Xue Lin

Philosophy 181-017
1 September 2016
Case Study #1: A Congressman Campaigns to Stop the Madness of U.S. Support for
Saudi Bombing in Yemen
It is morally wrong for the United States to aid Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen,
which have killed thousands of civilians including children, doctors, and patients. The acts of the
Saudi-led coalition violates the law of war and international humanitarian law by killing
innocents and pushing Yemen to a state of complete suffering. Ted Lieu and a few other members
of congress have made efforts to show the United States how disastrous supporting Saudi Arabia
is and the potential repercussion of these extreme attacks made on Yemen. The United State
hopes to restore the legitimate government of Yemen (paragraph 16) but it is already evident
that this war is creating further issues that benefit extremist groups, pushing Yemenis to extremist
groups because they are angered by the condition of their country. In a state of war, there are
many causalities but Saudi Arabias approach by bombing everything and everyone in Yemen
does not serve the United States goal. The United States supporting Saudi Arabia makes them
strongest in the worst way possible and the Middle East remains in its war state that has been
ongoing for a long time now, which clearly have not solved any issues.

15 September 2016
Case Study #2: False Promises: In the Battle Over Nebraskas Death Penalty, Victims
Families Refuse to be Political Pawns (The Intercept)
Prior to reading this article, my attitude towards the death penalty was for it. I believed
eye for an eye. I realized that there are situations where people are wrongfully convicted to the
death penalty, but that did not change my stance on it. I figured if the death penalty existed
people would be less inclined to commit violent crimes and the crime rate would decrease but
upon reading this article, it gave me a new perspective on the reality of the death sentence.
Families and friends of victims are used as a political pawn (Segura 11) and the guilty party
may not even end up dying as a result of the death penalty but due to old age or severe illness.
Michael Ryan died after 30 years on death row while the family and friends of James Thimm had
to sit in the courtroom to hear the gruesome details of his murder. It was sickening to read the
details of his death. It led me to do further research on the case and the discovery of more
disturbing details that were not included in this case study article. Governor Ricketts supported
the death penalty, using unethical approach to executions by importing lethal injection drugs
from foreign countries in violation of federal law (Segura 15) most likely due to his cousin
being kidnapped and her skull mailed to a police station. The article points out that people react
differently to tragic loss but that twenty-nine murder victims families publicly expressed
their support for the abolition bill (Segura 18), that highlights the difference between people
who are in political power and people who are not. Families who agree with the way the court
handles criminal cases will receive more support but when they are against it they will not
receive the support. Since Governor Ricketts is in a place of high political power, he is able to
influence which direction the death penalty goes.

In class, we discussed the issues at stake when facing ethical issues such as the death
penalty: defining the problem, evaluate how someone defines the problem, missing information,
and missing issues. It is important to not allow your personal view cloud your judgment on the
issue. To reason, you need to apply theoretical and philosophical ideas, as well as your own
judgement about the issue. Families of the victim do not get closure due to the prolong process of
some cases where the criminal will keep appealing for years (sometimes for decades), which
requires time and expenses. It also brings the family and friends of the victim pain when they
need to appear in court time and time again. In some cases, the death penalty brings a false sense
of closurethe only way to have closure is to forgivewe can see that Miriam Thimm Kelles
case when she chose to face one of the people who took part in torturing her brother. The state
function is not to serve specific people but for the public good, which is one of the reasons why
the death penalty exists. This goes further into the point that it does not bring true closure to
victims family and friends. The state claims that the death penalty is meant for public safety
(prison guards, other prisoners, and public). Applying consequentialism, the death penalty is
morally right because it is seen as a justifiable act based on the crime. This begs the question of
moral character. Does it bring closure? Should it bring closure? Does it reflect poorly on the
person when they receive justice of death penalty? Is there closure through death? Applying
deontological, we must examine whether the person deserves the death penalty and if the act is
rightfully so connected to the punishment. Another issue we discussed in class is inequality of
the death penalty use where there is severe racial inequality. There is a greater number of African
American men on death penalty than Caucasian men.

27 September 2016
Case Study #3: The Next Big Fight for the Pro-Choice Movement: Taxpayer-Funded
Abortions
It was interesting to see the economic, social, and political perspective of the pro-choice
and pro-life debate in this article. At the core, Republican Henry Hydes objective is to ban
abortion and overrule Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion. His way of doing that is by cutting
funding and the Medicaid bill making it more difficult for women to have an abortion. His target
is not only low-income women but also anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middleclass woman, or a poor woman (Carpenter 1) but the only people truly affected by this act is
low-income women who rely on public healthcare. California Representative Barbara Lee and
reproductive rights movement groups are continuously making an effort to get rid of Hydes bill.
I have always been pro-choice, I strongly believe a woman has a right to make her own decisions
and decide what she wants to do for herself and her body. Reading the article, it was
disheartening to read what women go through in order to get an abortionaround 35% women
carry the pregnancy to term, 116,000 women have resorted to not put their money toward rent
and food in order to get an abortion, and some even have to risk taking time off of work in order
to travel cross state lines in order to get an abortion. Though some pro-choice politicians like Bill
Clinton have tried to repeal the ban, many choose not to address Hydes bill. I hope that will
change soon and people realize the way right-wing politicians are handling issues such as
reproductive rights is not working for the nation. Instead of trying to prevent women from
getting abortions, they should focus on how to prevent unwanted pregnancies by educating
people on contraceptive options and providing resources such as condoms. This also begs the
argument of birth control being a form of abortion, but how? Life has not been formed yet. There
are a variety of reasons why a woman would want to have an abortion and it is not always

