Factual Ignorance Working as a Moral Excuse Discussion

Factual Ignorance Working as a Moral Excuse Discussion

Within debates concerning responsibility for ignorance the distinction between moral and factual ignorance is often treated as crucial. Many prominent accounts hold that while factual ignorance routinely exculpates, moral ignorance never does so. The view that there is an in-principle distinction between moral and factual ignorance has been referred to as the “Asymmetry Thesis.” This view stands in opposition to the “Parity Thesis,” which holds that moral and factual ignorance are in-principle similar. The Parity Thesis has been closely aligned with volitionist accounts of moral responsibility, whereas the Asymmetry Thesis has been closely aligned with Quality of Will accounts. Two central questions are at work here: how ignorance excuses (when it does), and whether it excuses in the same way for both moral and factual ignorance. I will argue that these questions have often been confused in the present debate, and once we have distinguished more clearly between them, it seems that Quality of Will accounts are compatible with the Parity Thesis. And more generally: that the distinction between moral and factual ignorance is far less important in debates about responsibility for ignorance than it has often appeared.

Plagiarism: Policies and Definitions 1. Why be concerned about plagiarism?  As college students, you deserve to have your thoughts (expressed in class and in your written work) taken seriously, even if your instructor disagrees with your thoughts. But if I am to respect your thoughts, I need to assume that they are actually your thoughts. Plagiarism—the representation of someone else’s thoughts, words, or work as your own— undermines the very fabric of the academic community of which we are a part.  Grading, in order to be done fairly, must reflect the work and effort of each student. But plagiarism is unfair to the students in the course whose grade reflects their own work and effort. 2. What are the penalties for plagiarism?  The standard penalty for plagiarism and other violations of academic integrity will be an F for the course and a letter sent to the Dean documenting the offence. Further violations of academic integrity could lead to more serious consequences, including suspension or expulsion. (You can see the university policy on academic integrity at http://www.editor.uci.edu/catalogue/appx/appx.2.htm.)

Other violations of academic integrity include cheating on an exam, helping someone else to cheat or plagiarize, and resubmitting a paper turned in for another course. 3. What counts as plagiarism?  Plagiarism is the representation of someone else’s ideas, work, or words as one’s own. Examples include turning in someone else’s paper under your name, downloading a paper from the internet, copying (or rephrasing) portions of a book or web site into your paper, or employing a research service.  Since plagiarism is not always as blatant as simply copying another person’s paper, students sometimes claim that they were unaware that what they did constituted plagiarism or that their plagiarizing was unintentional. But ignorance is no excuse: as a part of the academic community, it is your responsibility to insure that what you do does not constitute an act of plagiarism.  There is a simple rule that will allow you to avoid plagiarism. When you make use of another’s ideas or work in your paper, always give proper credit by providing a citation with a page number. If you are not sure about how to format your citations, ask your instructor or consult a style guide. Play it safe: if in doubt, provide a citation. Some clarifications: a. A citation must be given not only when you quote directly the exact words of the author, but also when you paraphrase her words, summarize her ideas, or borrow her examples or images. b. When you paraphrase, state the author’s ideas in your own words; do not just rearrange her words or substitute synonyms for synonyms. This can constitute plagiarism even if you do provide a citation. Remember that not only an author’s ideas, but also her style or presentation can be plagiarized. This handout was written by Jeremy Heis c. When you quote an author’s exact words, place all of the quoted text within quotation marks or by placing the words off from your own words as a block quote. Do not alter the exact words of the author unless you indicate so in square brackets or in a note.

Failure to Use In-Line Attribution Is Plagiarism Here’s a bit of text that will be used below to illustrate proper and improper citation; it is taken from Bruno Bettelheim, The Uses of Enchantment, New York: Vintage, 1976, p. 75: When the hero of a fairy tale is the youngest child, or is specifically called “the dummy” or “Simpleton” at the start of the story, this is the fairy tale’s rendering of the original debilitated state of the ego as it begins its struggle to cope with the inner world of drives, and with the difficult problems which the outer world presents. In general, any time you reproduce facts or ideas taken from a source you must provide an in-line attribution identifying the source (including the page). The only time you may omit a page number is when you are genuinely referring to an entire work, e.g., “Fairy tales may be approached from a psychoanalytical perspective (Bettelheim), but … .” Copying without Proper Attribution Is Plagiarism To reproduce the preceding paragraph in its entirety in your paper without direct attribution would be plagiarism, even if you list Bettelheim’s book in your bibliography. You can avoid plagiarism in two ways: 1) by wrapping the text in quotation marks and including a brief reference to the source in the body of your paper or 2) by formatting the text as a “block quote.”

