1. Activity – Pure sex appeal
5 groups of 4 – 1 poster each
Read Sinbad the sailor
Rank characters from the most reprehensible to the least reprehensible, according to moral values, justifying your choices. 20 min

2. Questions What are the methods of verifying moral positions?
Is there such a thing as a moral fact?
Are all values the same? If not, what is your hierarchy of ethical concern?
What are the differences between judging moral values according to
Principles
Motives
Consequences

3. From other times and places
What are the major moral issues of today? What were they 100 years ago? 1000 years ago? What will they be 100 years from now?
Are there moral judgments that do not change across cultures?

4. Ethical issues throughout time

5. Ethical issues throughout cultures
United States
France
Abortion
The death penalty
Arms control
Teaching creationism in schools
Marriage
Secularism
Assisted reproduction
New social rights (housing)
The market economy (private education)
Genetically Modified Organisms
the Louvre museum in Abu- Dhabi
Illegal immigrants

6. Ethics (objectives) Define ‘morality’, ‘ethics’ and ‘value judgements’
Give one real life example of ethical relativism
Explain how moral judgments differ if one focuses on the person (virtue ethics), motivation (duty based theories), consequences (utilitarianism) or the situation
Give example of one personal moral judgement
Give examples of ethical issue related to \areas of knowledge
Explain how two ways of knowing are relevant to moral judgements
Give one example to show how knowledge may create moral responsibilities

7. Ethics Ethics is a set of rules to regulate the way people behave
Within an organization these rules underpin the aims of the services that created them (doctors have ethical rules es. confidentiality that helps them achieve the aim of their profession)

8. Ethics
Within our society ethics is a set of clearly stated moral principles that is useful to guide us in our every day relationships with others
My action is ethical if:
I believe it’s right and i am ready to justify it as such
The interest of someone else rather than myself is involved
I must act of my own free will
My action must be deliberate

9. Where do ethical principles come from?
Philosophers and religious thinkers have developed them
They are called Theories of Conduct:
Religious theories
The Self Interest Theories
The Universal Law theory
The Utilitarian theory

10. Religious theories of conduct
The major religions in the world have ethical codes which set standards of behavior for their members
The codes are usually revealed through divine revelation, that is directly from a god to a prophet
There are problems with the religious theories of conduct

11. The four main religions
Hinduism
Buddhism
Islam
Christianity

12. The self-interest theory
We should aim at the acquisition of all those things we most desire
If we cultivate virtues like generosity, bravery, temperance and loyalty, on the long term these will make us happy (Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics)
Self-interest is not selfishness: concern for others is rational self-interest

13. The universal law theory
Kant: the categorical imperative
The universal law: we act in such a way that our actions could become a universal rule of human conduct
The law of respecting others: People should be respected as rational beings with goals of their own. No-one should use people simply to attain their own goals

14. The utilitarian theory
Actions are right if they are useful, or for the benefit of, the majority
More applicable to governments or organizations rather than being a personal ethical code

15. A contemporary definition of the ethical
There are no objective moral truths
Ethics was developed in ancient times as the best pragmatic way to survive and then genetically passed on to further generations

16. Glossary
Morality: the rightness or wrongness of something as judged by accepted moral standards
Ethics: a system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for a person or group
Value judgment: subjective judgment, a judgment of the worth, appropriateness, or importance of somebody or something made on the basis of personal beliefs, opinions, or prejudices rather than facts

17. Quotes
“Broken promises don’t upset me. I just think, “why did they believe me?” Jack Handy, 1949-
“These are my principles and if you don’t like them – I have others” Groucho Marx,
“Whenever I’m caught between two evils, I take the one I’ve never tried” Mae West,