Freedom, Markets, and Well-being Fall 2018

Thesis Updates

Overview

Here is what we’re thinking about thesis topics at the halfway mark.

Arthur wants to take a look at copyright and the music industry. Artists aren’t getting the royalties that they should and he wants to look carefully at whether a particular act would redres that problem.

Tommy is looking at the Olympics. And he isn’t sure that he likes what he sees. Some of the questions he’s asking are these. Do the economics of the Olympics line up with its athletic ideas? Is it ethical for host countries to do the things they do to present the Olympics? How did the 1984 LA Olympics work and what does that tell us about the 2028 LA Olympics?

Autumn is into the criminalization of recreational drug use. Is it morally wrong? When does society treat drug use as a public health problem and when does it treat it as a crime problem?

Peter T. has an idea about surveying Division III athletes about their political and ethical thinking. He is particularly interested in whether there are notable differences between athletes and non-athletes.

Peter N. wants to make a case for consequentialist theories of punishment as opposed to retributivist ones. He wants to write a philosophical thesis that is informed by his extensive knowledge of the prison system.

Remy is interested in two trends in education. One trend has been to orient education in various student-centric ways. The other has been to deprecate the professional status of teachers. He suspects these trends are related and wishes to describe a way of thinking about education that treats both students and teachers as subjects rather than objects.