In your paper you will articulate and defend a thesis statement of your own construction. You will defend this claim by referring to the concepts and arguments that we have discussed during the class. In constructing your argument in defense of this claim, you must engage with the work of at least two of the authors that we read. You must provide direct quotations from each author, and explain their meaning and relevance for your overall argument.
Below are a couple of suggestions for the kinds of approach you might take in constructing your central thesis claim. Each of the numbered prompts identifies a central idea or theme, and lists some questions you might ask yourself in building your central claim on that topic.
1. Businesses and justice / rights claims
Develop an argument about the relationship between businesses as active organizations and their supposed obligations in terms of justice or rights claims. Are there reasons to think that businesses have any obligations flowing from a conception of distributive justice? What are the grounds and/or limits of human rights? Do businesses have particular obligations in respect of human rights? How do the dynamics of capital accumulation interact with these sets of obligations?
2. Ethical analysis of an aspect of contemporary social relations
Develop an argument about the ethical status of a particular aspect of the contemporary world as shaped by modern business practices. Make a determinate ethical claim (x is morally un/acceptable) about one of the following: wealth or income inequality, human rights protections or violations, labor rights and sweatshop production under conditions of globalization, environmental protections, intellectual property, or the provision of medical care.
