Transcript Shifting Gears #2: The Good Left Undone

Shifting Gears #2:
The Good Left Undone
Feraco
Myth to Science Fiction
13 April 2010
What is Morality?
 Morality as a Function of Free Will
(Reviewed)
 What is “Good”?: Evaluative
Language
 Ethics and Morals
 The Good Life?
 All Things Are Possible: The Doors
Morals Open, The Doors Morals
Shut
Morality as a Function of Choice
 What happens to morality if
you’re entirely responsible for
your actions and their
consequences?
 Good things, we hope!
 What happens to morality if
something interrupts your ability
to control your actions as well?
 Are you still responsible?
 Sanity and culpability
For Today…
 Let’s assume – for today – that you
have free will
 If you have free will, you have the
ability to choose your actions – which,
in turn, means you’re responsible for
their consequences
 Therefore, you have a choice regarding
whether you’ll lead a “moral” life
 But is that power – to live “morally” –
worth anything?
Why Bother Living a “Moral Life”?
 First, let’s look at why it might be
important to live “well”
 Is there any reason to try to do
so?
 Do morals and ethics hold us
back, restricting our vision
rather than opening our minds?
 Possibly, but not necessarily…
Ethics vs. Morals
 Generally speaking, ethics are codes
that govern your professional conduct
– the beliefs that determine my
teaching style, for example
 Do different teachers have different
ethical standards?
 Morals, on the other hand, are codes
that govern your private behavior –
whether you choose to help someone,
wear something, relate to someone,
abandon something, etc.
Some Big Questions
 Should morals be constructed by each
person on an individual basis?
 How about ethics?
 If you’re not allowed to construct
them yourself, is that a threat to free
will?
 I suppose, if your subscription to those
principles is voluntary – a choice – you
could choose to buy in and change your
mind later...what would the consequences
be, however, if you chose to break from
society’s ethical or moral codes?
The Big One
 If you are able to shape the concept of
whatever qualifies as “good” yourself, does
“goodness” lose all real value?
 You, for example, may believe Death Cab for
Cutie is awful; I may believe they’re excellent
 If we’re listening to the same music at the
same time, doesn’t that just invalidate the
value of both our reactions?
 Isn’t it like allowing people to call “steak”
whatever they feel like – “ice cream,” “slab o’
meat,” etc. – without providing help on what
to call it and where you should do so?
 Does that make everything arbitrary?
 Similarly, isn’t that like allowing you to
choose your own grading scale – your own
“standard for success”?
 Would that be a bad thing?
Possibilities and Frameworks
 Morals and ethics reinforce your desire
to achieve personal excellence by
providing you with a framework for it
 Because of that framework, you can
make sense of the things you come
across and are able to make a
consistent, understandable decision
 Your hopes and dreams are therefore
shaped by your ethical and moral codes
 Is that framework helpful, or does it
serve as a prison?
Why You Live a “Moral Life”
 Even morality doesn’t have to be
restrictive; rather, it’s about trying to
study the “best” way to live life
 Consequently, a careful understanding of
both will allow an individual to grow
rather than simply survive, because
those senses of “goodness” help provide
us with direction we would otherwise lack
 That direction shapes more than your
career goals; how many friendships, for
example, would you lose if you only made
relationships based on who could help
you survive?
Reaching a Consensus
 In this sense, the ability to choose to live well
is essentially the ability to choose insight
over ignorance, to elevate the rich, varied
lifestyle above the thoughtless and bland
 You can choose either one, of course – we’ve
decided you have free will for today
 Now, what if I want to live well? How do I
decide to do so? It seems like an awful lot of
people have a lot of ideas about how to do
things...how do I choose?
 It helps to define ethics and morality before
we do anything else – because goodness is, of
course, relative, and my impression of living
well could be entirely off-base
Reviewing Our Questions One by One
 Can I choose my own moral and ethical
codes?
 Sure – the construction of those codes plays a
huge role in determining any person’s sense
of identity
 Should I do so?
 Well, it’s hard to subscribe exclusively to
someone else’s ethical beliefs
 That said, as long as my codes meet certain
societal criteria (don’t throw things while
teaching, etc.), I’ll probably be fine
 (This doesn’t quite answer the question – you’ll be
answering it yourself in due time)
 Again: Do different teachers have different ethical
standards?
One by One Continued
 Now morals, on the other hand, often
end up becoming legal issues
 If you don’t find the voluntary taking
of human life immoral, you’ll be
staring across a wide ethical gulf from
virtually everyone you already know
 Can we be trusted to shape these
things ourselves?
 Do we need guides to help bring out
our better angels?
 Can we figure out what is “good” by
ourselves?
Goodness Gracious
 Does goodness lose its value if you leave
its definition up to me?
 Morals aren’t written in stone (usually!),
and our codes of professional and
personal conduct don’t always align with
codes from our parents’ generation
 Still, the concept of “good” as this
nebulous, free-floating idea has inspired
millions of debates over the centuries
 It tends to irritate those who want a
definite answer, and intrigues those who
are curious about the possibilities of an
open-ended concept of virtue
Goodness Gracious, Part II
 When we say something is “good,” what
do we really mean?
 Does the use of “good” in “‘One Tree
Hill’ is SO GOOD!” match the use of
“good” in “Kindness is good for the
soul”?
 In some cases, we seem to be stating a
fact about our opinions – when we say
“One Tree Hill” is good, we’re
expressing a favorable opinion toward
the show with the expectation that
others will agree (or be interested)
 In other cases, we seem to be stating a
fact or truth about something –
“kindness is good,” for example
 We call this evaluative objectivism
Evaluative Objectivism
 Evaluative language assigns a “quality
label” to something – this is good,
that’s bad, this is right, that’s wrong –
and there are different schools of
thought relating to our uses of such
language
 Is there a “universal bad” or
“universal good”?
 An evaluative objectivist would
answer in the affirmative, while an
evaluative skeptic would disagree
Evaluative Skepticism
 If you’re an evaluative skeptic, you tend to
think that there are shades of grey in
everything – that is, that good and evil are
relative concepts rather than moral
absolutes.
 There are ways to deal with the skeptical
thinker, just as there are ways to deal with
the objectivist thinker.
 The point, however, is that our very
understanding of that single four-letter
word – “good” – has a tremendous impact
on how we see the world – and, therefore,
on how we make moral and ethical
decisions.
 (Again, we’re operating under the
assumption that choice exists!)
Are We Really Happy With
Who We Are Right Now?
 When I ask a simple question, then –
“Are you living a good life?” – I know
that a bunch of different responses
are popping up around the classroom
 This is because you each have your own
interpretation of goodness, and you
assign your own value/weight to
goodness as well
 Is virtue the most important part of
life, or is it completely arbitrary?
The Discussion
 So I’ll ask a simple question, twice –
with one word changed – in a way that
will invite further discussion.
 The first question: “Are you living the
‘good life’?”
 The second: “Are you living a good
life?”
 Obvious follow-up question: “Well,
what defines ‘the’ good life? What
defines ‘a’ good life?”
 You do. Write away!
The Doors We Open,
The Doors We Shut
 The last major topic of discussion
today is the role of influence of morals
on your daily lives
 Questions connecting to questions!
 Do you feel that your own sense of
morality – regardless of whether it is
valid – limits or frees you?
 In what ways does it affect you – and
are you comfortable with those
effects?
 Think about this for a while so we can
discuss the topic in greater detail!
Now It’s Your Turn!
 Yesterday, you discussed choice
 Today, I’d like you to articulate
your personal philosophy
regarding ethics and morality
 Best of luck!