Please read the instructions carefully
Read through Q&A questions for guidance
Topic information is in “Phil 230 Essay Assignment 2021” document
!!! The essay requires a minimum of 3 external peer-reviewed journals to back up main claims ( I will be leaving links to some of them in “Philosophy Essay” Document)
!!! In-text citations should be present
!!! It must sound like a Philosophy essay, not a social science essay
!!! Topics from class should be used to guide the reasoning of the essay, not to back up the claims (external sources should be used)
!!! Links to in-class readings will be in a “Philosophy Paper” Document
Directions to writing an essay
For the purposes of this essay assignment, accept that the following three claims are true.
1. Morality is based on reason.
2. One main function of morality is to promote the well-being of humans.
3. Charitable giving is giving a gift to those in need solely for the purpose of helping them.
Provide, with justification, your opinion of the overall worth of Sally’s account of charitable giving within a
sovereign state. Explain clearly the strengths and weaknesses of her account, including the reasoning.
Improve the account by adding a rule of your own and, if you think it would help, by revising the ranked
ordering of the rules. Explain why your revised account is better than Sally’s. Improve your evaluation by
making good use of at least three peer-reviewed articles from philosophy journals that have not been
discussed in class. Keep in mind that this is a philosophy assignment and that the more an essay reads like
a social science essay, the lower the grade it will receive.
Prompt:
Sally’s Account of Charitable Giving Within a Sovereign State
For charitable giving within a country (i.e. sovereign state) to count as morally good, the following the rules
must be followed. The rules are in ranked order, so that 1 takes priority over 2, 2 takes priority over 3 and so
on.
1. When helping adults, give preference to those who have made good lifestyle choices as opposed to bad
choices. Don’t help adults who, because of seven or more years of bad decisions and an apparent
refusal to learn from experience, keep themselves in need of help. To help these people is to enable
them to make bad decisions.
2. Ranked order of priority: first, people you care about, regardless of their location in the country; second,
the members of your community; third, the members of your province, state or territory; and fourth, the
people in the rest of your country. Your location is determined by the location of your primary residence.
3. When deciding who to help, give priority to those whose basic needs (e.g. for food, water, and shelter)
are greatest. Using this priority will promote the best consequences for those concerned.
4. Once you decide who you are going to help, choose the type of help that is most likely to improve the
individual’s best interests as opposed to the individual’s preferences.
