essay strategies for 2

Some strategies for constructing examples for Essay 2

If you are trying to support the theories about moral responsibility found in Section VIII--

You want some examples of a person who is pretty clearly morally responsible for something, where their being responsible seems to be explained well by the theories. But how do you show that their being responsible really is due to the things mentioned by the theories of Section VIII? Here are some ideas for doing that:

Try playing around with the examples, developing them so that they highlight reasons-responsiveness and understanding of moral reasons.

Maybe you could talk about what CAUSED the person to make the choice they made. (What beliefs, values, and desires they had, perhaps.) If their choice was CAUSED, then you can make the point that they did not get their moral responsibility from contra-causal free will.

Maybe you could talk about what would happen if the example were changed somehow so that the person no longer was reasons-responsive with respect to this particular choice-making. Would they then lose their moral responsibility?

Or, you could talk about what would happen if the example were changed somehow so that the person was incapable of appreciating moral reasons. Would that take away their moral responsibility?

Or, perhaps the most interesting type of issue to explore is the question of whether the person in your example would lose their moral responsibility if they had been severely influenced by things in their past, or by other people in the present. The issue that is relevant here is whether their choice-making is really their own, or is it really someone else's.

If you are trying to attack the theories about moral responsibility found in Section VIII--

You may want to describe an example of someone who fits all of the Section VIII criteria for being morally responsible, but who pretty clearly ought not count as being morally responsible.

This means you want a case of someone who is not morally responsible for X even though they are reasons-responsive with respect to X in one of the ways described in Section VIII, and even though they are able to appreciate moral reasons in general. (Look at Section VIII for the details.)

You probably would want to explain why the theory of Section VIII fails to work properly for your examples. That is, what is it about your examples that keeps the person from being morally responsible, even though the person is reasons-responsive and morally cognizant?

Here are two sample essays from the previous assignment that were graded as A's.

	Maybe you could talk about what CAUSED the person to make the choice they made. (What beliefs, values, and desires they had, perhaps.) If their choice was CAUSED, then you can make the point that they did not get their moral responsibility from contra-causal free will.
	Maybe you could talk about what would happen if the example were changed somehow so that the person no longer was reasons-responsive with respect to this particular choice-making. Would they then lose their moral responsibility?
	Or, you could talk about what would happen if the example were changed somehow so that the person was incapable of appreciating moral reasons. Would that take away their moral responsibility?
	Or, perhaps the most interesting type of issue to explore is the question of whether the person in your example would lose their moral responsibility if they had been severely influenced by things in their past, or by other people in the present. The issue that is relevant here is whether their choice-making is really their own, or is it really someone else's.