“When it comes to respecting human dignity, the Catholic Church is far more humane than Peter Singer!”
Good gracious! You’ve recently encountered a prompt that is remarkably similar to this one, but with two key changes: the word order and the addition of one word.
Please write a tightly focused essay in which you take a stand in support of or against this proposition. In particular, I am asking you to focus on what it means to respect human dignity.
As you have found in your assignments and debates, it is important to establish a common ground on which Singer and the Church can engage in a meaningful and substantial debate. You are free to mention the issue of religious faith. But it is not sufficient to defend your position on human dignity by confining your argument solely or even primarily to one’s belief in God. Singer would simply respond that he’s an atheist. Then, there would be no point in continuing the discussion. In fact, if you only emphasize your faith in God, he will probably win the debate by accusing you of damning all non–believers to Hell.
Your position and the counterarguments against it must be crystal clear. This assignment is meant to challenge you in two ways: 1) to dig even more deeply into your assessment of the subject matter; and 2) to hone your skills of persuasion even further.
Once again, I am not asking you to write a perfect essay. I am simply requesting that you write the best paper you have ever written in your life, even better than your first one.
My usual observations, cautions, and rules apply.
You are writing one paper, not two papers. Be sure to answer this prompt and not some other question you would rather answer. Address counterarguments directly. Explicitly refer to evidence from your three primary readings: Singer, Johnson, and the selections from the Vatican’s Compendium. Be concise and to the point. Pick a title that captures the message you seek to send to your reader.
When referring to your readings, feel free to use any simple citation form (e.g., author and page). It is fine to use short quotations, but indicate why you are using them. Quotations do not speak for themselves.
Remember the Shaker hymn: “’tis a joy to be simple . . .” State your argument boldly; justify it in a logical fashion; when you are done, stop.
The Honor Code to which you have affixed your signature applies! Feel free to discuss the meaning of the prompt with your classmates. But otherwise, your essay and argument must be absolutely, completely, and unmistakably your own.
As always, dare to visit the Writing Center!
If I were in college, I would do so because I know there are always ways to improve my writing. You can also send me the draft of your intro paragraph and the first sentence of your second paragraph. I will be happy to comment if you send it to me by Friday, November 15.
As with your previous essay, this assignment is both straightforward and challenging. Happily for you, you have already given considerable thought to the topic. Thus, you have a lot of insight into what it means to defend one side over the other. I will take this into account in evaluating your essay.
I recommend that you begin writing and re-writing immediately.
To help you in your writing and rewriting, I can think of no better approach than to re-read my comments on both your first essay and and paragraphs and then use them to avoid any of the pitfalls you previously encountered. As always, consult my Tip and Guidelines with religious devotion. If all of you do this, I will not have to refer to it repeatedly when I read your essays.
Please observe the following rules without exception:
Your essay should be no more than 4 (four) typed, double-spaced pages (11 or 12 point font) of careful reasoning. Don’t forget to put your name on it. Don’t forget your title.
Your essay should be in Word format (no PDF or any other mysterious format that I can’t edit).
Your essay is due by Monday, November 18 at 9:00 am. I am giving you one and a-half weeks to respond. Please feel free to hand in your final version earlier. Given this long lead time, I will not grant any extensions unless you provide a documented medical excuse.
Good luck!
AJM