Pick One of the Following Topics for your First Paper

Pick one of the following topics for your first paper.

1. Explain Mill's distinction between two different kinds of happiness and how we detect such a difference.  Explain Bentham's utility calculus.  What are the differences between them?  Which of these methods do you think is superior for judging the consequences of actions, and why?

2. Why is it that some people think that utilitarianism cannot make sense of the value of justice?  Explain the issue and how Mill tries to reconcile utilitarianism with the value of justice.  Does his account succeed?  Explain why or why not.

3. If one person gives to charity because she truly enjoys doing so, and another person hates doing so but forces himself to do it anyway, which of these people would Kant claim is more praiseworthy, and why?  Explain whether or not you agree and justify your answer.

4. Referencing the second formulation of the Categorical Imperative, explain what position Kant would take on never helping other people, and sacrificing one person to save five others.  What’s the difference in duties, according to Kant, in these two cases?  Do you agree with the answers he comes to on these cases, and why or why not?