Overview
Course Objectives
- CO1: Examine and analyze a variety of issues confronting human beings today.
- CO2: Identify and evaluate opposing viewpoints on philosophically problematic and controversial issues.
- CO3: Develop critical thinking to be employed in the diagnosis of the issues under discussion as well as other perplexing issues of contemporary life.
- CO4: Demonstrate the ability to present complex and detailed arguments using clear and concise language.
Now that you have had a couple of weeks to ponder and hopefully research your topics, it is time to make a decision and choose one for the final product. The task at hand is rather simple, create an annotated bibliography for your chosen topic.
Using a properly formatted document (see week 2) present no less than four resources you intend to use in your research for the final product. No, you do not need to have read all of the articles and it is fine to base your choices using the abstracts or a quick scan of the article. And no, you are not absolutely tied to the choices you make here. The point is to be sure you are researching and thinking about what works you can find to better understand your topic.
For each of the resources, provide a properly MLA or APA formatted reference and then a couple of sentences both describing the content of the article AND how you intend on using the information.
Example of an Annotated Bibliography entry:
Tye, Michael, "Qualia", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Edited by Edward N. Zalta 12 August 2021. https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/ Accessed 11 November 2023.
Michael Tye is a philosopher teaching at the University of Texas at Austin. His 1997 article (revised in late 2017) on qualia will be beneficial in detailing how qualia factor into the philosophy of mind. Essentially "qualia" is the feeling of what some experience is like. It is strongly associated with mental states, but this is debatable. As my goal is to show that there is no "mind" and only a consciousness that arises as a natural property of a normally functioning brain, I will focus specifically on section 6 of his article on how qualia factor into introspection.
Topic:
War and International Terrorism
The moral and philosophical aspects of war and international terrorism are important to explore. The project would focus on pointing out those circumstances under which war can be morally right and how it should be fought in a morally correct manner. To advance this research, the focus would be to use ideas connected to individuals such as Michael Walzer and Thomas Aquinas. The topic would also look into the ethical issues related to war, such as in the case of protecting civilians. Another important area of consideration would be with respect to promoting respect for human rights during periods of war. This is an interesting subject because it deals with complex ethical issues, which connect well to the global landscape today, where wars are being fought in places such as Ukraine and Russia. I already know that there is a concept of “Just War.” This concept builds on the idea that, while wars may at times occur, there is a good way of fighting from an ethical and moral perspective, and a bad way of engaging in conflict (Doctor 740-745). The unjust way of participating in war is where people's rights are completely ignored. This is particularly relevant when it comes to civilians who are innocent on whichever side of the war they are in. I have a moderate understanding of this topic.