Which "applied ethics" issues interest you?

[Pattybar]

Hey there,

As a sample of current undergraduates that I actually respect --I am wondering which ethical issues you would like to have covered in an applied ethics course?

I'll be teaching two next semester and generally make it up as I go along.... so I figured I should actually ask some relatively smart people.....

Patty

[nogravebutthesea]

The notion that whether or not housing and food should be basic human right in America has always been a favorite discussion point of mine.

[scooter]

Wether or not capitalism, on ballance, allows for more self-empowerment and personal fulfillment than other ideological bases of political, economic, social, etc. paradigms.

(Oh, that and anything dealing with ethics and Rick Santorum is always bound to result in a regular barrel and a half full of discursive mayhem. Let the wild rumpus begin.)

S

[patio11]

If you feel like a little introspective navel gazing, you could talk about applied ethics in education. So many subtopics : teaching versus political indoctrination, whether its mandatory to assume that all HS students go to college, the ethical virtues/lack thereof of mainstreaming or gifted classes, etc.

Patrick McKenzie

[nogravebutthesea]

Whether or not I should slap phil just for breathin......

[WWUPhil]

Whether I should enjoy being slapped by Will and whether or not I am ethically responsible to reciprocate the favor.

[mpls_saint]

Not doing abortion Prof.? Death penalty was fun. Welfare was the best. Do amorality, Nietzsche style. You love Nietzsche!
:evil

[boredguy8]

Originally posted by mpls_saint
Not doing abortion Prof.? Death penalty was fun. Welfare was the best. Do amorality, Nietzsche style. You love Nietzsche!
:evil I have yet to meet someone I respect intellectually that loves Nietzsche. Agree with Nietzsche, yes. But most of them wish they didn't have to. Don't love Nietzsche, it's bad for the soul.

--Joey

[mpls_saint]

I never met Foucault or Walter Kaufmann, though I respect both of them (and many others) intellectually. Both "loved" Nietzsche.

[Pattybar]

Nietzche is good literature..... ;)

Abortion is over-done and not very interesting, unless you are repressed Catholic university students wanting to condem someone for "killing their baby"....

I think same-sex marriage will be another hot topic... although it is getting interesting in Canada (great place, but 10 degrees off... ) and an interesting question comes up as to whether each province must recognize a same-sex marriage....

and since we don't have free will anyway ------ what's the difference, right Mpls-saint :P

Patty

[mpls_saint]

Did we "do" abortion? I thought we decided against it.

Do we have free-will? My only conclusion, thus far, is that free-will is oxymoronic. No self, with so many contingencies that contribute to it's development, can be "free". Friction and motive alone make it impossible. As for a strict causality, thats another matter altogether.
:brickwall

[plush]

Originally posted by Pattybar
Hey there,

As a sample of current undergraduates that I actually respect --I am wondering which ethical issues you would like to have covered in an applied ethics course?

I'll be teaching two next semester and generally make it up as I go along.... so I figured I should actually ask some relatively smart people.....

Patty

...i'm certain that this is far too late for any useful suggestions; however, why not talk about animal rights? it is very applicable --like what you eat. you can talk about confinement agriculture and pigs, you can talk about elephants and the circus, and you can talk about prairie dogs and sport killings. it's normally a pretty fun topic, and the discussion is normally really good too.


-matthew

[Pattybar]

No, we didn't do abortion, but some of my students decided to write extraordinarily slanted papers on it anyway.... it was pretty easy to skim them and give a low B.

But, what is the "self" unless it is something that makes some level of choice in the universe? Granted, it could be just the choice between the blue pill and the red pill.... but, isn't that a choice made by the self?

Sure, each has a motive conneced to actions from the past, BUT --- the self serves to judge the strength of the motive, no? That judgement is subjective --- thus, the self's role in choice, thus, free will.

Patty