Practical Ethics

Answers should be typed and proper referencing is required.

Assignment Questions: You should answer two of the following questions. The overall
word count of the exam is 2500 words (so write approximately 1250 words per
question). Submissions with a total word count greater than 2,750 will be penalized.

Assignment aims & advice. Your answer should contain a clear argument for a thesis that answers the question. Try to make your main points as concisely as possible. Carefully set out each step in your argument and provide supporting reasons. Avoid wandering off track. Make sure you define key terms where necessary (e.g., ‘commodification’). Use lecture and reading material discussed in this course but engage with it critically. Feel free to use your own examples. Clear, succinct writing, and evidence of critical reasoning, analysis and independent thought will be rewarded.

A reminder that your final submission must be your own, original work. You must acknowledge any use of automated writing tools or generative AI, and any material generated that you include in your final submission must be properly referenced.

1. Ethics and World Poverty. Are affluent individuals morally required to assist those
   in absolute poverty until the point when further assistance would involve sacrificing
   something of moral significance?
2. Designing Children. Do parents show a morally problematic attitude to their
   children if they genetically enhance them?
3. Consent to Sex. Under what circumstances, if any, does “verbal coercion” invalidate consent to sex?
4. Commercial Surrogacy. Does commercial surrogacy commodify women and/or children in a morally problematic way?
5. Pornography, Free Speech and Censorship. What, if anything, is morally problematic about inegalitarian pornography?
6. Moral Ignorance. Can someone be excused for racist behavior if they are brought
   up in a society where racism is socially accepted?