12 Interesting Ethical Topics for Essay Papers

Writing a persuasive essay requires identifying interesting ethical topics, and these options might inspire you to create a powerful and engaging essay, position paper, or speech for your next assignment. Should Teens Have Plastic Surgery? Good looks are highly prized in society. You can see advertisements everywhere urging you to buy products that will supposedly enhance your appearance. While many products are topical, plastic surgery is probably the ultimate game-changer. Going under the knife to enhance your looks can be a quick fix and help you achieve the look you desire. It also carries risks and can have lifelong consequences. Consider whether you think teens—who are still developing into mature individuals—should have the right to make such a big decision at such a young age, or if their parents should be able to decide for them. Would You Tell If You Saw a Popular Kid Bullying? Bullying is a big problem in schools and even in society in general. But it can be difficult to show courage, step up—and step in—if you see a popular kid bullying someone at school. Would you report it if you saw this happening? Why or why not? Would You Speak Up If Your Friend Abused an Animal? Animal abuse by youngsters can foreshadow more violent acts as these individuals grow up. Speaking up might save the animal pain and suffering today, and it might steer that person away from more violent acts in the future. But would you have the courage to do so? Why or why not? Would You Tell If You Saw a Friend Cheating on a Test? Courage can come in subtle forms, and that can include reporting seeing someone cheat on a test. Cheating on a test might not seem like such a big deal; perhaps youve cheated on a test yourself. But it is against the policies of schools and universities worldwide. If you saw someone cheating, would you speak up and tell the teacher? What if it were your buddy cheating and telling might cost you a friendship? Explain your stance. Should News Stories Slant Toward What People Want to Hear? There is much debate over whether the news should be unbiased or allow commentary. Newspapers, radios, and news television stations are businesses, just as much as a grocery store or online retailers. They need customers to survive, and that means appealing to what their customers want to hear or see. Slanting reports toward popular opinions could increase ratings and readership, in turn saving newspapers and news shows, as well as jobs. But is this practice ethical? What do you think? Would You Tell If Your Best Friend Had a Drink at the Prom? Most schools have strict rules about drinking at the prom, but many students still engage in the practice. After all, theyll be graduating soon. If you saw a friend imbibing, would you tell or look the other way? Why? Should Football Coaches Be Paid More Than Professors? Football often brings in more money than any other single activity or program a school offers, including academic classes. In the corporate world, if a business is profitable, the CEO and those who contributed to the success are often rewarded handsomely. With that in mind, shouldnt it be the same in academia? Should top football coaches get paid more than top professors? Why or why not? Should Politics and Church Be Separate? Candidates often invoke religion when theyre campaigning. Its generally a good way to attract votes. But should the practice be discouraged? The U.S. Constitution, after all, dictates that there should be a separation of church and state in this country. What do you think and why? Would You Speak Up If You Heard an Ugly Ethnic Statement at a Party Filled With Popular Kids? As in the previous examples, it can be hard to speak up, especially when an incident involves popular kids. Would you have the courage to say something and risk the ire of the in crowd? Who would you tell? Should Assisted Suicides Be Allowed for Terminally Ill Patients? Some countries, like the Netherlands, allow assisted suicides, as do some U.S. states. Should mercy killing be legal for terminally ill patients who are suffering from great physical pain? What about patients whose diseases will negatively impact their families? Why or why not? Should a Students Ethnicity Be a Consideration for College Acceptance? There has been a long-standing debate about the role ethnicity should play in college acceptance. Proponents of affirmative action argue that underrepresented groups should be given a leg up. Opponents say that all college candidates should be judged on their merits alone. What do you think and why? Should Companies Gather Information About Their Customers? Information privacy is a big and growing issue. Every time you log onto the internet and visit an online retailer, news company, or social media site, companies gather information about you. Should they have the right to do so, or should the practice be banned? Why do you think so? Explain your answer.