because they bring it upon themselves by having unsafe sex, sometimes it is due to rape or
incest, and a woman should not be forced to carry that child through the entire pregnancy term if
they wish not to for their own reasons. Certified abortion clinics and contraceptive resources
should be readily available to women, maybe that will decrease the rate of unwanted
pregnancies.
During the class discussion, we addressed the issues regarding the limited access to
abortion clinics and the restrictions of abortions. Are abortion restriction forms of discrimination
against specific people of certain social and economic classes? With restrictions on the use of
federal money to fund abortion, the individual must figure out how to pay for them and get to a
clinic who is willing to perform the procedure. On top of that, insurance companies are not
required to pay for the procedure since it is not considered a medical procedure. Then we shifted
focus to the morality of abortion. Should be there restrictions to get an abortion past a certain
time? Is it a moral issue? The article does not take into consideration of abortion being a morality
issue. A fellow classmate brought up a point that I was previously aware ofpeople who usually
disagree with abortion in congress is affiliated with a religion and most of those politicians are
men. However, it is important to note that there should be a separation of church and state. The
religion (Catholic) deems abortion as wrong, that taking an innocent life is wrong even though it
is only a fetus. What does life start? It is not possible to determine life precisely. Some may say
that it starts at conception, some will say it starts when the child is born. Maybe religion is not
relevant, there are some atheist who are pro-life. We also discussed why people are pro-choice
and if they still believe that abortion is taking a life. The reason people are pro-choice is because
the freedom to control ones body supersedes taking a life. Men hold higher grounds of power in

politics and if the roles were reversed where if men were to become pregnant instead, would
abortions still be a controversial issue?

10 October 2016
Case Study #4: Four Animal Welfare Case Studies
The ethical questions raised in this case study was interesting. First, the article introduced
the issue of euthanasia on animals. The sow has a set date to be put down after she births the
farrow due to her injury. At the farm, there are limited employees and resources to further fund
the care for the sow after she gives birth. Euthanasia of such animals should be not required by
law because law should give freedom to life as much as possible, law is used to prevent murder
and chaos. What if we apply this to human life? For example, someone who is physically injured
and no longer able to work for the rest of their life, should we euthanatize that person? We know
the moral answer is no. Second, the issue of animal welfare in relation to cost. Cattle with horns
are not easy to handlefarm houses usually do a caustic chemical treatment, burning the horn
bud, or de-homing spoon, where they lever the horn out of the skull (Case #2) which ranges
from least painful to most painful for calves. There is a poll gene that is horn-free but it would
increase the price of milk 4-5% in order to breed cattle without horns. It is worth it to fix the
animal welfare problems by raising the cost of meat and animal byproducts. Since we rely on
animals as a source of protein, they should not have to suffer in order for us to get our food.
Applying one of the ethical theories (consequentialism), animals are part of the moral
community because they can suffer. The transition to a more humane animal agriculture can be
done through regulation of farm houses in how to handle the living space and treatment of the
animals. Third, the issue of how animals are slaughtered. When an animal is stunned they lose

senses within 10 seconds whereas kosher slaughter rules prohibit stunning the animals before
slitting their throats (Case #3) so the animal loses senses at a much slower rate (20-126 seconds
for responses, 19-113 for cortical activity). The United States should ban slaughter without
stunning because it is unethical to have animals suffer while they are being slaughtered for a long
period of time. If simply stunning them mean causing them less pain, why not? This ban would
most likely interfere with religion but it supersedes any religion to proceed with a more humane
slaughter of animals. Lastly, the issue of living space for animals. Swine operations are usually
set up in a way where they can maximize the space by putting in as many sows as possible but it
results in a crowded space. I do not possess much knowledge on why they use farrow crates
other than to maintain piglet morality or why they cannot allow the sows and piglets run free in a
climate-controlled area that is blocked off. However, seeing how confined the farrow crates are,
there should be laws that prohibit the use of it. The reality of these animal welfare issues are
ignored often by farmers because they want to make profit. In order to make profit they must
produce the largest capacity at the smallest amount of time, and that is essentially one of the
purposes of farrow crate.
In class, we focused on the moral community and what others must be taken into
consideration in regards to my ethical obligations. Animals are killed for the purpose of food and
other purposes but the the primary issue is the conditions and method of slaughter. Animals are
considered to be partial members because they are non-human whereas humans are whole
members. Since humans are more superior and animals are inferior, the welfare of the animals
are determined by humans. Peter Singer is a utilitarian who defended liberation of animals where
if maximizing the good means suffering, it is allowed because anybody can be harmed in order to
maximize the greater good. However, animal rights activist believes that the right to life trumps

the idea of maximizing overall good and that the action of hurting animals makes no difference
or contribution to the overall good. Things to be taken into consideration is the profit of the meat
industry, health risk such as consuming meat versus a non-meat diet, environmental harm, and
the religious and cultural aspect of meat. Judaism and Islam follow the Kosher method where
there is a specific method of how animals are killed and how the meat is prepared. Religion can
be ignored in this case if it means slaughtering animals for food in a more humane way.

