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THE ART OF BEING HUMAN HU300 John Ragan Pearson Longman © 2009 A review of recent work Discussion of Unit 6 material Looking ahead to Unit 7 Morality… Many disciplines are included within the category of Humanities: Art Music Literature History Philosophy/Morality Unit 6 examined Morality • Different schools of moral philosophy • The application of moral decision- making Morality – the study of moral systems by which significant choices are made. Moral – an adjective indicating a choice between significant options, based on principles derived from reason, family teachings, education, religion or law. Pearson Longman © 2009 Moral themes can be found in all the arts. Literature - The Scarlet Letter Cinema – The Godfather Music – Saint Matthew’s Passion Art - Guernica Pearson Longman © 2009 Works that consider the question: • Plato – Republic (the ring of Gyges?) • Sartre – The Respectful Prostitute • Bolt – A Man for All Seasons • O’ Connor – “The Idealist” Pearson Longman © 2009 Economics and Self-Interest • Adam Smith – The Wealth of Nations In a perfect society, people are free to pursue economic self-interest as long as they do not break the law. Greed itself is not immoral but a natural condition of humanity. Pearson Longman © 2009 Transcending Self-Interest: Altruism Altruism – the quality of acting out of concern for the welfare of others rather than one’s own. • Dickens's – A Tale of Two Cities • Hemingway – For Whom the Bell Tolls Pearson Longman © 2009 Jeremy Bentham – Utilitarianism • the greatest good for the greatest numbers John Stuart Mill – Liberalism • the majority can be wrong, and the government must balance the irresponsibility of the general population. • Mill – The Tyranny of the Majority Pearson Longman © 2009 Immanuel Kant - The Moral Imperative The moral imperative – the inborn capacity to understand what is right and wrong , “the sense of ought.” (Is it inborn?) Choices and actions are morally acceptable and unacceptable. Pearson Longman © 2009 Religion and Morality The major religions of the world – Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam –all provide “moral orientation” for most of the world’s population. Pearson Longman © 2009 Work and Morality The workplace is for many the means to the good life where there is world of friendship, trust and security – qualities of altruism – but it can be an adversarial world of others working for self-interest. Pearson Longman © 2009 Moral Relativism • the belief that right and wrong have no definite universal meaning but must be defined within a given context. • the opposite of moral absolutism, in which actions are right or wrong, regardless of the context. Pearson Longman © 2009 Feminist Morality • Many cultural and religious traditions have been dominated by the male-point of view. • Feminist ethics maintain that universal and impartial standards are difficult to apply when gender differences are ignored. • Women’s ways of feelings and needs may alter the moral nature of situations. • Carol Gilligan, Alison Jaggar Pearson Longman © 2009 Understanding yourself and the world around you more clearly Topic of happiness. Different concepts of freedom and happiness In your unit 7 readings, you will see that there have been debates over the meanings of freedom and happiness. Unit 7 discussion The discussion questions asks: What do you see as the “American Dream” and how does it relate to happiness? Are there places in the world where happiness might be defined differently? Do research on other countries or cultures, and the concept of happiness found there. Incorporate ideas, issues, concepts, etc, from our readings into your discussion posts. Use internal citations, with sources listed at the end, to cite your material The Unit 7 writing project An interview with two people on the topic of happiness: Choose two people who vary in age and experience. These should be face-to-face interviews (or, by phone if necessary) Some sample questions to get you started: Has your definition of happiness changed over time? What experiences have influenced your definition? Do you expect the definition to change again? Writing the paper Use a clear opening statement which tells the reader what the paper will be about. Provide a transcript showing each of your questions, and the exact responses of the individuals you interviewed. Have a closing statement which compares and contrasts the two interviews (how they were similar and how they were different, etc). Before submitting the paper, go back over it one more time to check for clear, complete sentences and correct spelling.