Part A: Definitions

Explain the difference between a positive harm and a negative harm.

There are two different kinds of bad; they are positive harms and negative harms. Positive harms are
the adding of something to the world, not a good thing. This something could be illness, the adding of
illness to the body. This causes harm to the body. Another example would be adding a fist to punch
someone in the face.
A negative harm is when there is a lack of something; one could also look at it as privation. Examples
would be poverty, the lack of elements that need to sustain one`s self. Another is when someone is
drowning; there is a lack of ability to swim. Or finally, an illness taking away the ability to move body
parts.
Name and describe any 6 of the 15 fallacies discussed inclass and/or in Writing Philosophy.
Firstly, a fallacy is a mistake made commonly. They are deceptive because they are often difficult
to see.
Appeal to popularity- This fallacy is a mistake because everyone does it or because everyone has one,
then I should as well.
Appeal to authority- This is the belief that something that is right because it is written or said by a
professional who is working within their field if knowledge. Example: writing a paper for chemistry but
relying on information stated to you by a physics professor.
Appeal to Tradition- Appealing to tradition is a fallacy because something is a long time belief; therefore
it is a good belief. Not necessarily because something has been believed for many years does that mean
that it is a good belief.

Equivocation More than one meaning to a word. An example would be: Mice, there would be an
animal and there can also be a computer component.
Appeal to ignorance- We dont know something; we are not supposed to assert false information.
Ad Hominem- Attacking the person and not the argument because it comes
24. Based on your reading of Writing Philosophy, Chapter 5, name and
explain the 10
common mistakes that people make when writing an argumentative essay.
1

Failing to evaluate and revise a first draft- this is when the first draft is written and then critiqued

and the after critique the final draft is submitted without change.
Assuming that anyones opinion is as good as anyone elses- this means that you take an opinion
and presume that that would be the same thing that another person would say, and that the person

speaking is not different from another person stating the same thing.
Formulating a thesis thats not too broad- making sure that the thesis is not covering more than
what exactly you are trying to prove. Making it accurate that the reader knows exactly what points

you will be evaluating.

Assuming that the reader can read your mind- this is when the writer states information that he
thinks the reader already has knowledge about. Therefore making information complex when simpler

words could have been used.

Overstating what has been proven- overstating happens when the information has already been

provided but there is continuous information added and therefore distorting the overall information.
Failing to start the paper early enough so that theres time for evaluation and revisions- this
occurs when papers or started a couple days short of the assigned date , and therefore when the date

due arises there is not time to review what has been written.
Attacking an authors character instead of his or her argument- this happens when the author
states information and you think that the point is incorrect, therefore thinking that the person as a

whole is incorrect.
Presenting unsupported assertions instead of his or her argument- when writing papers
information that is not the same in definition as what the author actually meant.

Padding the essay with irrelevant or redundant passages meaning that information that is being
described within the paper is not consistent with the actually question or thesis. Redundant meaning

that the information is not longer relevant, needed or useful to what is being written.
10 Using quotations from authors in a place of well developed arguments this is a mistake because
if you are quoting the author then you entirely arent using your own analytics in structuring your
arguments. The authors view must be broken down and used and described in the writers own words.

Describe the distinctions among: active euthanasia, passive euthanasia, voluntary

euthanasia, nonvoluntary euthanasia, and involuntary euthanasia.
There are different types of euthanasia: Active euthanasia, and passive euthanasia, and they both have
sub categories of: voluntary euthanasia, non voluntary euthanasia, and involuntary euthanasia.
Firstly, euthanasia is when someone or the self asks someone else to do the final act. Final act
being the action of killing or ending their life. Active euthanasia is done by legal injection this can be
voluntary, non voluntary and involuntary. The person that wants to be killed will arrange for a person to
inject a toxin into their body, therefore death happens almost immediately. Active euthanasia is illegal in
Canada but is legal in other parts of the world such as Europe.
When active euthanasia is done non-voluntarily, where the person requesting death gives
directions to another to act or kill in a specific way. This is also not legal in Canada, and will be taken to
prison and charged with murder. An example of this would be if I had told someone the way in which I
would like my death to occur and that person does it. A person in a coma has stated that she would like to
be killed if her coma lasts more than a year.
Finally we can have involuntary active euthanasia. This is the act of killing a person without the
consent from the person being killed. A case that exemplifies the act of involuntary active euthanasia
would be the Robert and Tracy Latimer. The daughter of the family was killed with carbon monoxide

from being locked in a (idling) car that was in the garage. The daughter was not aware of the act of her
own death and therefore was involuntarily participating in active euthanasia.

Passive euthanasia means letting die, it is caused by the action or request of the person wanting to
be killed. These cases usually take form when someone has a life threaten disease, or when they are
restricting their own treatment because of a harm done to them.
Voluntary passive euthanasia means that the hospitals patient is requesting or acting to remove
the element that is keeping them alive. Be it a feeding tube or oxygen line or the act of not taking
necessary drugs. This form of killing the self is legal in Canada, as the person does have the ability to
choose the actions that will affect them. In this case the person has the ability to choose life or death. It is
moral that is question that is lead to the person and what condition that person is entirely in.
Non voluntary passive euthanasia is when a patient is brought into medical care and has stated to
the doctor that they do not want to be helped or treated. Instead they wish to have no treatment which will
cause the death to be long and painful. There can also be involuntary passive euthanasia. This is when
there is also someone who needs to be treated and they have no consent or no knowledge that their life
will be ended. The example for this would be a newborn child kept in NICU and the milk treatment
needed for the child was taken away.
Both scenarios of euthanasia mean that life is willingly or unwillingly taken away for someone.
Where active means there there is an immediate action of killing the person done via the person wanting
to die. While passive means that death will occur or over time and not immediately such as active would.
Where the death would occur from just being let die.