27 October 2016
Case Study #5: The Ethics of Solitary Confinement
This article provided a new perspective about solitary confinement. My knowledge on
solitary confinement comes from watching TV shows and movies that shows someone who acts
out violently in a prison gets thrown into solitary confinement to either calm them down or teach
them a lesson but upon reading this article, I learned that the conditions of prison life is
extremely unethical. Yes, these criminals have violated the law, thus they are in imprisonment
but it does not mean they should be treated inhumanely. There are many reasons why these
criminals commit the act they do varying from the way they were raised, life experiences, mental
illness, etc. that many choose not to focus on. In the article Eber makes an interesting point about
how the system is built on a rehabilitation model, not a torture model (Rienzi 2) but as Eber
recounts all the cases he has gone through many suffer and even die as a result of mistreatment
by prison guards or due to a lack of medical treatment. Criminals are thrown into prisons where
they are at risk for greater psychiatric disease and receive no counseling for their mental health
state. Dolen points out that social interaction is a good thing (Rienzi 5) because it teaches
people how to interact, be tolerant, and function in society. However, placing them into solitary

confinement only further deepens the psychological issues these prisoners suffer from. Though it
may take some time and A LOT of regulation by law, prisons are taking reform in their prison
policies and solitary confinement policies.

15 November 2016
Case Study #6: Should Prostitution Be a Crime?
Prostitution should be decriminalized. It is a job like any other. It was interesting to read
about countries like Australia, New Zealand, and Netherlands who have completely legalized
prostitutionmaking it more open for women instead of restricting them. There are also
countries like Germany and India who are not as strict about prostitution but regulate it by their
own laws. Then, there are countries such as the United States and Sweden who have been
persuaded by feminist to create laws against prostitution. However, the difference is that Sweden
offer public services that make it easier for people to avoid selling sex for money, unlike the
United States. It is more beneficial to legalize prostitution. For one thing, it makes it safer for
workers in terms of health and personal safety, and decreases human trafficking, thus making
safer working conditions. Customers will not fear being caught and can openly go to brothels.
The director of Sangram, Meena Seshu, said Do you actually work with people or do you give
them morals? That was the choice (page 4). The moral issue with prostitution is Western
feminists believe it is commercial rape and inequality plays into this. The thing is, others
should not impose their moral standards and ethics into the issue of prostitution because people
share different values and standards, varying in culture as well. Sometimes it ends up causing
more harm than good when feminists and abolitionist initiate movements and persuade
governments to create laws against prostitution. The one issue that surrounds prostitution is

coercion, which deems it immoral. The claim is that many women are forced to become sex
workerswhether it may be by sex traffickers or due to undesirable circumstances. However,
not everyone is forced and some even choose the profession.
During our class discussion, we addressed the issue surrounding prostitution. To what
degree about prostitution is it our sexual prudence in regards to moral? In America, we are more
prudish about sex and nudity whereas in Europe and Australia it is more acceptable based on
openness. Our views are being tainted because we automatically believe, know, and think
prostitution is bad so we must gain perspective from people who patronize sex workers.
Prostitution is a mentally and physically exhausting caused by the job itself and the stress of it
being illegal. We also discussed whether someone can have a preference to do sex work.
Abolitionist paints it as something people are forced into sex work or coercion, that it is
inherently sexist and objectification. Feminist argue that it is demeaning to treat a woman as an
object but it is possible to solicit a prostitute and treat them as a mean in a respectful way. It is
more common for women to resort to prostitution when it is a last resort or a quick way to earn
money to cover expenses whether that may be performing sex acts for money or an escort
service. There are cases where women are duped into the profession under false pretenses but
because they are poor and desperate, they go into it. the United States have a thin safety net and
lack governmental services for poor people but if there is an adequate safety net, people are less
likely to resort to the profession. The moral question surrounds whether it is a demeaning
occupation and inherently disrespectful.
In class, groups were instructed to answer the following questions. My group provided the
following answers.
1. What information would you want before arriving to conclusion?
Statistics of countries that have legalized prostitution.

More perspectives and thoughts of/from sex workers.

2. With respect to both positions, come up with at least one critical question:
How would you address women being seen as sexual object due to the fight for equality
among men and women?
3. What position/consensus does your group come to?
While it might be against our moral standards, we believe it should be legalized and
choice of the individual (Kantian perspective, respecting someones autonomy).