PHIL 112 Social Philosophy
Essay Assignment #2
Write
a 4-5 page, typed, double-spaced, titled, stapled essay on one
of the three topics below.
Your grade will depend on three things: (1) how well you show a familiarity and
understanding of the relevant material covered in class lecture and Feinberg’s
text, (2) the strength of your positions and arguments, (3) your informative
use of the Feinberg text (with page references), and (4) the clarity and
quality of your written presentation. As to the latter, I will be looking for
only the eight common mistakes as listed in the “BCC Philosophy Writing
Guidelines” (found at www.bcc.ctc.edu/philosophy/).
I will allow five such mistakes without grade penalty, but after that 0.1 GPA
grade points will be deducted (up to a total deduction of 1.0 GPA grade points)
for each mistake. Thus if you make 15 mistakes as outlined in the “Guidelines”
and you would have received a 3.0 (B), then your grade would be reduced to a
2.0 (C). If you make three or fewer such mistakes, your grade will be raised
0.2 GPA grade points.
1. There are still many states in the
2. This question is probably the hardest of the three. On pages 35-37 of Offense to Others, Joel Feinberg argues that the reasonableness of the offense taken at a behavior should not be considered in determining whether legal intervention should be applied. What are his arguments? Are his arguments good or bad? Feinberg has been talking about public nudity in this chapter. How would this behavior fit in with his arguments?
3. The NFL censored the Rolling Stones’ lyrics at least twice during the recent Super Bowl halftime show (e.g., “You, you make a dead man ***”). Use Joel Feinberg’s analysis of obscenity in Offense to Others to argue for or against this censorship.
………………………………….
"I'm extremely offended by what
you're doing," the woman told Nickelson, who was
seated on a folding chair. "And it's illegal in the state of
Nickelson, shocked and embarrassed, said
nothing. She scooped up her 4-week-old son, whom she had covered with a blanket
while he fed. Then she grabbed her diaper bag and hurried out of the bathroom.
"My biggest fear was that maybe
this woman was right," said Nickelson, 23.
"I didn't know what the laws were."
She later learned that nursing in
public is legal. But a proposed state law, which would give a woman the right
to breast-feed "in any place she has the right to be," would clarify
that right. The law also would excuse nursing mothers from jury duty.
The proposal, House Bill 2284, will
be presented to the Senate's Public Health and Welfare Committee today. A
similar measure was approved by the House last year.
If the law passes,
Supporters of such laws say they are
necessary not only to encourage and protect nursing mothers, but to educate the
public about the importance of breast-feeding.
"Women have a right to
breast-feed and to meet their baby's needs wherever they are, period,"
said Brenda Bandy, professional liaison for La Leche
League of
Bandy, who teaches breast-feeding at
a
"I've had mothers say they feel
like they can't go anywhere," she said. "They stay home, because they
don't want to risk upsetting someone. And that's not right."
Nickelson, the
"I thought, 'Maybe I really
can't go anywhere with him,' " she said. "'Maybe this is the way
society feels, and I should just give him a bottle.' "
Before giving birth, Nickelson worked as an obstetrics technician at a
"Of all people, I know how
important this is," she said. "I guess maybe I was a little naive. I
thought everyone accepted it, but that's not true."
Those who support the proposed law
say the jury-duty exemption is needed to protect mothers and babies from an
unexpected separation that could hurt the breast-feeding relationship.
Kelly Skinner, a
Her daughter, then 16 months old,
was still nursing and had never been fed with a bottle or separated from
Skinner for more than a few hours at a time. Court officials told her she
couldn't be excused again and would have to make her case before the judge.
A jury was chosen before Skinner had
to appear. But she said the ordeal -- arranging for emergency child care,
finding a breast pump just in case, arranging for a place to pump -- proved
stressful.
"I'm a breast-feeding mom, and
it's just not feasible for me," she said. "I don't think a lot of
people really understand that relationship."
Last year, some lawmakers questioned
whether business owners, such as restaurant managers, have the right to ask a
woman to stop breast-feeding on private property. Others pushed to add the word
"discreetly" to the law.
A version approved by the House said
a woman "may discreetly breast-feed in any place she has a right to
be." The change upset the bill's sponsors, who said the word was vague.
They lobbied successfully to remove "discreetly" from the bill during
Senate debate.
The Senate referred it to committee
without a vote. It will take up the bill today.
Bandy, the La Leche
League official, said increased awareness about the need for mothers to nurse
in public bodes well for the proposed law.
"We just think the time is
right," she said. "We need to make it clear that this is the right
thing to do for mothers and babies and everyone."
Source:
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/13771104.htm