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AG 401

Ethical Issues in Food, Agricultural, and Apparel Industries


California State Polytechnic University
Fall Quarter, 2016
Instructor: Benjamin Lehan, M.S.
Office: Building 94, Room 260.
Office Hours: Friday 10am 1pm, or by appointment.
Ph. (760)265-2982
E-mail bjlehan@cpp.edu
Class time/place: Online

Textbook:
Rachels, James and Stuart Rachels. (2015) The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 8th Edition, McGraw-
Hill Higher Education, Boston. This textbook is available used on Amazon and other similar sites. I will
provide you Power Point slides on Blackboard for specific chapters, but it is recommended to get a copy of the
book.
Other assigned readings may be made available as links to PDF files in Blackboard.
Catalog description:
Socio-economic and scientific issues in the food, fiber, and agricultural system within a framework of
moral philosophy and ethical reasoning. Analysis of topics in biotechnology in agricultural production
and food processing, intellectual and physical property rights in a market based economy, human
nutrition problems, the treatment of animals and the environment, worker rights in a global food and
apparel marketplace, and America's role in reducing world hunger and malnutrition.
Objectives:
This course studies issues in food and agricultural sciences that are being driven by advances in
technology and the implications these changes have on our economic, social, political and moral
behavior. Students will apply knowledge acquired from the lower division courses in their majors and
general education courses when studying and evaluating these changes. An important part of the student
experience in this course will involve critical appraisal of scientific and moral reasoning in the
presentation of factual and normative statements regarding these issues.
Learning Outcomes:
Students will be able to
---Identify biological and socio-economic ethical issues and sub-issues in food, agricultural and apparel
production, distribution and consumption, and identify groups affected by selected topics to be studied.
---Retrieve and critically evaluate the factual and normative assertions made in scientific and popular culture on
the selected topics.
---Evaluate different ethical theories for assessing the value of new scientific and technological knowledge to food
production.
---Develop a better understanding of why key issues in agriculture, food and apparel are issues, and why people
disagree about them.

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---Formulate a philosophical argument advocating a position on a current issue in the food, agricultural or apparel
system.
Course Procedures:
To achieve the course objectives we will (1) study the philosophical foundations of the major moral and
ethical theories, (2) write evaluative analyses called journal entries, and (3) use critical thinking and
ethical references to comment on the work of fellow students.
You will be graded on your performance on written assignments (journal entries), four quizzes, and four
Peer marks. It is the student's responsibility to meet all deadlines for submitting assignments.
Your work and contribution will be graded on:
1. Journals. These are summaries and analyses of the assigned chapters from the textbook and other
assigned readings. The journal should be treated as a record of your experiences, ideas or reflections on
the readings, the topics of the class, or the discussions you have with your colleagues about the assigned
topics. In general, you are expected to do outside research for these assignments, and to include citations
and references. I will pose a question or, in some cases, more than one. All journal entries will be
submitted in Blackboard. I will randomly select some journal assignments for grading. If an assignment
is selected and your journal has not been submitted for that day, your assignment will be counted as
missing, and you will receive a zero (0) for that journal assignment. Your lowest score for a journal that
is graded by the instructor will be dropped. Five of these journal assignments will be graded for the
quarter. Your journal grade for the course will be the sum of the top four graded journals. The journals
will represent 45% of your course grade. These journals are to be submitted through turnitin.com in
Blackboard. The target length for journal entries will be 400 words each, initially. DO NOT EMAIL
YOUR JOURNAL ENTRIES TO THE INSTRUCTOR. In order to maximize writing practice DO NOT
USE QUOTATIONS IN YOUR JOURNAL ENTRIES.
Journal writing must be clear and representative of university level written discourse. This means it must
be sufficiently well written to convey your points and arguments to others. In your own words, write out
your answer and comments about the topic assigned. This should be supported by references to the
philosophical and ethical theories presented in our text. You may use other sources, but it must be related
to the ethical dimensions of the topic assigned. You will be graded on your effort and how well you
demonstrate an intellectually sound treatment of the subject. I will grade the journal entries on a scale of
1-12. (12 will be the highest score). The journal should represent your views and reactions to the
material covered in the readings. Simple reiteration of material read or comments made in class would
receive a grade of 7 or 8. Personal reactions alone would receive a 9. A score of a 10 or higher will
require analytical responses supported by references to the philosophical material in the text or other
sources. NOTE REGARDING PRIVACY: Because of the Peermark assignments (see below), you
should not include anything in your journal entries that you would not want your classmates to know.
2. Quizzes. Four quizzes will be assigned, 7 points each. The quizzes (open book, open notes) will
account for 25% of your course grade. Quizzes are scheduled for Weeks 2, 3, 4, and 5. More information
about the quizzes will be provided on Blackboard prior to the time of the first quiz.
3. Peer marks. In order to provide feedback when a paper is not graded by the instructor, students will
read journal entries of their peers and make appropriate written comments and/or suggestions.
4. Blackboard posting assignments. Three times during the course, an assignment will require you to post
comments to Blackboard. The assignments will be for students to make two posts to a Blackboard discussion
board, with a minimum of 100 words per post. One post must be a new thread, and one must be a comment
related to another students post. Note that you can write more than two posts, but you will only get credit for
two. Students will be expected to write original posts, i.e., do not copy and paste for this assignment. The

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instructor will make spot checks for plagiarism, and reserves the right to make appropriate penalties for lack
of originality. You are expected to use Standard English in your posts, avoid slang, profanity, texting
abbreviations, etc. More information will be given about these assignments at least one week before they will
be due.

5. Final Essay. This writing assignment will be made available to you in the final three weeks of the quarter.
It will be submitted through Blackboard.

6. Current Events. I will occasionally post a current event on Blackboard, in an attempt to start a discussion
on a relevant topic in agriculture. You are not required to post any comments on these current events, but you
are encouraged to participate in an educated discussion on Blackboard in regards to the current events I post.
I will try to post a few current events throughout the quarter.

DO NOT EMAIL YOUR BLACKBOARD POSTS TO THE INSTRUCTOR. In order to maximize writing
practice DO NOT USE QUOTATIONS IN YOUR POSTS TO BLACKBOARD DISCUSSION BOARDS.

Weights of Assignments
Journal entries: 45%
Quizzes: 25%
Peer marks: 10%
Blackboard posting assignments 10%
Final Essay 10%
TOTAL: 100%

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND TEXTBOOK READINGS:


Week Reading assignment Assignments
9/26 9/30 Chapters 1 & 2 Journal 1 (Sep. Oct 4)
10/3 10/13 Chapters 3, 4, & 5 Blackboard posting
assignment 1 (Oct. 6),
Journal 2 (Oct 6),
Quiz 1 (Oct. 11),
Journal 3 (Oct.13)
10/17 10/28 Chapters 6, 7, & 8 Blackboard posting
assignment 2 (Oct. 18),
Journal 4 (Oct. 20),
Quiz 2 (Oct. 25),
Journal 5 (Oct. 27)
10/31 11/11 Chapters 9, 10, & 12 Blackboard posting
Happy Halloween! assignment 3 (Nov. 1)
Journal 6 (Nov. 3)
Quiz 3 (Nov. 8)
Journal 7 (Nov. 10)
11/14 11/18 Chapter 13 Journal 8 (Nov. 15)
Quiz 4 (Nov. 17)
11/21 12/2 No Reading Assignment Final Essay (Dec 5)
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Notes: 1) Other readings that will be posted on Blackboard will be assigned periodically to supplement the
course textbook. 2) Due dates for Peer Marks will be announced on Blackboard.

MISCELANEOUS PENALTIES:
The instructor reserves the right to impose a miscellaneous penalty of up to three points per occurrence.
Reasons for such a penalty include, but are not limited to, violations of course policies and/or
procedures, and blatant plagiarism. Note that inquiries about a grade issue (e.g., a missed quiz)
will only be considered for a reasonable time (i.e., one week) after the assignment is due.

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GRADING SCALE:

FINAL GRADE IS DETERMINED AS FOLLOWS:


93% - 100% ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------A
90% - 92.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------A-
87% - 89.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------B+
83% - 86.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------B
80% - 82.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------B-
77% - 79.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------C+
73% - 76.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------C
70% - 72.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------C-
67% - 69.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------D+
63% - 66.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------D
60% - 62.99% ------------------------------------------------------------------------------D-
BELOW 60% --------------------------------------------------------------------------------F

WITHDRAWAL FROM CLASS:


Please note carefully the university deadlines and procedures for withdrawing from classes, should this
become necessary.

INCOMPLETE GRADE:
A grade of I will be issued only when a student is unable to complete the course due to circumstances
beyond the students control. The student must initiate the request for an I with the appropriate form.
An I will not be issued when it would require a student to complete the major portion of the
requirements for this course after the quarter has ended.

TIMELINESS REQUIREMENT:
Note carefully the deadlines for journal entries, peer marks, and quizzes. LATE WORK WILL NOT BE
ACCEPTED. (As noted above, your lowest score on a journal entry that is graded by the instructor will
be dropped.) Exceptions to this late work policy may be granted for official departmental, college, or
university activities, verifiable medical reasons, or selected other unavoidable and unforeseeable
circumstances. The instructor is the final judge of what constitutes official, verifiable,
unavoidable, and unforeseeable.

DISCLAIMER:
This syllabus was prepared and distributed for your guidance and planning. It is subject to change.
When deemed necessary by the instructor, course content shall be expanded or altered. The course shall
never be limited by this syllabus. Further, it may be necessary to alter various other terms and conditions
(e.g., preparation, participation, attendance, testing, grading, etc.) of the course. All dates are tentative.

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