Core 10 – Modern Warfare – Spring 2013 – Dr. Pfaff
Class: Tuesdays, 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. in C109
Office Hours: MTWF 11:00 – 11:50
Tu 5:00 – 5:50
(and by appointment)
Office: S 304A
Phone: 866-6380
This seminar will explore some of the ethical issues involved in modern warfare, including ethics, weapon systems, tactics, cultural issues, and where future threats may lie. You don’t need to know much about war at the beginning of the term; we will work on that as we go.
The required texts for the course are available at the College Store:
Christopher Panza & Adam Potthast, Ethics for Dummies, Wiley, 2010.
David Whetham, ed., Ethics, Law and Military Operations, Palgrave/Macmillan, 2011.
COVERAGE
The material will be covered on or about the dates indicated below. If warranted, this schedule may be revised as the semester progresses. Students may propose specific topics they want to make sure we cover.
Date |
Class Activity |
Graded Work |
1/15 |
General Ethics, Panza Chapter 1-3 |
|
1/22 |
General Ethics, Panza Chapters 4, 6-8 |
1-Pager 1 due |
1/29 |
Panza Chapters 10, 15, 19 |
|
2/5 |
Whetham Chapters 1, 2, 3 |
Exam 1 |
2/12 |
Whetham Chapter 4 |
1-Pager 2 due |
2/19 |
Whetham Chapters 5, 6, 7 |
|
2/26 |
Whetham Chapters 8, 9, 10 |
1-Pager 3 due |
3/5 |
Whetham Chapters 11, 12 |
Exam 2 |
Spring Break |
||
3/19 |
Discussion/Projects/Wrap |
|
3/26 |
Library time |
1-Pager 4 due |
4/2 |
Library time |
Research Paper Rough Draft due |
4/9 |
Library Time or Presentations (if needed) |
|
4/16 |
Presentations |
1-Pager 5 due |
4/23 |
Presentations |
Research Paper Final Draft due |
4/30 |
Presentations |
|
Finals |
Presentations |
|
ITEMS FOR GRADING
The following activities will take place or be due at the times stated above.
2 Exams |
50 pts ea |
Research Paper |
200 pts |
Oral Research Presentation |
100 pts |
5 1-Pager Lit Commentaries |
10 pts ea |
Class participation |
50 pts |
Your grade will be determined from the sum of your scores on the graded work. You are responsible for topics covered in the texts, even if they are not covered in class. You are also responsible for topics covered in class, even if they are not covered in the texts.
We will begin developing topics for research papers early in the semester. Many of the nuts-and-bolts items are addressed at the end of this outline. The paper is to be an exploration of your own values on an important issue in today’s world. Not only will I try to keep you on task by calling for two proposals and a rough draft of your research paper, you should reflect on your topic often. On the rough draft, I will primarily be reading for content and organization of your work. I will also mark spelling and grammar errors when I notice them. However, eliminating typos and grammar and spelling errors from your final draft is entirely your responsibility.
On the subject of the research paper, I have been seeing more plagiarism in the past several years or so and, frankly, I'm getting mad. Therefore, you will submit your research paper to www.turnitin.com; there is no need to turn a paper copy in to me. We will discuss this as submission time approaches. (Class ID: xxxxxxxx, Class password: yyyyyy)
The library time referred to in the schedule above needs clarification. I do not mean that we will meet in the library for those five class periods. Rather, class will meet only if needed during that time. Instead, we will all spend a lot of time in the library. Not only will you be working on your own in the library, but I will work individually with each of you to ensure you find all the relevant information for your paper.
In addition to turning in the research paper, you are required to give an oral presentation on your paper to the class and potentially to outside referees. Your presentation is to last 20 minutes (you will be penalized for deviating greatly from the 20 minutes) with a few minutes for questions. As this is the capstone course in your education at Saint Joe, this presentation is to be formal. As such, think of it as your first big presentation at your new job. That includes visual aids, such as PowerPoint, overheads, slides, and/or handouts. It also includes getting dressed up (As in ties (pulled up with top shirt button buttoned) for the gents and skirts or dresses for the ladies. Capris and “hip-huggers” are not professional dress. Suits are always acceptable…).
