Hello, I need helping getting started on my ORIGINAL personal statement and knowing what to include. I know personal statements are very specific and personalized so I was wondering how I could request one and what information I need to provide you with?
Read PG vii-45 Follow Me Too: A handbook of movement activities for three to five year olds. by Tobert, M.& Schneider, L. write a reflection on Calming down Activity and spread out activity and how it works well in a 3 year old classroom
Please respond to the post “content” answers already provided below, demonstrate ample evidence, with minimum of 250 words, exhibit thorough research that CONTRIBUTES meaningful information USING the text Chapts 1 and 2 ONLY: Norton, Mary Beth et. al. A People and A Nation, Vol. I, to 1877. Advantage (9th) edition. Boston: Wadsworth (Cengage Learning), 2012. Print copy ISBN: 978-0-495-91525-6 (9th edition) (it has a black lady on the cover!).AND another scholarly source.(PREFER GALE HIStory ITS A GREAT ONE) 2 total
NOTE* Unacceptable:Wikipedia, About.com, etc. are NOT SCHOLARLY SOURCES. ALSO Unacceptable: Use of dictionaries and encyclopedias or content from OTHER general U.S. History textbooks or online “lectures” DO NOT demonstrate THOROUGH RESEARCH.
Original/Insightful:Largely “original” content; includes insightful analysis of the supplied answer below, interpretation(s), conclusion(s) based on evidence–NOT OPINION.
Scholarly Writing: College-level syntax, diction, & conventions (grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc.) for standard American English.
Facts & Citation: Grounded in the text AND other scholarly sources, all evidence cited as per MLA style (using BOTH in-text–parenthetic–citations and a Works Cited list) and textbook facts MUST include pg # references for the “in-text” citations.
Please respond to the peer completed answers below: (NO opinion just fact!)
1.How did the European nations differ in their approach to settlement?
English colonists came to the Americas in order to live. This was different than many of the other nations that came over from Europe. To most (namely the Dutch, French and Spanish), the colonists were here in order to make a quick buck and get back home with their newfound riches. However, Norton stats that, “they (English settlers) arrived in family groups and re-created the European agricutlrual economy and family life to an extent impossible in colonies where single men predominated” (Norton, et al, 2012 p. 29). This shows that while all the countries involved were looking to make a profit, the English came to the Americas to also find a new home. The other countries that came over usually came singularly just so that they could make their prospects better at home when they returned. The French, however made a stranglehold on beaver pelts in the Canadian wilderness through their forts of Quebec and Montreal. This made the French outposts more secure as they were in close proximity of each other, unlike the Spaniards who were spaced out in several colonies.
2.Did they share any substantive similarities?
All the European countries came over to seemingly make money for their homeland. At first, the Spanish came because they believed in the famed ‘golden city’ of the natives. However, in the long run it was the production of sugar and tobacco that was sent back to Europe because of it’s high demand and the fact that it wasn’t easily made there. New colonists found that with the importation of tea and coffee from the orient, the need for sugar only grew.
3.What benefits did the New World provide for each “mother country”?
The New World provided an easy way for Europe to import sugar cane. Before the colonies, sugar cane came from “Madeiras, the Canaries, Sao Tome, and Brazil” (Norton, et al, 2012 p. 35). The climate and the slaves which were brought over for labor caused the British and French colonies to have a leg-up on the competition for sugar cane. This leg-up also provided a way to make tobacco cheaper so the European colonies in Virginia were able to find a way to have escalating profits. Also, by having interaction with the people of the area, colonies such as New England were able to produce maize as a new food staple which they had never seen before.
NOTE*** BELOW IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHAT YOUR RESPONSE WILL LOOK LIKE TO THE RESPONSE ALREADY SUPPLIED TO YOU FROM THE ORIGINAL QUESTIONS ASKED*** Include works cited page and in-text citation (MLA style) to support your evidence and facts using 2 sources 1 the textbook and another SCHOLARLY article.
Thank you for your thoughtful post. I didn’t read the assignment the same way that you did — a point which I am now regretting! I understood “Discuss public opinion and the American electoral process” to mean that we should discuss public opinion in conjunction with the electoral process. Strong effort in exampling how to respond appropriately to the posted question. Regarding your content about the Zogby and Gallup polls, you defined the polls as often controlled by major news organizations in order to allow candidates the opportunity to monitor short-term campaign developments. I challenge that interpretation and assert that the Gallup Poll, in particular, is not controlled by news organizations. It functions as an independent organization. At the Gallup website, posted statements by company representatives indicate an established policy that it avoids undertaking polls paid for or sponsored by any special interest groups (Gallup). Also, I fail to note the connection between the Gallup public opinion polls and the tracking polls, which as defined by our text, serve a narrow purpose (Terrant 57). Beyond the Terrant text information, my additional research unearthed an interesting article on the Zogby poll posted to a commercial political website, (Zogby). My analysis of the article content is limited to facts which support our text as the website is “commercial” and lacks a specific author for the piece (thus, no authority can be established for some of the interesting revelations and assertions) (Zogby). Still,it is worth reading if only to register questions and issues surrounding Zogby poll
Thomson recognizes that not all moral obligations stem from rights. For example, if a child finds a chocolate bar, then his sister has no right to it, but decency requires that he share it with her anyway. Likewise, in some cases, it would be wrong to abort because it would be “indecent”.
When is it indecent? Thomson doesn’t say, just gives an obvious example: A woman wants to abort at seven months so that she can go to Europe.
But, argues Thomson, making decency a legal requirement in effect requires us to be “Good Samaritans”. Thomson notes that “no one in any country in the world is legally required” to be a Good Samaritan, except in the case of pregnancy. In fact, no one is even required to be a Minimally Decent Samaritan.
Thomson: Abortion is permissible in many cases, but this does not mean we have the right to secure the death of the fetus. “The desire for the child’s death is not one which anybody may gratify, should it turn out to be possible to detach the child alive.” In Thomson’s view, the death of the fetus is a necessary side-effect of abortion, but is not a legitimate goal of abortion. Were it possible to remove a fetus without killing it, then it must not be killed.
Discussion:
Pro-choice lobbies are concerned about laws and policies that may implicitly recognize the fetus as a person (e.g. criminalizing the harming of a fetus by an attacker, or extending federal funds to poor women for prenatal care on the grounds that the funding is for “low-income children”.) Would such laws and policies be cause for concern for Thomson? What about a personhood theory?
Do we share Thomson’s intuition about the case of the violinist?
Is Thomson’s view about rights compatible with Marquis’ theory of the wrongness of killing?
When is it “indecent” for a woman to have an abortion?
Abortion and Implicit Consent
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that a fetus must have the consent of the mother in order to have the right to use her body. Under what conditions does the fetus have the consent of the mother?
Explicit Consent: The mother-to-be declares, “I, ___________, hereby give this fetus the right to use my body for the purpose of growing into a viable infant until I give birth to it. I am fully aware of what this will involve.” In general, giving explicit consent to something means making a public, un-coerced and informed statement in which one recognizes certain rights and responsibilities that would not otherwise exist. This is what we do when we sign a contract. This is not what we do when we decide to have a child. If women give consent to fetuses, it is not explicit consent.
Implicit Consent: If you voluntarily enter a restaurant or a bar, then you are subject to certain “rules of the house”. You might be required to dress in a certain way, refrain from shouting, etc. If you fail to follow these rules, you may be expelled. The fact that you are there of your own free will is interpreted as an agreement on your part that you will obey the house rules. In other words, you have implicitly given your consent to be subject to those rules. Similarly, if you enroll in a class, then you are subject to certain requirements necessary for getting a passing grade (usually detailed in the syllabus). At no point do you say, “I hereby agree to the terms of this syllabus.” You have already given your implicit consent by staying enrolled in the course.
Depending on what nation, state and county you live in, you will be subject to different laws. Citizens do not give explicit consent to obey the laws, but it is arguable that they give implicit consent. For example, suppose Smith lives in a county where pornography is illegal. He could easily move to a different county, but he chooses not to. If Smith is caught displaying pornography, he could be fined. If he complained to the judge, “I never agreed to obey your pornography law”, the judge could retort, “No one forced you to live here, did they?”
The above examples of implicit consent all have two things in common: (i) the consenting person makes a voluntary choice to engage in a certain type of activity, (ii) the activity in question is generally understood to entail certain responsibilities. Because the person involved, like most other people, understands that certain responsibilities come with the activity, there is no need for the individual to explicitly agree to take on the responsibilities—they take them on automatically.
What has this got to do with abortion?
In a typical case of unwanted pregnancy, the pregnant woman
(A) Engaged in an activity (sexual intercourse) that is known to cause pregnancy, and in fact is the usual way in which people get pregnant.
(B) The now pregnant woman knew this at the time.
(C) Either (i) she was not using birth control, and she knew this, or (ii) She was using birth control, but she knew that birth control sometimes fails.
(D) The woman voluntarily chose to have sex.
For Discussion
In a case where all of these conditions are met, has the woman given implicit consent to give birth to a child?
Notice the following: In the uncontroversial examples of implicit consent, it was generally understood that the activity entailed certain responsibilities. But in the case of unwanted pregnancy, there is widespread disagreement about whether unprotected voluntary sex entails being responsible for the life of a fetus. On the other hand, It could be argued that there being a “general understanding” is not necessary for implicit consent…
under Decision Scenario 7 refers to materials NOT included in your text (they are from the larger hardcover version). To answer that question, you need additional materials. Those materials are most effectively gathered together in one webpage at this address with one exception; here is the page:
http://www.csus.edu/indiv/g/gaskilld/ethics/Abortion.htm
What is not effectively covered on this page is Noonan’s position. His position is best summarized (for these purposes) as representing the positoin of the catholic Church (life begins at conception; all life is sacred; abortion is a sin and should always be a crime unless used to save the life of the mother).
The Ethics of Abortion
For purposes of our discussion we will be defining ‘abortion’ as follows:
Abortion = deliberate removal (or deliberate action to cause the expulsion) of a fetus from the womb of a human female, at the request of or through the agency of the mother, so as in fact to result in the death of the fetus.
That is to say, we want to know about the morality of uncoerced, human abortion—so for our purposes abortions are voluntary, deliberate removal of a human fetus.
Mary Warren, “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion”, 1973
Warren defends an extremely permissive view on abortion, according to which abortion is morally permissible at any stage of the pregnancy and under any circumstances.
Warren considers the following anti-abortion argument:
1) It is wrong to kill innocent human beings.
2) Fetuses are innocent human beings.
______________________________________
3) Therefore, it is wrong to kill fetuses.
She claims that the plausibility of the premises rest on an equivocation on the term ‘human being’:
Human in the genetic sense = being a member of the biological species homo sapien.
This includes not only functioning children and adults, but also includes fetuses (even very early fetuses) and living human bodies without functioning brains (e.g. those in irreversible comas).
Human in the moral sense = being a full-fledged member of the moral community.
Warren: The moral community is the set of beings with full moral rights, and consists of all and only persons.
If ‘human being’ has the same sense in both premises then one of them is question-begging. Either the argument assumes that it is wrong to kill something merely because it is homo sapien, or the argument assumes that a fetus is a member of the moral community. Both of these claims are contentious and would require further argument.
Warren next considers whether genetic humanity is sufficient for moral humanity. She asks “What characteristics entitle an entity to be considered a person [in the moral sense]?”
Warren’s list of characteristics (not an argument!):
1. Consciousness (of objects and events external and/or internal to the being), and in particular the capacity to feel pain;
2. Reasoning (the developed capacity to solve new and relatively complex problems);
3. Self-motivated activity (activity which is relatively independent of genetic or direct external control).
4. The capacity to communicate, messages of with an indefinite number of possible contents on indefinitely many possible topics.
5. The presence of self-concepts and self-awareness.
Warren claims that:
• any being who does not possess most of 1-5 is not a human being in the moral sense.
• the more like a person a being is, the stronger is the case for regarding it as having a right to life, and the stronger its right to life is.
• there is no stage of fetal development at which a fetus resembles a person enough to have a significant right to life.
• a fetus’s potential for being a person does not provide a basis for the claim that it has a significant right to life. Even if a potential person has some right to life, that right could not outweigh the right of a woman to obtain an abortion, since “the rights of any actual person invariably outweigh those of any potential person”
The spaceman analogy: A space explorer is captured by aliens who are going to make a thousand clones of him unless he escapes. Does he have an obligation to stay? No, says Warren, even if the cloning is done quickly and does not harm him. Not even if the clones have already started to grow and will die if he escapes.
Objections to Warren
If killing fetuses is permissible because they are not full-fledged members of the moral community, then, by the same standard, killing newborns would be permissible as well. Moreover, killing any non-human animal would also be permissible. But this is not the case.
Warren’s Reply: “The deliberate killing of viable newborns is virtually never justified…because neonates are so very close to being persons that to kill them requires a very strong moral justification—as does the killing of dolphins, whales, chimpanzees, and other highly personlike creatures. It is certainly wrong to kill such beings just for the sake of convenience, or financial profit, or sport.”
Is this an adequate reply? Arguably not. Take the example of a premature birth. A six-month “premie” is certainly a “viable newborn”, given modern technology. But it is no closer to being a person than a six-month fetus that happened to stay in the womb. So, to be consistent, Warren must either say that killing the premature infant is permissible, or that aborting the six-month fetus is not.
Since Warren brings up non-human animals, let’s consider what Peter Singer would say about this. Recall that argues against making personhood a necessary condition for moral consideration (that would be “speciesist”). Instead, he proposes that having interests is what matters, and sentience (the capacity to feel pain) is both necessary and sufficient for having interests.
At what stage of development is a fetus capable of experiencing pain? Somewhere between 5 and 6 months, it is now believed.
Don Marquis, “Why Abortion is Immoral” (1989)
Marquis’ analysis of the debate:
“The pro-choicer wants to find a moral principle concerning the wrongness of killing which tends to be narrow in scope in order that fetuses will not fall under it.” The price is that they tend to be too narrow, so that infants, young children, the temporarily unconscious or the severely retarded end up in the same category as fetuses.”
An Example of an overly narrow principle: “It is always prima facie wrong to kill only rational agents”.
–This seems to be very close to the standard that Warren adopts!
Note on the term “prima facie”: This is latin for “at first glance” or “ on the face of it”. If I have a prima facie reason to believe something, then I should presume it is true unless I have other evidence to the contrary that overrides the prima facie reason. If a type of action is prima facie wrong, what this means is that the type of action is wrong in most cases, with exceptions in special circumstances that would justify the action.
On the other hand, the anti-abortionist wants to find a moral principle so broad that even fetuses at an early stage will fall under it. These principles are often too broad. For example: “It is always prima facie wrong to kill something that is genetically human”, which seems to entail that it is wrong to “end the existence of a living human cancer cell culture.”
If the anti-abortionist tries to fix the problem by adopting the principle that “It is always prima facie wrong to kill a human being” then they simply beg the question against the pro-choicer when they get to the next premise, “Fetuses are human beings”. (The pro-choicer will deny that fetuses are human beings in the moral sense).
Likewise, it is question-begging for the pro-choicer to adopt the principle “It is always prima facie wrong to kill only human beings” (why assume that fetuses aren’t human beings?)
There seems to be no non-question-begging way in which either side can establish a definition of moral personhood that suits their interests.
The solution: An analysis of the wrongness of killing. “If we merely believe, but do not understand, why killing adult human beings such as ourselves is wrong, how could we conceivably show that abortion is either immoral or permissible?”
What primarily makes killing wrong is neither its effect on the murderer nor its effect on the victim’s friends and relatives, but its effect on the victim.
The effect: “The loss of one’s life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one’s future”.
“…what makes killing any adult human being prima facie seriously wrong is the loss of his or her future.”
Killing is wrong because it results in the loss of a future of value (like ours).
Points in favor of the analysis (according to Marquis):
• It explains why killing is regarded as one of the worst of crimes: it deprives the victim of more than perhaps any other crime.
• People who are dying believe it is bad because it is a loss of a future of value. It makes sense that killing is fundamentally wrong for the same reason that death is bad.
• Implies that it would be wrong to kill non-humans that have “a future like ours” (a future of value), such as certain animals or intelligent extra-terrestrials.
• Unlike “sanctity of human life” theories, does not entail that active euthanasia is always wrong. Whether it is wrong depends on the expected value of the future of the patient.
• Unlike personhood theories (e.g. Warren’s), it straightforwardly entails that killing children and infants is wrong, and for the same reason it is wrong to kill anyone else.
Marquis’ position in a nutshell:
“The future of a standard fetus includes a set of experiences, projects, activities, and such which are identical with the futures of adult human beings and are identical with the futures of young children…it follows that abortion is prima facie seriously wrong.”
Rival theories as to why killing is wrong
(1) Desire account: What makes killing wrong is that it prevents us from fulfilling our desires. [This might be attractive to the pro-choicer because fetuses don’t have desires].
Can support abortion only if having desires is a necessary condition for having the right not to be killed. But it isn’t a necessary condition: the depressed, the temporarily unconscious provide counterexamples.
Worse, it puts the cart before the horse: we desire life because we value it, not the other way around.
(2) Discontinuation account: What makes killing wrong is the discontinuation of a life of value. [Might be attractive to the pro-abortionist on the assumption that a fetus does not yet have a life of value].
When considering whether it is wrong to kill someone in a case of euthanasia, the person’s past (even immediate past) is irrelevant: only the future matters. “This being the case, it seems clear that whether one has immediate past experiences or not does no work in the explanation of what makes killing wrong.”
Objection: Killing a person may be wrong because a person has a future of value. But it doesn’t follow that killing a merely potential person, such as a fetus, is wrong.
Marquis: “This argument does not rely on the invalid inference that, since it is wrong to kill persons, it is wrong to kill potential persons also. The category that is morally central to this analysis is the category of having a valuable future like ours; it is not the category of personhood.”
A standard fetus has a valuable future like ours: whether it is a “person” or a “potential person” is beside the point.
Discussion:
Is there a way that Marquis can make exceptions in the “hard cases”, such as pregnancy due to rape or incest, or where the life of the mother is in jeopardy?
Is there a problem in determining which things can be said to have a future? E.g., do zygotes have a future?
Thought experiment
(from Michael Tooley’s “Abortion and Infanticide”)
Suppose there is a drug that can be injected into kittens to cause them to grow into cat people.
Abbreviations
PCP = potential cat person
PHSP = potential homo sapiens person
CP = cat person
HSP = homo sapiens person
Tooley’s argument
1. It is morally okay not to inject the kittens.
2. There is no morally relevant distinction between actions and omissions (The Moral Symmetry Principle, a.k.a. doctrine of negative responsibility)
3. Therefore, it is okay to neutralize the development of a PCP once you have injected the kitten (e.g. to stop the process by killing the kitten).
4. CPs have the same rights as HSPs.
5. PCPs have the same rights as PHSPs.
6. Therefore, it is okay to neutralize the development of a PHSP—abortion is morally permissible.
How might Marquis respond to Tooley’s argument? Notice that PCPs are not merely potential persons, they are also things with futures of value.
Judith Jarvis Thomson, “A Defense of Abortion” (1971)
Thomson assumes, just for the sake of argument, that the fetus is a person from conception. She then tries to show that, even given that the fetus has a right to life, it does not follow that abortion is morally impermissible.
The anti-abortion argument:
(1) All fetuses are persons.
(2) Every person has a right to life.
(3) Therefore, every fetus has a right to life.
(4) Therefore, abortion is wrong.
For the sake of argument, Thomson assumes that (1) and (2) are true. She then argues that (4) does not follow from (3). From the fact that something has “a right to life” it does not follow that it is wrong to kill it. This much is easy to see, since most of us agree that it is not wrong to kill in self-defense.
This suggests that (4) needs to be qualified “except to save the life of the mother”.
But Thomson argues that the gap between (3) and (4) is much wider than this. Along these lines, one suggestion is that a mother has a right to decide what happens in and to her body, and that this might outweigh the fetuses right to life. (Notice that this does not assume that the fetus is literally part of the mother’s body).
But the anti-abortionist can simply respond that the right to life is the strongest and most fundamental right there is, and so outweighs the mother’s right to decide what happens to her body.
But Thomson does not argue that the mother’s right over her own body outweighs the fetuses right to life. Instead, she argues that the right to life has been misunderstood. Once it is understood correctly, it will be seen that (4) does not follow from (3).
Thomson proposes a thought experiment:
“You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist’s circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now tells you, ‘Look, we’re sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to you—we would never have permitted it if we had known. But still, they did it, and the violinist is now plugged into you. To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, it’s only for nine months. By then he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.’ Is it morally incumbent on you to accede to this situation? No doubt it would be very nice of you if you did, a great kindness. But do you have to accede to it? What if it were not nine months, but nine years? Or longer still? What if the director of the hospital says. ‘Tough luck. I agree. but now you’ve got to stay in bed, with the violinist plugged into you, for the rest of your life. Because remember this. All persons have a right to life, and violinists are persons. Granted you have a right to decide what happens in and to your body, but a person’s right to life outweighs your right to decide what happens in and to your body. So you cannot ever be unplugged from him.’ I imagine you would regard this as outrageous.”
Thomson concludes that (i) it is not true that the violinist has a right to your body, and so, by analogy (ii) it is not true that a fetus that is a product of rape has a right to your body, but (iii) there is no easy way for the anti-abortion argument to be amended to account for this. Saying that those who are products of rape have no right to life or have less of one “has a rather unpleasant sound” (meaning it is discriminatory in a bad way), not to mention it is ad hoc.
The solution, according to Thomson, is not that certain fetuses have less of a right to life or none at all; the solution is that having a right to life simply does not entail having the right to someone else’s body. This means that the argument is invalid; the conclusion (4) does not follow from the premises.
So what does the right to life consist in? One suggestion:
(a) the right to be given at least the bare minimum one needs for continued life
Objection: Sometimes the bare minimum is something you have no right to. (Violinist example).
(b) the right not to be killed
Objection: Sometimes you can be killed by being deprived of something you have no right to. (Also, there is self-defense)
She concludes, “the right to life consists not in the right not to be killed, but rather in the right not to be killed unjustly.” True, but not very informative.
We never have the right to someone else’s body unless that right has been extended to us. (Henry Fonda example)
Thomson’s Thesis: In cases where the right to use the mother’s body has not been extended to the fetus, abortion does not violate the fetuses right to life.
In what cases does the fetus have the right to use the mother’s body?
Rape? Clearly Not.
Sex using birth control? No…
” … suppose it were like this: people-seeds drift about in the air like pollen, and if you open your windows, one may drift in and take root in your carpets or upholstery. You don’t want children, so you fix up your windows with fine mesh screens, the very best you can buy. As can happen, however, and on very, very rare occasions does happen, one of the screens is defective, and a seed drifts in and takes root. Does the person-plant who now develops have a right to the use of your house? Surely not–despite the fact that you voluntarily opened your windows, you knowingly kept carpets and upholstered furniture, and you knew that screens were sometimes defective.”
Implicit Argument:
1) The fetus has the right to use my body only if it is reasonable to hold me responsible for my pregnancy.
2) If I tried to prevent pregnancy through the use of contraception, then it is not reasonable to hold me responsible for my pregnancy.
___________________________________________________
3) Therefore, if I tried to prevent pregnancy through the use of contraception, then the fetus does not have the right to use my body.
Ordinary consensual sex without contraception?
If the room is stuffy, and I therefore open a window to air it, and the burglar climbs in, it would be absurd to say, ‘Ah, now he can stay, she’s given him the right to the use of her house, for she is partially responsible for his presence there, having voluntarily done what enabled him to get in, in full knowledge that there are such things as burglars, and that burglars burgle.
Objection: A fetus is innocent, not a burglar trying to do you harm. But, Thomson would say, this makes no difference: I have the right to eject an innocent person from my home, if that person falls through my window. At this point it may be objected: getting pregnant due to voluntary, unprotected sex is not like having a person stumble into your home or fall through your window. It is more like having someone over because you invited them into your home…
Thomson recognizes that not all moral obligations stem from rights. For example, if a child finds a chocolate bar, then his sister has no right to it, but decency requires that he share it with her anyway. Likewise, in some cases, it would be wrong to abort because it would be “indecent”.
When is it indecent? Thomson doesn’t say, just gives an obvious example: A woman wants to abort at seven months so that she can go to Europe.
But, argues Thomson, making decency a legal requirement in effect requires us to be “Good Samaritans”. Thomson notes that “no one in any country in the world is legally required” to be a Good Samaritan, except in the case of pregnancy. In fact, no one is even required to be a Minimally Decent Samaritan.
Thomson: Abortion is permissible in many cases, but this does not mean we have the right to secure the death of the fetus. “The desire for the child’s death is not one which anybody may gratify, should it turn out to be possible to detach the child alive.” In Thomson’s view, the death of the fetus is a necessary side-effect of abortion, but is not a legitimate goal of abortion. Were it possible to remove a fetus without killing it, then it must not be killed.
Discussion:
Pro-choice lobbies are concerned about laws and policies that may implicitly recognize the fetus as a person (e.g. criminalizing the harming of a fetus by an attacker, or extending federal funds to poor women for prenatal care on the grounds that the funding is for “low-income children”.) Would such laws and policies be cause for concern for Thomson? What about a personhood theory?
Do we share Thomson’s intuition about the case of the violinist?
Is Thomson’s view about rights compatible with Marquis’ theory of the wrongness of killing?
When is it “indecent” for a woman to have an abortion?
Abortion and Implicit Consent
Let’s assume, for the sake of argument, that a fetus must have the consent of the mother in order to have the right to use her body. Under what conditions does the fetus have the consent of the mother?
Explicit Consent: The mother-to-be declares, “I, ___________, hereby give this fetus the right to use my body for the purpose of growing into a viable infant until I give birth to it. I am fully aware of what this will involve.” In general, giving explicit consent to something means making a public, un-coerced and informed statement in which one recognizes certain rights and responsibilities that would not otherwise exist. This is what we do when we sign a contract. This is not what we do when we decide to have a child. If women give consent to fetuses, it is not explicit consent.
Implicit Consent: If you voluntarily enter a restaurant or a bar, then you are subject to certain “rules of the house”. You might be required to dress in a certain way, refrain from shouting, etc. If you fail to follow these rules, you may be expelled. The fact that you are there of your own free will is interpreted as an agreement on your part that you will obey the house rules. In other words, you have implicitly given your consent to be subject to those rules. Similarly, if you enroll in a class, then you are subject to certain requirements necessary for getting a passing grade (usually detailed in the syllabus). At no point do you say, “I hereby agree to the terms of this syllabus.” You have already given your implicit consent by staying enrolled in the course.
Depending on what nation, state and county you live in, you will be subject to different laws. Citizens do not give explicit consent to obey the laws, but it is arguable that they give implicit consent. For example, suppose Smith lives in a county where pornography is illegal. He could easily move to a different county, but he chooses not to. If Smith is caught displaying pornography, he could be fined. If he complained to the judge, “I never agreed to obey your pornography law”, the judge could retort, “No one forced you to live here, did they?”
The above examples of implicit consent all have two things in common: (i) the consenting person makes a voluntary choice to engage in a certain type of activity, (ii) the activity in question is generally understood to entail certain responsibilities. Because the person involved, like most other people, understands that certain responsibilities come with the activity, there is no need for the individual to explicitly agree to take on the responsibilities—they take them on automatically.
What has this got to do with abortion?
In a typical case of unwanted pregnancy, the pregnant woman
(A) Engaged in an activity (sexual intercourse) that is known to cause pregnancy, and in fact is the usual way in which people get pregnant.
(B) The now pregnant woman knew this at the time.
(C) Either (i) she was not using birth control, and she knew this, or (ii) She was using birth control, but she knew that birth control sometimes fails.
(D) The woman voluntarily chose to have sex.
For Discussion
In a case where all of these conditions are met, has the woman given implicit consent to give birth to a child?
Notice the following: In the uncontroversial examples of implicit consent, it was generally understood that the activity entailed certain responsibilities. But in the case of unwanted pregnancy, there is widespread disagreement about whether unprotected voluntary sex entails being responsible for the life of a fetus. On the other hand, It could be argued that there being a “general understanding” is not necessary for implicit consent…
Prior to completing this discussion, read the Berzonsky (2004) article and the American Psychological Association’s (2014) Tips for Acting Boldly to Change Diet and Exercise for Kids online resource, the Kersh, et. al. (2011), Moolgavkar, et. al. (2012), Peters, et. al. (2013), and Weed and McKeown (2003) peer-reviewed articles, and the Smoke Zone (2014) popular news article required for this week. Review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), Cohen-Mansfield (2012), Ogden, et. al., (2012), Mathur, et. al. (2014), and Taber, et. al. (2012) articles to get a sense of the trends and outlooks within the areas covered in this discussion.
Public policy is often used to positively regulate behaviors that are deemed detrimental to our health and, therefore, affect our development across the lifespan. However, it is sometimes debated that public policy intrudes on an aspect of our development known as autonomy as outlined in Erikson’s Developmental Stages.
In your initial post, evaluate the unique perspectives regarding autonomy (or personal responsibility) and public policy presented in the required resources. Compare the peer-reviewed findings to the popular article findings and address the main advantages and disadvantages of each perspective as presented. Review trends related to smoking and nutrition from the past decade(s) as presented in the Cohen-Mansfield (2012), Ogden, et. al., (2012), Mathur, et. al. (2014), and Taber, et. al. (2012) articles, paying special attention to those related to children and adolescents. Describe some of the policies that have been enacted to counter the issues arising from second-hand smoke on children and adolescents. Suggest and describe public policies that might be enacted to counter the negative aspects of poor nutrition in these same groups
Prior to completing this assignment, review the guidelines for the Program Proposal assignment in Week Six of this course and review the Program Proposal Track and Topics in Developmental Psychology document. You may also review the Federal Program Inventory for ideas.
For this assignment, you will identify and describe the foundational components for your proposal based on the information requested in the “Beginning the Program Proposal Process” section of the Program Proposal assignment.
Choose an area of interest. This area of interest will include a general track and define a specific issue within the track that is of interest to you and presents a contemporary problem to be solved. See the Program Proposal Tracks and Topics in Developmental Psychology document to view the tracks (Community, Clinical/Counseling, and Education) and suggested issues within each track for the proposal. Once the track and issue have been chosen, write a one-paragraph summary of the specific track and issue to be addressed in the proposal.
Identify the target population. Regardless of the track and issue chosen, a target population must be identified for the proposal. Identify the target population associated with the chosen issue. Within the target population, choose the developmental stage that will act as the focus (sample) for the proposal. Many programs may directly and/or indirectly influence people in different stages; however, it is important to select the stage that is most applicable to the specific program being proposed. For example, in a program for adults who are caring for their elderly parents, the focus is on the adults (likely in middle adulthood) so a middle adulthood focus would be most appropriate for that program. Provide a one-paragraph rationale for the target population identified.
Identify the geographic location where the program will be deployed. Programming will be directly influenced by the location in which it will take place. For example, a child safety program in a rural farming community will likely have different objectives and needs than a child safety program in a large metropolitan city. Once the geographic location has been chosen, provide a one-paragraph rationale for that locatio
Prior to completing this discussion, read the Berzonsky (2004) article and the American Psychological Association’s (2014) Tips for Acting Boldly to Change Diet and Exercise for Kids online resource, the Kersh, et. al. (2011), Moolgavkar, et. al. (2012), Peters, et. al. (2013), and Weed and McKeown (2003) peer-reviewed articles, and the Smoke Zone (2014) popular news article required for this week. Review the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2013), Cohen-Mansfield (2012), Ogden, et. al., (2012), Mathur, et. al. (2014), and Taber, et. al. (2012) articles to get a sense of the trends and outlooks within the areas covered in this discussion.
Public policy is often used to positively regulate behaviors that are deemed detrimental to our health and, therefore, affect our development across the lifespan. However, it is sometimes debated that public policy intrudes on an aspect of our development known as autonomy as outlined in Erikson’s Developmental Stages.
In your initial post, evaluate the unique perspectives regarding autonomy (or personal responsibility) and public policy presented in the required resources. Compare the peer-reviewed findings to the popular article findings and address the main advantages and disadvantages of each perspective as presented. Review trends related to smoking and nutrition from the past decade(s) as presented in the Cohen-Mansfield (2012), Ogden, et. al., (2012), Mathur, et. al. (2014), and Taber, et. al. (2012) articles, paying special attention to those related to children and adolescents. Describe some of the policies that have been enacted to counter the issues arising from second-hand smoke on children and adolescents. Suggest and describe public policies that might be enacted to counter the negative aspects of poor nutrition in these same groups.
Using the APA’s Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct, analyze ethical considerations in developmental psychology related to the creation and/or implementation of public policy regarding nutrition for children and adolescents.
Is the creation of public policy necessary in this area?
Based on the professional standards, is the creation of such policies ethical?
Describe how these types of policies are effective.
In what ways do these policies enhance and/or hinder physical, cognitive, and/or psychosocial development for the affected person?
Are there equally effective self-imposed restrictions that might be used instead?
How would you implement your suggested policy, and how would you plan to test the efficacy of the policy versus self-imposed restrictions?
Use evidence from the resources to support your statements.
part II Changing the Course of Psychological Development
Prior to completing this discussion, read the required material from the Shaffer (2011) text as well as the Berzonsky (2004), Fiese (2013), and Burkitt (2010) articles.
Read the PSY605: Mila Singer Life Story document. Choose one aspect of Mila’s life to alter. This element can be an event, a personal characteristic, an environmental factor, or an aspect of the timeline. In your initial post, identify the original life story element you intend to change and explain how you intend to change it. Use Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development to explain Mila’s stage of development at the time this change takes place and address how the change affects Mila’s psychological development.
After identifying the initial change and describing it, create a list of three additional outcomes in Mila’s development across the lifespan that will likely be affected by this change. For each, identify the current outcome in Mila’s life story and propose a rationale for changing this outcome. Apply either Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory or Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory to Mila’s life to create a hypothesis as to how and why these outcomes would likely adjust due to the changes you have made.
Briefly summarize your personal reaction(s) to making the initial change and how it altered the subsequent outcom
Prior to completing this discussion, please read the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (2010) and Fact Sheet on End-of-Life Care (2014), as well as the Block, S. D., et al. (2006), Kwak, J., & Haley, W. E. (2005), and Torbic (2011) articles required for this week. You will also be required to find two additional peer-reviewed sources to support developmental psychology concepts and theory and apply them to this topic within the provided end-of-life case scenarios.
You are working as the social worker at an area hospital dealing primarily with end-of-life decisions and palliative care. For this discussion, you will be reviewing the PSY605 End-of-Life Case Scenarios document and making recommendations based on the information provided in the scenarios.
All end-of-life choices and medical decisions have complex psychosocial components, ramifications, and consequences that have a significant impact on suffering and the quality of living and dying. The issues involved in this process of decision making are based on issues of developmental stage, gender, race, ethnicity, culture, health, family, and physical, cognitive, and psychosocial states. For your initial post, you will apply concepts from developmental psychology to create your recommended courses of action for both Roger and Geri. Carefully review the PSY605 End-of-Life Case Scenarios document and then research at least one peer-reviewed article published within the last 10 years in the Ashford University Library for each of the scenarios.
For each scenario, explain human development in the context of the situation described using research to support your responses. Create a recommended course of action for each of the two scenarios by addressing the following questions:
What is the best recommended course of action for the client at this time, and why?
What potential effects would themes such as the client’s culture, ethnicity, family, education, and gender have on the situation and recommendation(s)?
How does the client’s developmental stage factor into your recommendation?
How do the client’s physical, cognitive, and psychosocial states affect your recommendation(s)?
How might the developmental stage(s) of the client’s family member(s) affect your recommendation?
How will you present your recommendation(s) to both the patient and family member(s)?
What consideration(s) would affect your manner of presentation?
Are there considerations that cannot be processed at this time because of lack of information in the written scenario?
Analyze and comment on the ethical considerations in each of the scenarios. Note how the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct might provide guidance. Evaluate the unique scholarly perspectives presented in your research to support your recommendations.
Part II Evaluate Existing Programming for People Across the Lifespan
Prior to completing this discussion, please read Chapter 21 from the Lerner, Easterbrooks, Mistry, and Weiner (2013) e-book and the review the list of programs included in the Federal Program Inventory published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2013) required for this week.
For this discussion, you will take on the role of a developmental psychologist reviewing an existing program to assess the program’s efficacy for the developmental stage(s) of the target audiences identified. Using the Federal Program Inventory as a guide, search for a human services program at work either in your local area or online. Find a program of interest to you that serves the need(s) of a specific population of individuals. You may want to refer to the Program Proposal Tracks and Topics in Developmental Psychology document for ideas on the types of programs to look for in your search.
For your initial post, create a brief summary of the program’s details that includes the information below.
Program title
The program’s purpose
Who the program serves, including age group, gender(s), race(s), cultures(s), and any special groups identified (veterans, people with disabilities, dog owners, etc.)
Program location
Agency/group running the program
When (or how often) the program takes place
You will then evaluate the elements of the program and the effectiveness of these elements for individuals and/or the community it serves. Explain human development in the context of current trends by evaluating the program through the lens of developmental psychology. Examine the application of developmental theory and research to policy and community agency as they are utilized in this program
How is the program appropriate for the targeted population, and why?
Are there any ways in which the program is not appropriate? If so, explain how the program or the population could be adjusted.
Are people able to easily find and get to the location? Is it accessible to the specific groups for whom the program is intended?
Is there a cost associated with the program? Is the cost appropriate, given the target population and expected outcomes? Why, or why not?
Which domains of development (physical, cognitive, and/or psychosocial) are emphasized by this program? How are these emphasized?
Could skills within other domains of development be incorporated into this program? Make recommendations as to how these might be included.
Is the program implementation (how often is it offered and what occurs each time) effective in promoting its purpose and achieving its goals? If so, how? If not, what suggestions would you make for improvement?
Analyze ethical considerations related developmental psychology within the program. Does the program appear to follow a moral and ethical code when working with people? If so, how? If not, what does the program need to address immediately?
Prior to completing this assignment, review the guidelines for the Program Proposal assignment in Week Six of this course and review the Program Proposal Track and Topics in Developmental Psychology document. You may also review the Federal Program Inventory for ideas.
For this assignment, you will identify and describe the foundational components for your proposal based on the information requested in the “Beginning the Program Proposal Process” section of the Program Proposal assignment.
Choose an area of interest. This area of interest will include a general track and define a specific issue within the track that is of interest to you and presents a contemporary problem to be solved. See the Program Proposal Tracks and Topics in Developmental Psychology document to view the tracks (Community, Clinical/Counseling, and Education) and suggested issues within each track for the proposal. Once the track and issue have been chosen, write a one-paragraph summary of the specific track and issue to be addressed in the proposal.
Identify the target population. Regardless of the track and issue chosen, a target population must be identified for the proposal. Identify the target population associated with the chosen issue. Within the target population, choose the developmental stage that will act as the focus (sample) for the proposal. Many programs may directly and/or indirectly influence people in different stages; however, it is important to select the stage that is most applicable to the specific program being proposed. For example, in a program for adults who are caring for their elderly parents, the focus is on the adults (likely in middle adulthood) so a middle adulthood focus would be most appropriate for that program. Provide a one-paragraph rationale for the target population identified.
Identify the geographic location where the program will be deployed. Programming will be directly influenced by the location in which it will take place. For example, a child safety program in a rural farming community will likely have different objectives and needs than a child safety program in a large metropolitan city. Once the geographic location has been chosen, provide a one-paragraph rationale for that location.
Create a brief annotated bibliography. Research a minimum of five peer-reviewed articles on the chosen issue in the Ashford University Library and include citations for all articles in APA format as outline in the Ashford Writing Center. All sources utilized must have been published within the last 10 years. Provide a brief annotation for each cited article to address the relevance of the articles to your topic and how they will be used the proposal. Within the annotation evaluate the unique scholarly perspectives and research in the field of developmental psychology presented within the article and analyze any ethical considerations presented in the article that would impact the deployment of your program.
Writing the Beginning the Program Proposal Process Paper
The Paper:
Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length, including the annotated bibliography, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Must include a title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must include at least five peer-reviewed sources published within the last 10 years, all of which come from the Ashford University Library.
Must document all sources in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.