Deontology & “A Few Good Men”
Compose a response to the prompt below using only your assigned readings from Exploring Ethics and the film A Few Good Men as sources.
Within a closed society like the Marine Corps, there are strict rules about duty and honor that make independent thinking difficult. In A Few Good Men, what was the right course of action for Dawson and Downey, and why is that course of action right?
Use the philosophy of Deontology to support your argument. Remember that you can use a theory to support or contrast your ideas.
Remember to:
Use direct textual evidence with correctly formatted citations from each of the sources
Establish a thesis in your introduction that answers the prompt
Use strong topic sentences in the body of your paper
Write an essay that has an introduction, body, and conclusion
Minimum of 3 (full) pages (excluding the Works Cited page) but no more than 5 pages – papers of less than 3 pages will lose a letter grade
MLA format for short papers (no cover page)
12pt Times New Roman or Calibri Font
Minimum of 5, no more than 8 sentence length quotations from your sources (quotations longer than 4 lines are not acceptable)
– You must use and cite direct evidence from your sources.
Works Cited Page is not required
No sources other than those stipulated for this assignment
Adhere to the Academic Honesty policy of the college
Unicheck – papers will automatically be submitted to Unicheck
Grading Criteria:
Analysis: Poses questions and analyze themes that reflect the human condition, such as economic, ethical, historical, personal, political, and/or social issues, discovered in literature. Focuses on elements such as plot, character, and conflict.
Makes Connections: Demonstrates how literature reflects human ethics and values and thus has relevance to today’s world.
Incorporates Research: Uses and properly documents evidence from literary texts and secondary texts to compose original and insightful analysis
Apply Criticism: Uses an appropriate ethical or cultural perspective for effective analysis
Mechanics: The essay is polished, demonstrates good grammar, spelling, and punctuation
Essay Structure: Topic and Introduction
The essay has a strong thesis statement that answers the prompt. The introduction helps draw in the reader and establish the direction of the essay
Essay Structure: Organization
The essay is organized according to the thesis and contains strong topic sentences that help the essay achieve unity and coherence. The essay features transitional devices that even out the prose.
Essay Structure: Conclusion
The conclusion of the essay does not merely restate the thesis but summarizes the argument in addition to showing the relevance of the argument.
MLA Format: The essay is presented in MLA manuscript format.
Sources are the film “A Few Good Men” and “The Categorical Imperative” by Immanuel Kant, no others may be used.
