Contemporary and Classic Arguments

TABLE OF CONTENTS: Preface PART I. DEBATES ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES 1. Affirmative Action: Is It Fair? Terry Eastland, Ending Affirmative Action Burke Marshall and Nicholas deB. Katzenbach, Not Color Blind: Just Blind 2. Cell Phones: Should Their Use While Driving Be Prohibited? Advocates for Cell Phone Safety, Yes, Prohibit Their Use Robert W. Hahn and Paul Tetlock, No, Don't Prohibit Their Use 3. Censorship: Should Public Libraries Filter Internet Sites? David Burt, Yes, Install Filters Nancy Kranich, No, Do Not Install Filters 4. Gay Marriages: Should They Be Legalized? Thomas B. Stoddard, Gay Marriages: Make Them Legal Lisa Schiffren, Gay Marriage, an Oxymoron 5. Gun Control: Would It Really Help? Sarah Thompson, Concealed Carry Prevents Violent Crimes Nan Desuka, Why Handguns Must Be Outlawed PART II. CASEBOOKS ON CONTEMPORARY ISSUES 6. The Death Penalty: Can It Ever Be Justified? Edward I. Koch, Death and Justice: How Capital Punishment Affirms Life David Bruck, The Death Penalty Potter Stewart, Gregg v. Georgia Harry Blackmun, Dissenting Opinion in Callins v. Collins Sister Helen Prejean, Executions Are Too Costly -- Morally Casey Johnson, Yes, The Death Penalty Should Apply to Juveniles Emma Welch, No, The Death Penalty Should NotApply to Juveniles Alex Kozinski and Sean Gallagher, For an Honest Death Penalty 7. Drugs: Should Their Sale and Use Be Legalized? William J. Bennett, Drug Policy and the Intellectuals James Q. Wilson, Against the Legalization of Drugs Milton Friedman, There's No Justice in the War on Drugs Elliott Currie, Toward a Policy on Drugs 8. The Just War: What Are the Criteria? G. E. M. Anscombe, The Criteria of a Just War Peter Steinfels, The Just War Tradition and the Invasion of Iraq George A. Lopez, Iraq and Just-War Thinking William A. Galston, The Perils of Preemptive War Andrew Sullivan, Yes, a War Would Be Moral 9. Privacy: What Are Its Limits? Amitai Etzioni,Less Privacy Is Good For Us (and You) Simson Garfinkel, Privacy under Attack Nadine Strossen, Everyone Is Watching You E-mail responses to Nadine Strossen Judith Wagner DeCew, The Feminist Critique of Privacy 10. Sexual Harassment: Is There Any Doubt About What It Is? Tufts University, What Is Sexual Harassment? Ellen Goodman, The Reasonable Woman Standard Ellen Frankel Paul, Bared Buttocks and Federal Cases Sarah J. McCarthy, Cultural Fascism 11. Torture: Is It Ever Justifiable? Clinton R. Van Zandt, It Should Not Be Permissible to Torture Suspected Terrorists to Gather Information Vincent Iacopino, It Should Be Permitted to Torture Suspected Terrorists to Gather Information Philip B. Heymann, Torture Should Not Be Authorized Alan M. Dershowitz, Yes, It Should Be "On the books" Michael Levin, The Case for Torture PART III. CLASSIC ARGUMENTS Plato, Crito The Myth of the Cave Thomas More, From Utopia Niccolò Machiavelli, From The Prince Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions Virginia Woolf, Professions for Women George Orwell, Shooting an Elephant Martin Luther King Jr., I Have a Dream Letter from Birmingham Jail Judy Brady, I Want a Wife Peter Singer, Animal Liberation Garrett Hardin, Lifeboat Ethics James Rachels, Active and Passive Euthanasia

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Philosophy. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.