The 1-pagers are due each week stated above. You are to look for an article in the popular press (news magazines, science magazines, etc.) dealing with an ethical issue associated with warfare and write a short summary of it and a personal commentary on it (minimum one page, hence the term 1-pager). The only acceptable newspaper is the Wall Street Journal. No WWW pages may be used, with the exception of those web pages offering electronic versions of print articles. The key here is that the article needs to have been subjected to editorial control or peer review. The 1-pager may be hand written but put it on decent, untorn, 8½” x 11” paper. Attach a photocopy of the article to it. Note: MSNBC, CNN, and similar sites are not newsmagazines.
Attendance in class is essential for making this a successful course. Therefore, you may miss 2 classes during the semester without any penalty. The only limitation is that you cannot take a free day if you are scheduled to present to the class. For more than 2 absences, your course grade will be docked 4% per missed day. For example, if you miss 5 days of class during the semester, 2 are “free,” and the other 3 will result in a 12% reduction in your semester point total.
The grade cut-offs are below. The percentage cut-offs apply to the graded activities as well as to the final grade.
Grade |
Percent |
Grade |
Percent |
A |
93% |
C+ |
77% |
A- |
90% |
C |
73% |
B+ |
87% |
C- |
70% |
B |
83% |
D+ |
67% |
B- |
80% |
D |
60% |
Exams are to be taken at the scheduled times; 1-pagers are to be turned in at the beginning of the class period on the due date. Papers going to turnitin will be due at 11:59 p.m. Rensselaer time on the due date. Late papers will be docked 10% of their value for each day (or fraction thereof) they are late, starting at the due time; therefore, a 1-pager that is 1 hour late will be docked 10%, after 6:00 the next day, the penalty is 20%, etc. If a conflict arises which prevents completing a task at the scheduled time, I may, at my discretion, give an extension. Requests for extensions must be made prior to the start of the scheduled due time. A telephone message is sufficient. Requests made after the scheduled due time will not be considered. Also, it is my policy not to approve dropping the course after the College’s drop date.
I trust I don’t have to belabor the issues of academic honesty. You are about to enter the professional world where absolute honesty is expected. And, after all, this is an ethics class! Nevertheless, if I become aware of any breech in academic honesty, your score on the effected task will be reduced to a zero and your work may be turned over to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
If you are a student with a disability, kindly meet with me immediately to discuss the accommodations you will need during class activities, examinations, and out of class assignments in order to participate fully and demonstrate your abilities.
Feel
free to keep your scores in the spaces provided below so you can always tell
where you stand in the course.
Exam 1______________________
Exam 2______________________
1-Pager 1_____________________
1-Pager 2_____________________
1-Pager 3_____________________
1-Pager 4_____________________
1-Pager 5_____________________
Participation _________________
Presentation __________________
Research Paper________________
Research Paper Guidelines
You will need to research a topic in the ethics of some societal issue. It does not need to be an issue in volunteerism. I expect to see at least 20 full MEANINGFUL pages of text, so don’t choose a topic that is too narrow or for which little information is available. Conversely, don’t choose a topic so broad that 20 full pages of text is only a superficial treatment. I will consult on topics, and give feedback through the two proposal drafts, but the final choice is yours.
This paper is to be multidisciplinary. That is, it must cover the issue you choose from at least two academic subject areas (like law, psychology, biology…whatever are appropriate) as well as ethics and moral reasoning.
Further, this is an objective research paper. Even though you should start with a thesis statement, you need to be objective, presenting all sides of the issue. It may lead you to affirm or refute your thesis, which should be discussed last, but you may not start the paper championing a position.
Your grade on the paper, then, will be based on your handling of moral reasoning/Christian humanism, research, multidisciplinarity, and writing quality, in roughly equal measure.
The structural rules:
§ The paper is to have a minimum of 20 full pages of text.
§ Use 8½” x 11” paper; the margins are to be 1” on all sides, headers and footers set to ½ ”; the pages must be numbered.
§ A header containing your name and course should only appear on the first page; thereafter only the page numbers should be placed in a header or footer. All header/footer material should be single-spaced.
