Spring 2016 Ethics Course Study Questions

Return to Ethics

JAN 14

1. What did Ariely's research show about human moral behavior with respect to cheating?

2. What does this research tell us about cheating, lying, and other moral behaviors?

3. What, if anything, does this research tell us about the nature of ethics?

JAN 19

1. How does ethics involve different levels of justification?

2. What was the Zimbardo experiment and what does it tell us about the nature of ethics?

3. What do the four aspects of the "divided self" (in Haidt's article) tell us about ethics?

JAN 21

1. How do Piaget and Kohlberg reflect the mainstream view of rationalists in developmental psychology of the 60's and 70's?

2. How do Turiel, Schweder, and Haidt's research challenge the view of rationalist developmental psychology?

3. Evaluate Haidt's claim that ethics is not about discerning truths so much as furthering social agendas. What strikes you as attractive or problematic about that view?

JAN 26

1. Reviewing Kohlberg's theory of moral development, what seems most compelling about it as an account of moral development? Present and evaluate criticisms of it in light of your reading of Haidt.

2. How does Singer argue against relativism and subjectivism? In what ways does he grant that ethics is not as objective as physics?

JAN 28

1. What is Aristotle's approach to ethics? What sort of ethical theory does he offer?

2. How does the Golden Mean help us find virtue?

FEB 2

1. What is philosophy's "rationalist delusion" according to Haidt and how does biology, evolutionary psychology challenge it?

2. How does an evolutionary psychologist look at emotion differently than Plato did?

3. What is Haidt's Social Intuitionist model of ethics? How relativistic is it?

FEB 4

1. How does psychological research support the idea that "intuitions come first"? What does the research in this chapter (Haidt ch. 3) tell us about the role of reason in decision-making?

2. How does this research support the claim that social relationships are important in moral life?

FEB 16

1. What is Veneer Theory, who believes it and why? What's at stake in believing it or not?

2. What thesis does the evidence in Haidt Chapter 4 support? What view of intelligence and politics does Haidt move toward as a result of this evidence? Evaluate.

FEB 18

1. What is de Waal's view of empathy and how does he support it with research and anecdote?

FEB 23

1. What evidence does de Waal present for the existence of reciprocity and fairness behaviors in chimps and capuchin monkeys?

2. How does de Waal theorize "primacy of affect" by reference to Mencius and the idea of a "community of concern"?

3. What is the future of empathy and compassion as part of human morality? Should we shift from emotional to cognitive judgements in cases of response to human suffering? In what circumstances? What principles should govern the extension of empathy and compassion beyond kin and in groups?