Contemporary Moral Dilemmas:
Ethics Survey

The following are the results of a survey of student interests in issues in applied ethics. The survey included over 100 students from courses taught by Dr. Korcz in the 1998-1999 school year at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. These include one section of PHIL 304 - Ethical Theory, one section of PHIL 115 Honors Introduction to Philosophy, three sections of PHIL 316 - Professional Ethics, and three sections of PHIL 202 - Critical Thinking. The results will be taken into consideration in the planning of a new philosophy course, entitled Contemporary Moral Dilemmas, PHIL 111, to be offered by the philosophy department starting in the fall of 1999. This survey is not scientific.
 
 

fall 1998 & spring 1999 all classes
 a. very interested
 b. somewhat interested
c. neutral
d. not very interested
e. not at all interested

The number of students marking each item follows the topic in order (a, b, c, d, e).

1. civil disobedience 21 42 22 23 4
2. war 32 39 20 13 9
3. the death penalty 38 52 11 10 2
4. drug testing 37 42 18 12 5
5. legalizing hallucinogenic drugs 41 37 18 8 7
6. animal rights 20 24 31 17 21
7. pornography & censorship 36 42 21 8 7
8. gender equality 33 37 26 7 10
8. affirmative action 26 29 30 14 13
10. abortion 37 40 21 8 7
11. euthanasia 31 41 26 8 7
12. world hunger 17 36 27 16 17
13. obligations to future generations 24 39 31 11 8
14. environmental ethics 21 31 25 23 12
15. surrogate motherhood 24 33 30 18 8
16. terrorism 25 48 19 15 6
17. parents'/children's rights 31 40 24 12 6
18. family values 37 34 26 11 5
19. censorship/freedom of the press 36 40 21 8 8
20. homosexuality 19 33 26 20 15
21. business/capitalism/economic justice 24 31 31 18 9
22. prostitution 29 37 27 12 8
23. welfare reform 31 37 25 15 5
24. cloning 29 43 19 9 13
25. genetic engineering 30 38 16 13 13
26. fetal tissue transplants 23 39 25 11 13

The following were on the spring 1999 survey only:

*27. religious ethics 22 15 12 5 6
*28. ethical theory 10 20 20 5 5
*29. meta-ethics 12 16 21 9 3
*30. family values 24 13 18 3 3
*31. free speech & offensive speech 22 15 14 2 1