Contemporary Social Ethics
WEEK 1: LESSON ONE
INTRODUCTION
REASONING
INDUCTIVE & DEDUCTIVE REASONING
COMMON REASONING/LOGIC FALLACIES
EXAMPLES
HOMEWORK
INTRODUCTION
In this course we will explore practical approaches to examining issues and the arguments about the issues. We will approach it from an untraditional approach in that we will not begin our foray into "ethics" by studying Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzche, Kierkegarde, Fletcher and a litany of others who have produced enough literature about ethics to wallpaper the Vatican. Although we won't avoid discussing any of these "great" resources, our focus will be on being able to identify, reason with, and develop tools to resolve ethical dilemmas
Most people don't bother with the ethical dilemmas that face us as human beings. We are too busy. We have to rush the kids to school, running out the door half dressed to make a meeting the boss called late last night. We have laundry to do, groceries to shop, and by the time we find time to think clearly, we're so tired that we don't want to think.
Add to this the fact that we don't have reliable sources of information regarding most of the dilemmas that will confront us, and we have created room for great evil to fill the cracks. Applied Ethics is often more about examining those things that have fallen "between the cracks" than actually resolving any particular problem. In fact, most of the time we are not even aware of the dilemmas that pose a hazard to us until actually confronted by the problem in a personal way... "it ain't a problem until it hits home!"
This course is about finding the cracks, pulling the stuff that falls between the cracks out to l ...