Liberty and Justice for All or Just Some? Felon Voting Rights
Liberty and Justice for All or Just Some? Felon Voting Rights
1) “6 Million Americans without a Voice.” New York Times, 12 Feb. 2014, p. A26, https://nuls.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.nuls.idm.oclc.org/docview/1497139724?accountid=25320. Accessed 29 Sep. 2016.
2) Feser, Edward. “Should Felons Vote?” City Journal, vol. 15, no. 2, 2005, pp. 80–30, https://www.city-journal.org/html/should-felons-vote-12868.html. Accessed 29 Sep. 2016.
In developing both your critical reading of the articles on the issue you chose, and also for thinking about your own argument, it can be useful to consider what ethical aspects there may be to the issue.
Traditionally, ethical reasoning tends to take two forms, which may be separate kinds of ethical argument or may be combined in some fashion. One pattern of ethical reasoning is principle-based argument: you determine what ethical values and principles are either directly stated or may be only implied that are relevant to the issue (another term for this might be determining what the ethical “criteria” are). You then analyze how these values or principles would apply to the situation or issue (another term for this might be determining how the criteria “match” the course of action, ethical judgment, etc.). So we could call this a two-step process of criteria-match: first, determine what the relevant ethical principles are; then, figure out how these principles would apply to a particular course of action, or whether you judge a position or course of action to be consistent with the ethical principles, etc. Present evidence that the course of action would (or would not) match the relevant ethical principles or criteria.
A second approach to ethical reasoning is “utilitarian” analysis: you assess how a particular course of action would benefit and/or harm individuals, and you calculate whether it would result in greater good, or benefit to individuals, or whether it would do more harm than good. In particular, you measure the costs (in ethical terms) or benefits of any particular course of action, and make an ethical judgment based on this calculation of “the greatest good for the greatest number” (John Stuart Mill).
For this assignment, think about your issue from the ethical perspective. What are the ethical principles that are either directly stated by any of the articles you chose, or are at least implied by them? How would you evaluate various positions both others and you may take on the issue in terms of either implied or directly stated ethical values or principles? Alternately, or perhaps in some combination with this type of analysis, what would be the potential benefit, or harm, of adopting any particular course of action on the issue?
To further develop the detail of this kind of ethical reasoning about your issue, you might consider the attached handout from James Madison University about The Eight Key Questions (8KQ) that most commonly come up in thinking about issues from an ethical perspective:
In one or two paragraphs (about 250 total words), describe what you see as some of the ethical aspects of your own position and positions of others about the issue you have chosen. You might consider a They Say/I Say structure to the extent that your argument about the issue can be contrasted with arguments by others you have been reading.
You may consider whether any of this assignment could be incorporated into your paper for this class. It may turn out that the argument you want to make about the issue could be entirely focused on ethical reasoning (in other words, an ethical argument), or it may be that only part of your final paper may consist of ethical argument. But either way, at least thinking about the ethical aspects of your topic/issue may enrich your paper for this class.
Write a Summary
Choose one article from the readings to summarize. Try to choose the article with which you are conversing the most. Keep your claim in mind. When you use summary in your papers, you will only want to focus on what is relevant to your claim. Think, “What part of the conversation do I need to recreate for my audience so they will understand my claim?”
SAMPLE ASSIGNMENT
