1. What do you think utilitarian theory tells us about the morality of such questions as abortion, capital punishment, or euthenasia?
2. Is utilitarian theory helpful in deciding these questions? Or would Kant's rule--the Categorical Imperative--be more helpful in this regard? Does Rawl's theory of justice provide a solution?
3. Can Ethics be Taught?
4. Corporate responsibility is an issue that involves many companies and industries and implies ethical choices. Consider one of the following examples and evaluate to what extent the company is responsible to society at large:
*McDonalds (or any food chain) providing healthier meals to its customers (e.g., cooking its french fries in a healthier frying oil);
*Nike (or any clothing manufacturer) considering its responsibility for running sweatshops in foreign countries in order to produce its apparel;
* BP/Amoco for running environmentally-friendly refining plants (as was the controversial case in Whiting, IN, where BP was found to be running off contaminated water into Lake Michigan).
5.Corporations such as McDonalds may be partially responsible for health issues such as obesity, but how much of the responsibility goes to the US Dept. of Agriculture, which has subsidized the production of cheap and nutritionally empty foods? And how much responsibility for this problem should go to the individuals who decide to eat such foods?