1) Optional: Read: Chapter 11, “Critical Thinking in Morality and Law” in the 5th edition of the textbook The Power of Critical Thinking. This will give you an understanding of moral arguments and the reasoning involved in them.
2) Consider the following scenario:
Suppose you are on an island with a dying millionaire. As she lies dying, she entreats you for one final favor: “I’ve dedicated my whole life to baseball and have gotten endless pleasure, and some pain, rooting for the New York Yankees for fifty years. Now that I am dying, I want to give all my assets, $200 million, to the Yankees. Would you take the money (she indicates a box containing the money in large bills) back to New York and give it to Hank Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees, so he can buy better players?” You agree to carry out her wish. “You promise?”, she asks. You tell her you promise to do it, at which point a huge smile of relief and gratitude breaks out on her face and she expires in your arms. After returning to the New York, you see a Go Fund Me set up by the World Hunger Relief Organization (whose integrity you do not doubt) pleading for $200 million to be used to save 1 million people who are at imminent risk of dying of starvation and famine if they do not get help. Not only will the $200 million save their lives, but it will be used to purchase technologies and infrastructure necessary to build a sustainable economy. You reconsider your promise to the dying Yankees’ fan in light of this information. What should you do? What is the right thing to do with the money?
3) Write your initial post. In your post:
Determine what you think is the right thing to do, given the scenario.
Construct a moral argument that presents your conclusion of what the right thing to is and your reasons for it.
Describe the moral principle you are drawing on that gives you your moral premise, what it is that makes it the right thing to do. Identify the moral theory (discussed in the chapter) that you seem to be drawing on (if any) to support your moral principle