Ethics testpaper preparation

Apart from studying the Stanford Prison Experiment, I want you to do the following in preparation for the testpaper of 29 October:

select an item from an English-language news source - the category can be politics, sports, entertainment, environment, education - anything goes! - the topic of which could be the subject of an ethical discussion. The article in question may not be published before 1 October, 2012!

For example (and that means you are NOT allowed to use this article yourselves!):

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/oct/18/twitter-block-neo-nazi-account

Ethical questions:
- should the spread of fascist messages through Twitter (or other means) be allowed?
- is it acceptable that Twitter blocks an account at the request of a government?
- more generally: what are the limits of the freedom of speech?

Of course, at the test you will be asked to link your article with the ethical theories that have been discussed in class!

You are supposed to bring a printed copy of your article to the test and hand it in along with your answers.

Questions? You know where to find me!

The Stanford Prison Experiment

In your Ethics testpaper, set for Monday 29 October, you will be asked to answer a question (you'll have a choice from three) about the Stanford Prison Experiment.

This experiment was conducted at the psychology department of Stanford University in 1971 with the purpose of researching how people react to extreme circumstances as well as obeying or executing authority. The experiment got completely out of hand and was terminated weeks before the envisioned end date.

Go to the website where the professor behind the experiment, Philip Zimbardo, and his team, give a detailed description of the experiment:

http://www.prisonexp.org/

Explore the site and keep the following two questions in mind:

- what does this experiment tell us about the morality of the people involved?
- is it ethical to conduct such an experiment to begin with?

Areas of Philosophy (from the reader)

The further philosophy developed, the more divisions philosophers started to make between the areas of topics they studied and discussed. These divisions mainly have a practical function as their contents are sometimes closely related to each other. The areas of philosophy mentioned below are the ones most widely studied nowadays; some of them will be part of this course, too.

Metaphysics

The big questions: what is reality? What does it mean to ‘be’?  What is time? The name is first used for a work by Aristotle, meta fusikh - “mèta phusikè” in ancient Greek – “beyond physics”. In other words: the structure behind the physical world. (But actually, this was the work that came after his “Physics”, which dealt with the physical world.)

Ethics

What is right, what is wrong? Ethics is perhaps the discipline of philosophy you will most often encounter in daily life, as it can be applied to many, many aspects of daily life.

Social philosophy

What is the best way to rule a country? Do people need strong leadership in order to live together in harmony? Social philosophy is often focused on the political aspects of society, but of course questions about friendship, family and such also belong to this area.

Philosophical anthropology

Another term derived from ancient Greek: anthropos = man, logos = knowledge. In other words: what is a human being? How is man different from animals? Or robots?

Logic

Some people still think that philosophy is a hazy, esoteric discipline that could not be further removed from mathematics. They could not be more wrong. Underlying all areas of philosophy is a basic form of logic and argument theory. (The more intricate and sophisticated forms of logic as a philosophical discipline are incomprehensible to even most people with a degree in philosophy.)

Philosophy of science

Once upon a time philosophy and science were one and the same thing. Nowadays philosophy of science is all about the question of what science is and what is the best method to do scientific research.

Philosophy of mind

What is consciousness? Are thoughts and feelings merely brain functions or are they more than that? If you consider that the word ‘mind’ cannot even be properly translated into Dutch, you already have a fair idea of how difficult this philosophical discipline can be.

Language philosophy

What is the function of language? Do we create our reality through language? How do words contribute meaning to objects? Is meaning dependent on context? Language philosophy is actually more fun than it may sound.

Cultural philosophy

What is art? Is beauty absolute or all in the eye of the beholder? This area of philosophy deals with questions related to culture (what is that?) in the broadest sense.

Activity 4: philosophical disciplines

·      Work in pairs.

·      Choose 5 out of the 9 areas of philosophy mentioned above.

·      Come up with one philosophical question for each area you have selected.

·      Then hit the Internet. Select one article from an English language newssource in which you recognize a philosophical ‘problem’. Briefly summarize the problem, identify the area of philosophy it belongs to and the question it poses. Briefly present in class.

Possible sources:

-          Magazines in class

-          www.guardian.co.uk

-          www.nytimes.com

-          www.newscientist.com

-          www.time.com

-          www.economist.com

 

 

Brainstorm 23 August 2012: lesson 1

What is philosophy? What is it about?
This is what first came to mind: