Assignment
1. Exxon's 987-foot tanker Valdez was passing through Prince William Sound on March 24th, 1989, carrying 50 million gallons of oil when it fetched up on Bligh Reef, tore its bottom, and spilled II million gallons of oil at the rate of a thousand gallons a second.44 The immediate cause of the disaster was negligence by the ship's captain, Joseph J. Hazelwood, who was too drunk to perform his duties. Additional procedural violations, lack of emergency preparedness, and a single-rather than double-hull on the ship all contributed in making matters worse. This was one of the worst spills ever, not in quantity, but in its effect on a very fragile ecosystem. No human life was lost, but many thousands of birds, fish, sea otters, and other creatures died.
Discuss how each of the human-centered and nature-centered ethical theories would interpret the moral issues involved in this case, and apply your own environmental ethic to the case.
2. What ethical theory would you apply to our relation to the environment? Explain why you favor it, and also identify how extensively its practical implications differ from at least two alternative perspectives, selected from those discussed in Chapter 8 Section 2.
3. Expert witnesses are morally and legally obligated not to lie, and hence not to withhold information requested under cross-examination from opposing attorneys. Yet expert witnesses are not legally required in all situations to volunteer information and opinions that damage the case of the attorney who hired them. For example, an engineer might know of a test that could shed further light in a liability case, but which was not conducted because of its prohibitive cost. The engineer is required to state this fact if directly questioned but is not required to volunteer the information otherwise. This opens the door to expert witnesses being trained in subtle ways to avoid being led by the opposing side into being asked directly to reveal information damaging to their attorney's case. Should the legal system be modified to require expert witnesses hired by one party in the trial to produce all relevant information about a case with complete impartiality?
4. Is the decision of the consulting firm in the following example the morally obligatory one?
"A large civil engineering consulting firm completed a comprehensive arterial highway plan for a large, mid-western metropolitan area. The area appropriated funds for the next phase of the program: the preparation of a design report covering the recommended highways. The officials concerned, not knowing what a reasonable fee would be for the design report work, felt that it was necessary to invite proposals from various consultants. The consulting firm explained that it could not participate if the selection were to be made on the basis of engineering fees. The officials replied that, although price would not be the only consideration, it would be a very important one. They could not explain to their constituents why the work was awarded to Engineer X if Engineer Y offered to do it for 2 percent less. The civil engineering company declined to participate."
5. You are a senior professor who mentored a younger colleague who is coming up for tenure and promotion next year. The colleague had assisted him with some suggestions on a research project, but was not sufficiently involved in the project to warrant co-authorship. In your view, the colleague clearly deserves tenure and promotion, but you know that last year a key committee turned down an equally deserving candidate. With this in mind, you offer to add the colleague's name to yours at the end of two articles about to be submitted for publication. Is this deception permissible? Compare and contrast how utilitarianism, duty ethics, rights ethics, and virtue ethics apply to the case.
6. Discuss what you see as the main similarities and differences between Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
The response should include a reference list. Double-space, using Times New Roman 12 pnt font, one-inch margins, and APA style of writing and citations.