tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post8125605109815513104..comments2024-03-14T04:16:20.472-07:00Comments on In Socrates' Wake: A suggestion on what to include in course materialMichael Cholbihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-5947116504880570172009-05-22T11:21:36.465-07:002009-05-22T11:21:36.465-07:00I have used Huxley's Brave New World in my intro e...I have used Huxley's Brave New World in my intro ethics classes. I have found it to be a great way to get students to think about what has value and what makes for a good/happy life. You can get a very good discussion going just by starting with the following question: would you trade the life you have right now for the life of an Alpha, Beta, Gamma, or Delta?<br /><br />I have also used Kurosawa's film Roshomon as a way to introduce/illustrate relativism about truth and the epistemic significance of disagreement. It went o.k. Some students loved it, but many thought the film was just weird. <br /><br />I have thought about using (but haven't yet) Dickens' Hard Times in connection with utilitarianism, as he wrote it as a kind of literary response to utilitarianism.Joshua Thurowhttp://web.mac.com/jcthurownoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-80706169248408728812009-04-30T08:32:00.000-07:002009-04-30T08:32:00.000-07:00Here's a link to a nice list of movies good for ph...Here's a link to a nice list of movies good for philosophy classes:<br />http://www.philfilms.utm.edu/2/filmlist.htmMichael Cholbihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02012523929044363216noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-32796113076879902062009-04-30T08:18:00.000-07:002009-04-30T08:18:00.000-07:00I like to use films when teaching ethics:
High N...I like to use films when teaching ethics: <br /><br />High Noon - Aristotelian theory (can be limited to showing highlights). <br />Gary Cooper's sheriff provides an example of courage. He doesn't wait in the middle of the street for the villains - that would be suicidal. He hides, but calls out a warning before shooting - to shoot them in the back would be cowardly. A few minutes later, his wife, played by Grace Kelly, does shoot someone in the back, but what would be cowardly for him is courageous for her - she has never fired a gun before. There is a boy who offers to fight alongside the sheriff. The sheriff refuses - the boy is not yet ready - but, in the final scene, he ruffles the boy's hair as a gesture of encouragement: he has not yet acquired phronesis, but has the natural tendency towards courage. <br /><br />To spark off discussions of sexual ethics I use The Apartment. Most students think of sexual ethics as a purely private matter between consenting adults. That doesn't leave any room for interesting discussion. The Apartment opens up new avenues of discussion. First, the environment is one where only men have access to high-paying jobs and women are restricted to being secretaries and elevator-girls. This creates a pattern of behaviour degrading for men and women. The central characters manage to break away from this, aided by Dr. Dreyfus, a nosy neighbour, the kind of judgemental person who seeks to impose moral standards on other people's private lives - but can also be relied on to bend the rules when a neighbour needs help. <br /><br />For capital punishment, I use Dead Man Walking, shown over two classes. In the first class, I stop for discussion immediately after a powerful speech by a character whose daughter has been murdered, expressing his support for the death penalty. The film as a whole is anti-capital punishment, but Mr. Percy's speech provides useful balance. <br /><br />A film I've never shown, but frequently refer to, is Dark Star. Can we deduce what goodness is by finding out a purpose for which we were created, or, through a study of evolutionary psychology, discovering our natural function? In Dark Star, the intelligent bomb was created in order to explode. How could one persuade it not to? <br /><br />On a non-ethical note, there are passages from 1984 that are excellent when introducing debates about realism/anti-realism. In fact, Crispin Wright has an extended discussion of the O'Brien/Winston interview in his Realism, Meaning and Truth.Ben Murphyhttp://mailer.fsu.edu/~bmurphy/index.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-64695230399459526862009-04-30T06:36:00.000-07:002009-04-30T06:36:00.000-07:00Sometimes I believe we get too deep and lose the w...Sometimes I believe we get too deep and lose the whole ethical issue debate when man's nature is right there for all to see..<br />My students just can't get passed Stanley Milgram's study of meting out punishment by electrical shock.del pattersonhttp://delsperspective.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-74453677917982120582009-04-29T21:11:00.000-07:002009-04-29T21:11:00.000-07:00I've never had the opportunity to use it, but the ...I've never had the opportunity to use it, but the episode "In the Pale Moonlight" of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (often named as the best episode of any Star Trek series yet) is a powerful demonstration of consequentialism vs. deontology.Kevin Schuttehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04562007179161022792noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-84624610389179873692009-04-28T20:51:00.000-07:002009-04-28T20:51:00.000-07:00A little more lowbrow, but I successfully used a c...A little more lowbrow, but I successfully used a couple of episodes of House, M.D. in my bioethics class this semester. An episode's length is just right for including discussion in a Tu/Th class here. <br /><br />A decent discussion piece for utilitarianism is always Ursula Le Guin's "Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas".Adam Potthasthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00686426103984188017noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-92006254567888623202009-04-28T20:39:00.000-07:002009-04-28T20:39:00.000-07:00In ethics and medical ethics I end up using Jodi P...In ethics and medical ethics I end up using Jodi Picoult books.. usually "My Sister's Keeper". I also use a Diablo Cody book about stripping.. which tends to get their attention :).Inside the Philosophy Factoryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12255753259090709877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-36351740775517128122009-04-28T18:23:00.000-07:002009-04-28T18:23:00.000-07:00How about Mark Twain's "What Is Man?" It's a phil...How about Mark Twain's "What Is Man?" It's a philosophical dialogue in the Platonic style. Engaging discussion of determinism, but more so psychological egoism (same combination as in Hobbes, but much easier to follow than Hobbes, who is difficult reading for intro undergrad course in philosophy). <br /><br />Here's a link to it:<br />http://www.gutenberg.org/files/70/70.txtAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8070355695530434450.post-5535899745043700652009-04-28T08:53:00.000-07:002009-04-28T08:53:00.000-07:00For several quarters now I've been using a bunch o...For several quarters now I've been using a bunch of J.L. Borges' short stories in my 101 class. This is less a matter of getting students to see the 'naturalness' of philosophical issues - Borges' stories, at least the ones I'm using, tend to be fantastical! - then a novel way of introducing them to those issues. I've been keeping tabs on what the students think of the stories, and their reactions are very positive.<br /><br />YouTube can also be good for the occasional use. And I often hear valuable stuff on that most wonderful radio show, 'This American Life'.Gary Bartletthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02844319062429953816noreply@blogger.com