is the purpose of the method of several options and the
method of combining? In other words, what use does Unger think these methods
have, both in our thinking about morality and in his writing about morality?
- (20 points:) What are the Liberation Hypothesis and the Fanaticism
Hypothesis?
- (10 points:) How are the Phenomenon of No Threshold and the Phenomenon of
Near-Tiebreaker in conflict?
- (10 points:) What are some of the non-material costs that, according to
Unger, are among the costs of a morally decent life?
- (20 points:) What does Unger mean by “a selectively flexible semantics”?
If you want me to mail your test to you after I grade it, give me an envelope
with your address on it. If you don’t turn in an envelope to me, you can pick up
your graded test from me any time until the end of May.