Spring 2014 Ethics Course Study Questions

Return to Ethics

JAN 14

1st class

JAN 16

1. What were Ariely's findings on honesty?
2. What is the possible significance of his research for understanding the nature of ethics?

JAN 21

1. How do we use metaphors to think about the psyche, soul, and human identity?
2. What organic features of consciousness does Haidt think we need to consider when doing ethics? How might they be usefull?
3. What picture of the mind does Haidt leave us with?
4. What is the the significance of defining ethics in terms of settling value conflict?
5. What, if anything, does the Zimbardo Experiment tell us about the nature of ethics?

JAN 23

1. Describe Haidt's research on disgust. What is its possible significance for understanding the nature of ethics.
2. What is Haidt's criticism of developmental psychology's past approach to understanding the nature of ethics?
3. Why does Haidt think that Turiel's and Schweder's research represent an improvement over the nature/nuture debate?

JAN 28

1. Present and evaluate Piaget's and Kohlberg's theories of development.
2. What is the problem of relativism (include forms of relativism and subjectivism) and what is Singer's argument against them?
3. What kinds of reason-giving "count" as ethical for Singer?

JAN 30

1. How does Aristotle frame (structure and establish conditions for arguments) the discussion of happiness and the good life?
2. How does Aristotle evaluate various candidate answers for the good life?
3. What is Aristotle's view of the nature of the soul and why is that important for understanding the good life?