Important information for writing discussion questions and participation

Welcome to class

Hello class and welcome to the class and I will be your instructor for this course. This is a -week course and requires a lot of time commitment, organization, and a high level of dedication. Please use the class syllabus to guide you through all the assignments required for the course. I have also attached the classroom policies to this announcement to know your expectations for this course. Please review this document carefully and ask me any questions if you do. You could email me at any time or send me a message via the “message” icon in halo if you need to contact me. I check my email regularly, so you should get a response within 24 hours. If you have not heard from me within 24 hours and need to contact me urgently, please send a follow up text to

I strongly encourage that you do not wait until the very last minute to complete your assignments. Your assignments in weeks 4 and 5 require early planning as you would need to present a teaching plan and interview a community health provider. I advise you look at the requirements for these assignments at the beginning of the course and plan accordingly. I have posted the YouTube link that explains all the class assignments in detail. It is required that you watch this 32-minute video as the assignments from week 3 through 5 require that you follow the instructions to the letter to succeed. Failure to complete these assignments according to instructions might lead to a zero. After watching the video, please schedule a one-on-one with me to discuss your topic for your project by the second week of class. Use this link to schedule a 15-minute session. Please, call me at the time of your appointment on my number. Please note that I will NOT call you.

Please, be advised I do NOT accept any assignments by email. If you are having technical issues with uploading an assignment, contact the technical department and inform me of the issue. If you have any issues that would prevent you from getting your assignments to me by the deadline, please inform me to request a possible extension. Note that working fulltime or overtime is no excuse for late assignments. There is a 5%-point deduction for every day your assignment is late. This only applies to approved extensions. Late assignments will not be accepted.

If you think you would be needing accommodations due to any reasons, please contact the appropriate department to request accommodations.

Plagiarism is highly prohibited. Please ensure you are citing your sources correctly using APA 7th edition. All assignments including discussion posts should be formatted in APA with the appropriate spacing, font, margin, and indents. Any papers not well formatted would be returned back to you, hence, I advise you review APA formatting style. I have attached a sample paper in APA format and will also post sample discussion responses in subsequent announcements.

Your initial discussion post should be a minimum of 200 words and response posts should be a minimum of 150 words. Be advised that I grade based on quality and not necessarily the number of words you post. A minimum of TWO references should be used for your initial post. For your response post, you do not need references as personal experiences would count as response posts. If you however cite anything from the literature for your response post, it is required that you cite your reference. You should include a minimum of THREE references for papers in this course. Please note that references should be no more than 5 years old except recommended as a resource for the class. Furthermore, for each discussion board question, you need ONE initial substantive response and TWO substantive responses to either your classmates or your instructor for a total of THREE responses. There are TWO discussion questions each week, hence, you need a total minimum of SIX discussion posts for each week. I usually post a discussion question each week. You could also respond to these as it would count towards your required SIX discussion posts for the week.

I understand this is a lot of information to cover in 5 weeks, however, the Bible says in Philippians 4:13 that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Even in times like this, we are encouraged by God’s word that we have that ability in us to succeed with His strength. I pray that each and every one of you receives strength for this course and life generally as we navigate through this pandemic that is shaking our world today. Relax and enjoy the course!

Hi Class,

Please read through the following information on writing a Discussion question response and participation posts.

Contact me if you have any questions.

Important information on Writing a Discussion Question

• Your response needs to be a minimum of 150 words (not including your list of references)
• There needs to be at least TWO references with ONE being a peer reviewed professional journal article.
• Include in-text citations in your response
• Do not include quotes—instead summarize and paraphrase the information
• Follow APA-7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

Participation –replies to your classmates or instructor

• A minimum of 6 responses per week, on at least 3 days of the week.
• Each response needs at least ONE reference with citations—best if it is a peer reviewed journal article
• Each response needs to be at least 75 words in length (does not include your list of references)
• Responses need to be substantive by bringing information to the discussion or further enhance the discussion. Responses of “I agree” or “great post” does not count for the word count.
• Follow APA 7th edition
• Points will be deducted if the above is not followed

• Remember to use and follow APA-7th edition for all weekly assignments, discussion questions, and participation points.
• Here are some helpful links
• The is a great resource