19S1 HY0001 PPT Week1-Introduction PDF

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Slide 1

Introduction HY0001 Ethics and Moral Reasoning Authors: Andres Luco | Preston Greene | Grace Boey | Christina Chuang | Shen-yi Liao

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Slide 2

Albert Einstein “Relativity applies to physics, not ethics.”

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Learning Objectives By the end of this course, you should be able to: • Identify the morally relevant features of situations, decisions, and policies. • Analyse a moral argument—an argument for a moral claim. • Assess whether a moral claim is well-supported by a moral argument. • Discuss and explain the moral reasons behind rules of academic integrity, research ethics, and intellectual property.

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What is Ethics? What is Moral Reasoning? Ethics, a.k.a. moral philosophy, is the philosophical study of morality. Central questions about ethics are: • When is an action morally right or wrong? • What makes an action right or wrong? • What makes a person morally good or bad? • What sort of things have moral value?

Moral reasoning is the thought process that leads to rational or correct answers to moral questions such as the above. 4

Notes: This course is called “Ethics and Moral Reasoning.” It’s natural to wonder, what is ethics? And, what is moral reasoning?

Slide 5

The Greater Good

When do questions of morality arise? • They arise when we consider doing something that is beneficial to some and harmful to others.

Can benefits to some justify harm to others? • Perhaps, if the benefits outweigh the harms.

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Notes: The following links provide information about the controversy over Ebola quarantines, and how the quarantines discourage medical workers who plan to travel to Ebola hit areas to fight the disease: • http://abcnews.go.com/Health/controversy-surrounding-ebola-quarantineorders/story?id=26482802 • http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/people-are-worried-aidgroups-see-fallout-quarantine-debate-n237751

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Fairness

• Moral questions also arise when we consider whether individuals or groups are treated fairly. • A starting point for thinking about fairness: people are treated fairly when they are treated equally. • But what does it mean to treat people equally? 6

Notes: The following links provide details about India’s Women Reservation Bill: • https://www.oneindia.com/feature/women-s-reservation-bill-still-hanging-limbo1501785.html • https://thewire.in/gender/womens-reservation-bill-in-lok-sabha

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Virtue

• Another area where moral questions arise is when we reflect on the characteristics of a morally good person. • Have you ever wondered: “What does it take to be a good person?” • The traits of a morally good person are called “virtues”.

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Notes: A wonderful video on Aristotle’s theory of virtue, which we will study, was produced by Crash Course Philosophy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrvtOWEXDIQ

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Virtue

Many people think that courage is a virtue. Question: • Can’t actions done with courage still be immoral? For example, does a terrorist exhibit courage when sacrificing his/her life in a suicide bombing?

Potential answer: • Courage is a virtue, but only when it is complemented by other virtues like compassion, open-mindedness, tolerance etc. 8

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Slide 9

The Value of Nature

Moral questions come up when people debate our relationship to the environment. Should we conserve ecosystems? • If so, should we conserve ecosystems only as long as it benefits humans to do it? • Or, should we (also) conserve ecosystems because there is something valuable about them that doesn’t depend on human interests?

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Notes: The following link provides information on Greenpeace’s arguments against drilling in the arctic: • http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/10-reasonswhy- arctic-drilling-is-a-really-st/blog/39225/ There may be many overlapping reasons to conserve the environment. One reason may be that, it benefits humans. But another reason could be that, there is something valuable about the environment; something which doesn’t depend on human interests—that we should conserve. Greenpeace cites both reasons in its argument against drilling in the Arctic.

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Ethics in Study and Research Moral questions come up in all aspects of life. In a university, students, professors, and researchers constantly make morally significant choices. • Students struggling to make high grades face the temptation to cheat by copying others’ work. • Professors and researchers are under constant pressure to publish. To meet expectations, they might resort to fudging results or passing off others’ ideas as their own. • Much research (for example, in psychology, medicine, and biology) involves causing harm, or the threat of harm, to living human and animal subjects. Principles of Academic Integrity and Research Ethics are needed to ensure that students genuinely learn, and that the faculty produces original, high-quality scholarship. They also ensure that research subjects are treated with compassion, respect, and dignity.

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What Will We Learn? Teaching Weeks

Topic

1

Introduction

2-3

Utilitarianism

4-5

Deontology

6-7

Virtue Ethics

8-9

Academic Integrity

10-11

Research Ethics and Intellectual Property

12-13a-13b

Environmental Ethics and Conclusion

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Slide 12

Thank You Andres Luco +65 65927827 [email protected] HSS 03 88 (PHILO)

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