Essay title – “The possession of knowledge carries an ethical responsibility”. Evaluate this claim.
What knowledge issues I think are involved
• How can you possess knowledge? How do you acquire it and do these ways affect your responsibility of imparting it on others?
• How is the knowledge you have affected by your personal ethics? Some people would have no problem giving out certain pieces of knowledge while others would be very trouble giving out exactly the same information.
• How can one know when they are ethically responsible? How do you know how big the impact of the knowledge you are giving will have on the recipient?
Ways of knowing, Areas of knowledge that are involved.
• Ways of knowing o Reason – Has huge relevance to the essay title. You use reason to decide how the knowledge you have will affect the recipient and if it is ethically responsible to do this. o Emotion – Emotion will always affect your decisions when doing something, For example if you don’t want to say something to someone as it may hurt them but they have a right to know.
Introduction:
• State my view on the claim, whether I agree/ disagree o I agree with the statement above, its up to you whether or not to impart certain knowledge you have, depending on the situation. Person you’re speaking to, what the knowledge is, how it will affect them.
• Thesis statement.
2nd paragraph
• Try and explain the knowledge issues; “How can one know when they are ethically responsible” etc. See above for a list of some knowledge issues.
• Discuss ethics, ‘possession of knowledge’
3rd paragraph
• State first area of knowledge – Ethics
• State an example linking the AOK to the title. o Albert Einstein’s involvement in the creation of the atom bomb. Knew it was going to be used in warfare.
• Link it to the thesis statement, for and against o As a scientist ethically responsible to impart his findings to the world. o But as a human being he could