Goodbye to Yesterday...

Your grades are now posted. Enjoy your summer!

Final Exam

Just a reminder that the final exam is Tuesday, May 5th at our normal time (6:00 p.m.) in our normal location (Fine Arts 339). The test should take you about an hour, but you will have until 9:00 to take it.

PowerPot

Here's Nadelmann's argument for legalizing drugs from Team Weed's PowerPoint presentation:

P1: Making drugs illegal has not significantly prevented the demand or supply of drugs.
P2: Legalizing illicit drugs could redirect resources to treat and prevent drug abuse.
P3: The legalization of drugs would provide the opportunity for agencies like the FDA to regulate and control the quality of drugs available- which could prevent high numbers of death associated with impure versions.
P4: Some illegal drugs are not more dangerous than tobacco and alcohol, despite the common misconception that they are.
P5: Current drug laws are paternalistic, discourage the tolerant attitudes of a democratic and pluralistic society and encourage individuals to behave as informants and invade the privacy of others.
P6: Between the reduced government expenditures on enforcing drug laws and new tax revenue from legal drug production and sales, public treasuries would enjoy a net benefit.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C: Legalization of illicit drugs would prevent many of the current drug problems in America.

Background Info
Despite the war on drugs- marijuana usage is fairly mainstream: Grass City provides all the necessary “tools” for the upscale smoker along with well written informational pages on what everything is and how it all works.

The following statistics are from the CDC’s official website:

• In 2001, excessive alcohol use was responsible for approximately 75,000 preventable deaths and 2.3 million YPLLs (years of potential life lost) in the United States.
• Excessive alcohol consumption is the third leading preventable cause of death in the United States and is associated with multiple adverse health consequences, including liver cirrhosis, various cancers, unintentional injuries, and violence.
• Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of disease, disability, and death in the United States. Each year, an estimated 443,000 people die prematurely from smoking or exposure to secondhand smoke, and another 8.6 million have a serious illness caused by smoking. For every person who dies from smoking, 20 more people suffer from at least one serious tobacco-related illness.

Dazed and Confused

Here are some links on drugs:

• The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency's case against legalizing drugs.
• James Q. Wilson's defense of keeping drugs illegal that we're reading in class.
  
• The two faces of America's drug policy.
• A case for keeping weed specifically illegal.
• Legalize Pot? We Think Not!
• Criminalizing pot keeps cops from doing police work, and crowds prisons.
• A recent article celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the groundbreaking study on the medical value of marijuana.
• What was the Supreme Court thinking when it kept medical marijuana illegal?
• A radio show on drug legalization. And another on pot laws.
• Facts on weed, from Ethan Nadelmann's organization trying to stop the drug war.
• Slippery Slope? Pot doesn't lead to heroin!

Finally, here's Nadelmann's interview on the Colbert Report:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Better Know a Lobby - Drug Lobby
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

PowerPorn

Here's Marc Wicclair's argument against censoring pornography from Team Porn's PowerPoint presentation in class:

P1) Pornography sometimes depicts degrading but still legal practices, and censoring the depiction of legal practices is odd.
P2) Censoring porn may cause danger due to the resulting vague laws of what counts as "degrading."
P3) It's legally difficult to determine which films/photos actually condone the bad practices they depict.
P4) There's no solid evidence that porn causes more violence against women (in fact, it may prevent some by being cathartic).
P5) Censorship is only justified in cases of “clear and present danger,” and porn doesn’t cause any obvious “clear and present danger."
P6) Censorship would be the rule rather than an exception, and such pervasive censorship is incompatible with truly free society.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
C) Pornography shouldn't be censored.

No Second Paper

Just a reminder that we decided to not assign a second paper for class. Everyone will get full credit (100 points) for the second paper.

We Have to Give?

Here is some stuff on giving to charity.

• Free Charity! The Hunger Site. Just clicking there donates food! Also, try the word game at FreeRice.
• Affordable Charities! $10 Club, Microcredit, & Oxfam.
• Research on Effective Charities! Want to know which charities aren't squandering their donations? Check out Charity Navigator or GiveWell.
• Peter Singer's been promoting his new book a lot lately. He's pointed out the biases that keep us from giving, and called out professors for not teaching about poverty.
  
• NPR's Fresh Air ran a radio interview with someone who argues that a lot of current aid does more harm than good. (Donate to his organization here.)
• Here's a great article on the concerns about giving aid to African nations. I recommend reading the last section.
• Why would we give away the money we earn? (This article even references Thomas Nagel's anti-I'M-SPECIAL-ism.)
  

Finally, here's Peter Singer's recent Colbert Report interview .

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Peter Singer
colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

Naked Morality

Here are some links related to our discussion of the ethics of pornography:

• Is porn legitimate free speech?
  
• In class, we'll be focusing on criticisms of porn from a feminist perspective. But many argue that feminism and porn can coexist.
• Exorcising Pornography (1985 Boston Review)
• Exchange: Catherine MacKinnon & Ronald Dworkin (New York Review of Books)
• In Praise of Porn (Reason)

Hunting

-via FailBlog

Death Penalty Box

Here are some links related to our discussion of the death penalty:

• An encyclopedia of philosophy article on the death penalty.
• A large collection of resources on the ethics of capital punishment. I mean, wow.
• What's up with punishment in general? That's a big ethical issue.
  
• What about the financial cost of the death penalty? Although it's common sense to think that keeping a criminal in prison for life would cost more than putting her to death, some studies suggest that the opposite is true. The additional legal battles in death penalty cases may cost more than a life sentence.
• A nice article on measuring the reliability of the justice system. How often do courts convict the wrong person?
• I'll be mentioning "owning our ignorance" in class during our discussion of the death penalty. I like this issue so much that I've started a club about it!
  

Moopheus

Here are some links on animal ethics:

• Vegetarians Still Love the Smell of Bacon
• David Foster Wallace: Consider the Lobster
• How to Cut Back on Meat Slowly
• What Is The Meatrix?
  
• Animal Research (Peter Singer's Sometimes OK with It!)
• Peter Singer on Michael Vick & Dog Fighting
  
• Audio Interview with Peter Singer
• Michael Pollan's "An Animal's Place"
• Is Worrying About the Ethics of Your Diet Elitist?
• Huge List of Resources on the Moral Status of Animals

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Peter Singer

Ron Paul Interview
Bob Barr Interview

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

Consensus Groups

Here are the group assignments for the consensus sessions. If you're not in a group yet, let me know as soon as possible so we can get you in one. Click on the Topic Heading for links to more info on your topic.

Death Penalty (April 7th)
-Group #1 (Pojman & Reiman articles): Elissa, Glenn, Justin, Michael
-Group #2 (Primoratz & Nathanson articles): Allison, Danielle, Jennifer

Pornography (April 14th)
-Group #1 (Longino article): Amanda, Carly, Erica, Joseph, Susan
-Group #2 (Wicclair article): Iryna, Lauren, Stephanie R.


Charity (April 21st)
-Group #1 (Singer article): Kelly, Kim, Nicole, Tiffany
-Group #2 (Hardin article): Emily M., Emily S., Katie, Steph D.

Drugs (April 28th)
-Group #1 (Nadelmann article): Irene, Megan, Samar
-Group #2 (Wilson article): Amber, Ann, Jess

Paper & Midterm Rescheduled

We decided in class to move the due date of the first paper back to Tuesday, March 31st.

Also, we're pushing the midterm back to Tuesday, March 31st.

Finally, here are some tips (one and two) on writing philosophy papers.)

Check the Source

-via GraphJam

Youth In Asia

Ali G's Take on Euthanasia