Abstract
Moral Philosophy Essay
Research in progress for PHIL 2306: Introduction to Ethics
Faculty Mentor: John Macready, Ph.D.
The following article represents exemplary student research produced in PHIL 2306, a sophomore-level course in ethical and moral philosophy at Collin College. PHIL 2306 introduces students to an array of ethical and moral theories, such as virtue ethics, deontology, consequentialism, and contractarianism, as well as the dominant critiques of these theories. These ethical and moral theories provide models for reasoning about ethical and moral issues, which students practice by applying these theories to specific issues like abortion, torture, capital punishment, and genetic engineering. As a final research project, students are asked to choose an ethical or moral issue to research and to think through the issue using one of the ethical or moral theories from the course. This project challenges students to consider various arguments on their issue, take a position on the issue, and argue for it. Kendra Ballard’s article is an extraordinary example of what it means to think through an ethical or moral issue in writing, and how diligent revision can refine the poignancy and rhetorical power of an argument. Her writing exhibits three essential characteristics of good philosophical writing: courage, intellectual independence, and fairmindedness.
The article raises a provocative moral question: Is it possible to engage in prostitution morally? To answer this question, Ballard combines feminist social theory and deontological ethics to argue that prostitution can be morally justified under the oppressive conditions of a patriarchal society. What is exceptional about Ballard’s article is her willingness to engage in what Hannah Arendt called “an enlarged mentality”—a willingness to think from the perspective of another person and to entertain counterfactuals and objections to one’s argument. Ballard concedes that engaging in prostitution in a non-patriarchal society cannot be morally justified. Moreover, she raises and responds to the obvious objections that women could choose alternative forms of employment to preserve their lives and that both parties who participate in the act of prostitution could be understood to be treating the other party as a means rather than an end, violating the human dignity of the other person. Her responses to these objections are insightful and sophisticated without conceding her main claim. Readers may disagree with Ballard’s conclusion, but the quality of her thinking is unassailable.
Recommended Citation
Ballard, Kendra F.
(2024)
"On the Morality of Prostitution Under Hierarchical Social Structures: A Radical Feminist Analysis,"
Quest: Vol. 8, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/quest/vol8/iss1/4
Included in
Applied Ethics Commons, Ethics and Political Philosophy Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons, Feminist Philosophy Commons
Faculty Mentor
Dr. John Macready
jmacready@collin.edu