§ In the body of the paper, use 12-point Times New Roman font with normal spacing, double-spaced, no more than 12-point spacing between paragraphs.
§ Do not insert blank lines in the paper, even in headers and footers.
§ References, illustrations, data tables, etc., should be placed at the end of the paper.
§ You need to have references, not simply a bibliography. Note: Different formats (MLA, APA, Chicago, CSE, etc.) call the list of references different things. It might be called References, Works Cited, List of References, or Notes. Nevertheless, no matter the name, you must provide direct citation of words and ideas in your text to the specific reference.
§ Do not overuse direct quotation. In general, quotation should only be used if the words are historically important or if the quote states an idea in a particularly poignant way. Your analysis and synthesis of the information is essential.
§ You must have at least as many references as you have pages of text. That is, if your paper is 21 pages, you must have at least 21 references; if the paper ends up being 25 pages, you must have at least 25 references. You don’t need to introduce a new reference on each page; this just sets the number of references needed. Also, a reference is a source document. For example, if you cite one article or book 15 times, it is still only one reference.
§ Even though some referencing formats don’t require you to list page numbers in the citations of referenced books, I do.
§ You should use Research and Documentation Online, 5th Edition, and look at other referencing help on Fr. McFarland’s website to make sure you understand rules of grammar and citing sources.
§ Be aware that I am a big fan of grammar and spelling and grade accordingly. While content is more important, bad grammar will tell the reader that you don’t care enough to be clear in what you’re saying and will not take your content seriously. Also note that I expect commas where the reader is supposed to pause; I am not a minimalist.
Beyond it covering an ethics topic, your paper should do four things. First, it should review past knowledge, including theories and practices, on the topic, that is, give a brief history of your topic. Second, it should discuss what the current theories and practices are, the current status of the problem. Third, it should present what researchers think the future study of the topic is likely to reveal and how public policy might be changed. Fourth, discuss the topic in terms of morality and include how this topic (its theories, what is known, how it’s studied, and likely future outcomes) fits into your own value set. That is, from the perspective of Christian humanism and likely with the guidance of your Christian Humanist Manifesto, analyze and attempt to resolve the issue. Obviously, the history of the topic and the current theories require references. The future predictions can be referenced to researchers, but you can also venture your own predictions. The moral reasoning arguments should be referenced, although your own value assessment probably won’t be referenced unless you find sources backing up your analysis.
For a research paper, newsmagazines (such as Time and Newsweek), encyclopedias, dictionaries, and newspapers are NOT acceptable references, except as stated below. Journals, monographs, and higher-level magazines, such as Scientific American, American Scientist, and Nature are suitable as references. The key here is that you are to use peer-reviewed literature for your sources. Webpages in general are not acceptable sources. When in doubt on the suitability of a reference, please consult me.
Because journals have a significant lag time in publication, events occurring within the past six months or so will not yet be in them. So, for events since December 1, 2012, you may use newsmagazines as your sources. The number of newsmagazines used may not exceed four.
Also recall that you will submit your paper to www.turnitin.com as well as directly to me. We will discuss details of the submission as the time approaches.
Ethics Resources – Here is a list of ethics sites on the World Wide Web. It’s obviously not exhaustive, but these contain a wealth of information and links to still more sites. I have tried to use only “authoritative” sites, but, as always, use some caution in accepting everything you read. I have these entered as links on my webpage, http://www.saintjoe.edu/~pfaff/, so you can just click and go rather than typing them in. There is some overlap with a list kept by Fr. McFarland on his webpage.
These links were checked on December 10, 2012.
Ethics Updates Homepage, University of San Diego |
|
Readings and Surfings in Ethics, Duke University |
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The Kenan Institute for Ethics, Duke University |
|
Theology Library, Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama |
|
Theology Library, Spring Hill College on Peace |
|
Institute For The Advanced Study Of Information Warfare |
|
Just War Theory from the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |
|
Applied Ethics Resources on the Web, University of British Columbia |
|
International Ethics Resources on the Web, University of British Columbia |
|
Ethics in Science, Virginia Tech University |
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Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs |
|
Center for Ethics in Science and Technology |
|
Bioethics Homepage, Medical College of Wisconsin |
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Lots of good stuff from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists |