Class Seven: Movie Night

Please post your half page ethical review of a film of your choice on this prompt sometime before July 8.  There is no class next week for Canada Day.  And just a reminder for presenters on July 8, please e-mail me your paper the evening before you present in class.
Enjoy the break.

After Class Six

Today we looked at ethical theories of contractarianism, of Hobbes and Rawls, and also feminist ethics of care and postmodernism.  We watched two film clips, Stand and Deliver (1986) which shows the idealism, virtues, duty, social/academic contract and caring ethics of a teacher.  The second film, Avatar (2009) we used as part of a lesson plan to teach ethics in context.  Groups sketched out some ideas and you can bring those to the next class.
(If you requested lecture notes and did not receive them, please e-mail me and I'll send them to you.)
Please comment on this prompt for June 17th's class.
Next week I will post another prompt for our "movie night" (no class on campus).  Write a half page ethical review of a movie of your choice.
Keep working on your papers, and just a reminder for those presenting on July 8, please e-mail me your papers by 6 p.m. on July 7th.
See you in two weeks.  Enjoy the sunshine!

After Class Five

Give yourselves a pat on the back -- you have ploughed through the most complex philosophy of the semester.  Next week we will look at social contracts, feminist ethics and some postmodern views, which will be more familiar.
This week we discussed Kant's key contributions to ethics: to follow the categorical imperative that requires us to ask if we would want an action to be a universal moral law; to consider all people equal and worthy of respect, treating them as ends in themselves rather than a means to an end; and to judge actions based on a person's intentions or principles.  This is in contrast to Mill's utilitarianism, which aims for the greatest happiness for the largest number of people; here we look at outcomes or consequences and work backwards.
Connecting Kant's approach to religion and politics, we see that the individual is free from following any higher authority's decree, free to follow the moral law, but at the same time, responsible for his or her actions.  This has had a major impact on our concept of moral order, the demand that people learn to think for themselves, and the necessity of recognizing human rights.  It follows that teachers are deeply involved in facilitating this growing understanding in their students.
The questions on the handout we considered also helped us to understand that particular ethical systems are often simultaneously at play in a teacher's decision-making process in the classroom.  Where one falls short, another steps in to fill out the whole picture.  Consciously or unconsciously, we draw on many systems in the work we do.  Our goal is to be more aware of our practices and understand them better.
If you haven't sent me a description of your paper topic, please do.  Also, be thinking about the film you will analyze through the lens of ethics.
Have a great weekend.

After Class Four

This week we compared Plato and Aristotle (image is part of Raphael's famous painting, "The School of Athens" where Plato is pointing upwards to the world of ideals, and Aristotle is pointing forward to this world).  Then we examined some of Aristotle's accomplishments, especially in his ethical concepts of the virtues and the Golden Mean.
Later we compiled a comparison list of moral values of the religions we researched and are still deciding if it's safe to say most religions share universal values.  If yes, perhaps teachers can be more confident about upholding these values in multicultural classrooms.
Continue to fill in the last questions on the back of that sheet and bring it to class next week.
Also, it's not too soon to start thinking about a topic for your paper.  Whenever you've decided, write up a short paragraph describing what you want to explore and I'll give you feedback.
See you next week.