1. Discuss at least two clearly and obviously non-moral (but not immoral) reasons that NASA managers could give to justify their decision to launch. Be sure to: a) List the strongest non-moral reasons to launch on schedule you can think up. Do not try to determine what reasons the managers themselves actually gave 2 for launching on time. Give the strongest reasons you can think up yourself for launching on time. b) Prove that each is a non-moral reason by showing that it fails to meet at least one of the four criteria for moral reasons on MPL p. 87. c) Identify the single non-moral value (economic, social, etc.) underlying each reason. NOTE: If you can show that a reason promotes a single non-moral value, you can satisfy both c) and b) at the same time. That is so because if you can show that a reason expresses a specific non-moral value only, you thereby show that it fails to meet the “expresses a moral value” criterion for being a moral reason.
2. Think up at least two clearly and obviously moral reasons that NASA managers could give to justify their decision to launch. Be sure to: a) List the strongest non-moral reasons to launch on schedule you can think up. Do not try to determine what reasons the managers themselves actually gave for launching on time. Give the strongest reasons you can think up yourself for launching on time. b) Prove that each reason meets each of the four criteria for moral reasons on MPL p. 87. c) Identify the single moral value underlying each reason.
3. Discuss at least two clearly and obviously non-moral (but not immoral) reasons that Thiokol engineers could give to justify their opposition to launching on schedule. Be sure to: a) List the strongest non-moral reasons to postpone the launch you can think up. Do not try to determine what reasons the engineers themselves actually gave for postponing the launch. Give the strongest reasons you can think up yourself for postponing the launch. b) Prove that each is a non-moral reason by showing that it fails to meet at least one of the four criteria for moral reasons on MPL p. 87. c) Identify the single non-moral value (economic, social, etc.) underlying each reason.
4. Think up at least two clearly and obviously moral reasons that Thiokol engineers could give to justify their opposition to launching on schedule. Be sure to: a) List the strongest moral reasons to postpone the launch you can think up. Do not try to determine what reasons the engineers themselves actually gave for postponing the launch. Give the strongest reasons you can think up yourself for postponing the launch. b) Prove that each reason meets each of the four criteria for moral reasons on MPL p. 87. c) Identify the single moral value underlying each reason.
5. Should NASA have launched the Space Shuttle Challenger? Be sure to:
a) Make a decision as to whether it was morally permissible to launch Challenger on schedule or not. b) Support your decision based on the relative strengths (weightings) of the reasons presented in Parts 1-4 of this exercise. In other words, rely on the concept of reflective equilibrium to support your decision. Provide a basis for believing that the reasons given in Parts 1-4 outweigh the reasons given in Part 1-4 against your decision. In other words, depending on your decision you should argue either that the reasons against launching outweigh those for launching on schedule, or that the reasons for launching on schedule outweigh those for postponing the launch. Be specific as to which reasons weigh the most, and why the reasons against your decision are weaker (weigh less).
