2007/2008 blog

Back to main class page: 2525 moral issues

These are entries from the 2007/2008 academic year.

Some, but not all, will be relevant to the 2008/2009 academic year.

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March 17 (Happy St. Pat's...)

Unfortunately, due to health reasons, I have been forced to cancel tomorrow's class...

In lieue of attendance tomorrow, I ask that each of you read the blog entry at this site and respond in a short paragraph or two and send it along to me personally. Think about such questions as... What is at issue? What is the writer's opinion? Does he convince you? Why or why not? Remember that the subject of our lecture and discussion would have been the relationship between morality and legality. How does this article fit that topic?

I will count your response as both attendance and in-class work (that is, I will assign it a mark out of 5). I'm looking for lively engagement and good writing. You do not need to do any of this in hardcopy. I would like your responses by midnight Thursday.

Two Hundred Years in Prison for the Possession of Child Pornography

March 10

You may be aware that I have cancelled tomorrow morning's class. All the readings for it will be transferred to next week and I will try to combine the two lecture topics.

Hope the rest of you are well...

March 5

Education and Discipline Bertrand Russell

Why Schools Don't Educate John Gatto

February 27

Groundhog Day writer Danny Rubin's Blogus Groundhogus....

Groundhog Day: A movie for all time... Jonah Goldberg

Groundhog Day Wikipedia (with then and now Roger Ebert Reviews)

January 29

Just posting the homework assignment due in class on February 5th.

January 11

Just posting the homework assignment due in class next Tuesday.

January 5

While you're thinking about utilitarianism...here's a question...

Suppose that Jones has suffered an accident in the transmitter room of a television station. Electrical equipment has fallen on his arm, and we cannot rescue him without turning off the transmitter for 15 minutes. A World Cup match is in progress, watched by many people, and it will not be over for an hour. Jones’s injury will not get any worse if we wait, but his hand has been mashed and he is receiving extremely painful electrical shocks. Should we rescue him now or wait until the match is over? Does the right thing to do depend on how many people are watching – whether it is one million or five million or a hundred million?

The rest of the story is here.

January 3
I don't know if you're all aware of what has happened up at the university. Here's a link to a local newspaper story about it. They say that classes will go ahead on Monday as scheduled. See you on Tuesday then...

December 29

Just a reminder that the readings listed for the first lecture on Utilitarianism (back in November) are required for the lecture coming up on the 8th of January.

December 19
I've sent interim (unofficial) grades to the dean's office as per their request. I've also posted them here.

I've had ongoing computer problems since mid-November. Please email me again if you've sent something I've not answered.

November 16

Something to make you smile...and think

And the PowerPoint which someone suggested I send (for Lecture 9: Egoism)

I tried to send it by email, but Yahoogroups doesn't allow larger files.

It doesn't outline the whole lecture, as I was a bit rushed when preparing it, but it does illustrate parts of it.

November 7
A quotation...

I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all: Thomas Jefferson:

I spoke in class yesterday about Lawrence Kohlberg's stages of moral development.

Here is the Wikipedia link and here is a more in-depth discussion.

Here is a thoughtful reflection on the story of Sodom and Abraham's intervention with God

Scientists have been busy trying to figure out what natural events might have led to the story about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

November 3

Illuminating Lives: Dorothy Day

...and a page with more links...Dorothy Day

Seeds of Unfolding

November 2

Wikipedia on Dorothy Day

Dorothy Day on Dorothy Day

On another note:

Psychologists in Denial About Torture

October 9

Please see the Lecture readings for next week (updated in the box above...)

September 27

A short story to read in relation to the 'honour killings' discussion topic.

"No-Name Woman" by Maxine Hong Kingston

September 26

Here are the readings for October 2nd. The Midgeley article listed in the original syllabus appears to be unavailable (therefore will not be required). I have also updated the syllabus up above to reflect this change. The syllabus will keep changing as I add readings for future weeks....stay tuned...

Herodotus: Morality as custom

The Nature of Morality by William Shaw

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

September 21

Here are the overheads for lec 2. Please note that while I have included every word here, this will not always be the case. No promises, in other words. At any rate, my overheads do not outline the lecture. If you're not there, you will miss much discussion, much interpretation, many examples and the wisdom of your fellow students.

September 14

Please note that you are not responsible for the Dangerous Idea blogs beyond the original argument written by Reppert. The rest of the pages are comments written by respondents. While they are interesting to read, they are not required. BUT please print out the first page of each and write some comments on them to prepare for class discussion.

And give some thought to the ideas in Plato's 'The Ring of Gyges'. What does Plato think of human nature? What do you think?

September 13

I said in class that I would post the reading links in an easier to use format, and I will, but it isn't really necessary. I momentarily forgot that it is possible to click on a link in a Word document and have the link open in a browser window. But here are the links for next week:

“The case for Moral Objectivity” A Dangerous Idea (blog)

“Some Arguments Against Objective Moral Values” A Dangerous Idea (blog)

Ring of Gyges

Please print these pages out and mark them up with your thoughts, objections, questions (in preparation for class discussion). If printing is difficult for you, at least bring to class some notes you've made on a separate sheet. List the main arguments in defense of both positions and comment on them. Do you find them satisfying and persuasive or not? Which side seems better supported? Is that the side that 'seems' most right to you? Why or why not?

As well, let me know by email if anything here is unclear or unreadable and report any links that don't work.

I want this blog to be useful to you.

And a reminder to sign up for the email list. The link is writ large above...

September 6

Even the smallest stories can have moral content:

What are the teachers really worried about?

What rights do the students (or their parents) have?

Whose rights are more important?

Schools outlaw electronic gadgets in name of safety

And something else to think about:

Put all British citizens, visitors in DNA database: judge

These stories both landed in my email box this morning courtesy of my subscription to the CBC email news.