Essay on Baseball as a Piece of American Culture - 621 Words

Baseball as a Piece of American Culture American culture is in my opinion a mixture of all cultures in the world. In some states, minorities have become majorities because of the huge masses that have immigrated there. Those groups have integrated their own customs to Americans and at the same time, have made American customs part of their lives. In that enormous alloy called Americans, you can meet diverse kinds of persons, languages, foods and words. At the same time, specific traits make this culture as any other unique. The British writer Lesley Hazleton describes in the essay The First Game her experience when she attended a baseball game for the first time in her life. It was her first time visiting America as well and the way the†¦show more content†¦Perhaps it is that Americans are used to praise those who have been praised before or maybe it is just a matter of chance for a selected group of lucky people, like TV stars and singers. The fact that there exist so many awards for a certain group of people, an d at the same time, some other groups pass unnoticed their entire lives, makes evident traits of the American culture. The author hypothesized hero-worships as an American habit, although not everybody might agree with that thought. Hazleton was perplexed by a phrase affirmed by the acclaimed baseball player thanking various people in his speech, and specifically thanking God for making him a ball player. That phrase manifested in the authors opinion what a particular being God represents in the American ball players life. Those words made the author picture America as a culture devoted to God, or at least a superior being. Of course, not everybody is as religious as he made evident when speaking in his speech. Some people do not mention God at all and never go to church, while others have different ways of expressing their spirituality. Every coin of The United States of America says, In God we trust, yet there are thousands of different religions in those United States. There are communes, sects, and temples of every type. In addition, some days are religious in itself, like Thanksgiving Day when people make a stop in their lives to just thank God for all theyShow MoreRelatedThe World War II : A Evolutionary C hange Within Societal Structure1462 Words   |  6 Pagesreturned. American society expected everything to return to normal when the war finished, and men to return to the factories and women to return to housework. Contrary to popular belief, women took this opportunity to fight against social norms and gain the equality that they deserve. While fighting for what they believe in, feminists also unconsciously changed the accepted culture of American family life and styles of relationship. 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Moral Principles free essay sample

Deontological moral principle is pioneered by Immanuel Kant (Singer, 1993). Basically, it concerns moral rights or entitlements which functions to protect the rights of the person without interfering with the rights of other people. Kant put forward the notion of ‘Categorical Imperative’ to further illuminate the idea of moral rights (Singer, 1993). Accordingly, a moral right is an action that can be done universally and is reversible. By this, it means that a moral principle is a right applicable to anyone and at anytime. For instance, the right to live is something that everyone can do and are entitled with. On the other hand, the right of soldiers to kill other people is not something that can be applied to anyone at anytime. Thus, it is not a moral right with respect to deontological principle. However there are instances wherein the moral rights are in conflict. A common example refers to the act wherein the person borrowed a knife from his neighbor, when he is about to give back the knife, he seen his neighbor is drunk and attempting to kill himself with a bread knife. We will write a custom essay sample on Moral Principles or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Thus, the person back out and would return home instead. However, the neighbor spotted him and asked him what is it he wants? According to deontological principle the person should not lie but if he tell the truth and give back the knife there is a possibility that the neighbor would use it to kill himself. In such instance there are other moral principles that can help in considering actions. One of these is the virtue ethics. It basically implies that correct or moral actions are determined by virtues act (Crisp et al., 2005). Virtues include compassion, courage, generosity, honesty, etc. Vices, on the other hand, include cowardice, deceit, selfishness, etc. Another moral principle is based on ethics of care (Held, 2006). This revolves on the idea that correct actions are determined by the care for people related to the individual. In the case above, this is a more appropriate moral principle to take. Personally, I regard my action based on the deontological principle. The actions are simply based on the duty, my obligations to my classes, to my family, to my friends and to other people. In some sense, deontological principle involves the golden rule of ‘do unto to others what you want others do unto you’. For instance, despite the fact that I can cheat with my personal relationship, I would rather not, since I don’t want my partner to cheat with me. Virtue Ethics apply since most moral codes in the society are based on this principle. Since childhood, the society tells us that there are things that are appropriate while others are improper. Despite the fact that cheating among relationships is prevalent in today’s generation and despite the fact that some virtues are often neglected, I personally believe that cheating and/or deceit is wrong. Ethics of care commonly applies when I tried to side with the people I love or I have relationship with rather than siding with strangers or people I know nothing about. For instance, when I found my mother in a heated conversation with a neighbor, I would initially side with my mother no matter what is the cause of their argument.\ Conclusion In the above discussion, the importance of moral principles is revealed. Moral principles are almost always present in every decision and interaction that people made. It is also crucial to have a moral code in a society or else people will just go about with their own morality, which in one way or another may conflict with another person’s morality. It is also highlighted above that indeed moral principles conflict the ideal and real phenomenon, or simply with each other. In such case, a person may take into consideration other moral principles that the person considered as vital for his decision. From the discussion, I found out that indeed despite the fact that there are prevailing social standards of moral norms, there are still circumstances that call for a deliberation of these principles. In some cases, one moral principle may not be enough to decide for an action. Whether moral codes or principles can be used universally, it is not yet in existence. In the end, people tend to use moral principles that are standard to the society or have beneficial or practical implication/s. Works Cited: Crisp, J., Potter, P.A., Perry, A.G. and Taylor, C. Potter and Perrys Fundamentals of Nursing. Australia: Elsevier, 2005. Held, V. The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global. USA: Oxford University Press, 2006 Singer, P. A Companion to Ethics. Blackwell Publishing, 1993.