Deontological Theory in Law Enforcement Paper

Paper 2 Instructions Professional Ethics Spring 2021

Deontological Theory in Law Enforcement Paper
Topic: What is the best theory to use in order to determine moral responsibility within your
profession?
Your second essay should pick up where your first essay left off. It’s one thing to argue what is
necessary to be an ethical professional. It’s another for you to decide what kind of ethical theory
should inform your decision-making process. For this essay, create an explanation of, and
argument for, what you think is the best theory to use in order to make ethical choices as
someone working in your particular profession:
• Given the work people in your profession do, what is the best way to make an ethical
decision?
When making the argument, you should be prepared to make use of ethical theory in
answering the question – you MUST choose one of the theories we discussed in class:
Utilitarianism (Mill); Deontology (Kant); Virtue (Aristotle); or Social Contract/Justice
(Rawls). In constructing your argument, you should focus on producing the following sections
for the essay:
• Section one: Explain how your chosen theory works, and what the theory’s assumptions
are about what is important to consider (in evaluating human nature and in determining
ethical actions) – you need to demonstrate that YOU understand and can explain the
theory (consider using hypothetical examples to show the theory in action).
• Section Two: Argue/defend your choice in terms of your profession. This should take
two forms – first, do research to find an author who supports the use of the theory within
your profession. You may have to broaden your field – law enforcement or health care,
for example.1
Introduce and explain their argument in support of yours. Second, show
how the theory you have chosen is compatible with your code of ethics (that is, you can
show that the result of reasoning through the theory produces an outcome that is
consistent with what a specific provision from your code of ethics requires) – to do this,
include the use of a profession-relevant hypothetical scenario, showing why would your
ethical theory be effective in offering a solution to the dilemma compatible with
professional expectations and rules in your code of ethics.
• Section Three: Explain a different ethical theory that does not offer a valuable approach.
After briefly explaining how the theory works (demonstrating that you understand how
the theory works), explain why it offers a challenge to your approach, and show why the
theory you have chosen does a better job.
Importantly, you will be presenting an argument as to your position and those of your challenger.
As such, you must offer reasons why you hold your positions, and you must support claims about
your theorist and challenger through careful appeal to what your respective philosophers
actually wrote. Claims you make about a particular philosopher must have textual support –
arguments lacking the necessary textual support (through quoted, cited reference to
relevant textual passages) will not earn a passing grade. Consulting secondary sources is not

1 For example, if I were to make the argument that virtue ethics is valuable for educators, I could use the following
support: Cooke, S. (2017). The moral work of teaching: a virtue-ethics approach to teacher education. In Clandinin,
D. J., & Husu, J. The SAGE handbook of research on teacher education (Vol. 2, pp. 419-434). 55 City Road,
London: SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781529716627
Paper 2 Instructions Professional Ethics Spring 2021
prohibited, BUT you will be assessed on how well you articulate your understanding (not how
well you can quote others explaining their understanding).
See “Writing Philosophy Papers Guide” in Blackboard for help in structuring arguments.
Paper Specifications:
• Follow APA formatting (for heading, spacing, margins, page numbers, etc.)
• Provide in-text citations and a references page.
• Should be 4-6 double-spaced, type-written pages (excluding reference and title page).
ON PLAGIARISM: You will be tempted to consult outside sources in your preparation for this
paper. While fine, remember that you are demonstrating YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING of
the ethical systems. So, you should be consulting the original material that you were presented,
and quoting primarily from that. You should also make it clear when you are offering a recap of
what you learned from some other source – if you are presenting ideas that are not your own, but
have been gathered from another source, and you do not cite that source (even if you put the
ideas in your own words), that is plagiarism. If your paper, however, consists primarily of
citations from other sources, you are not doing the paper correctly – you need to take the time to
reflect and analyze the system, and demonstrate what you understand, more than anything. This
is not easy, and takes time. If you don’t understand the theory, then you need to fix that prior to
turning in your paper. One way to try to fix that would involve speaking with me.