Is the value an absolute value or a situational value?

Over the new few weeks, we will be reading and talking about morals, ethics and values. For this essay, you will be choosing a social/ethical/moral value that is brought up in a text (i.e. truth from Plato’s “The Cave”) and thoroughly investigating it. A social/ethical/moral value is a personal characteristic. It is not something that we value like money, communication, cars, or family.
To thoroughly investigate the value you choose, you will need to do a few things in your essay:
read the weekly readings and find a value that is apparent in two of the texts for the first few weeks.
clearly but briefly define the value in your own words in the introduction
clearly describe how the authors represent the value you have selected. You may need to extrapolate. (For instance, Plato does not directly mention truth but it is clear that truth is central to his thesis. Likewise, truth is an important consideration in situational vs virtue ethics.)
Look at the value from different frameworks:what would happen if the value were raised to the universal? (i.e. if everyone were always truthful what would happen? Would society crumble? The video on Kant’s Categorial Imperative is useful for this.)
Is the value an absolute value or a situational value? (You will want to look ahead to the essay by Appiah to help you consider these questions.)
what do you think about this value personally?
how does this value apply to society?
what are the problems with this value?
As with all papers for this class, this essay must meet the minimum length requirements or the highest grade it will earn is a 65%. The length requirement for this essay is 5 full pages, double-spaced, and in MLA9 format. Papers not submitted in MLA9 format will be considered plagiarized. Plagiarized papers earn a 0%.
Hint: Plato is the author, not Jacobus and the other editors; be sure this is reflected in the citations.
Note: Language is not a value. It is something we use.