1. The Persistence of Casuistry: the Revival of Case-Based Reasoning

2. II. casuistry despised III. casuistry rehabilitated IV. casuistry in the classroom I. casuistry defined

4. abortion

5. 45% prolife 49% prochoice Gallup poll July 2011

6. 27% legal under any circumstance 22% illegal in any circumstance 50% legal only under certain circumstances

8. confession

9. Casuistry: an example

10. II. casuistry despised

11. Protagoras - sophist

12. Plato 428 – 427 B.C.E.

13. "...it is a lesser sin if a man seduces a beautiful woman than an ugly one, for he is compelled by beauty, and, where there is greater compulsion, there is less sin." Alain of Lille (12 th century)

14. 1556 – 1656 “high casuistry”

15. Jesuits

16. 1660

18. Casuistry – “the art of quibbling with God.” Penny Encyclopedia 1836

19. Casuistry destroys by distinctions and exceptions all morality, and effaces the essential difference between right and wrong. Oxford English Dictionary

20. no tolerance policies

21. III. casuistry rehabilitated

22. 1988

24. ethics as deductive reason

26. Lying is morally wrong. The bishop lied to the police. The bishop’s action was morally wrong.

27. “He condemned nothing hastily or without taking account of circumstances…he had none of the inaccessibility of a rigid moralist.” Victor Hugo on Bishop Myriel in Les Miserables (13)

28. It is the mark of an educated man to look for precision in each class of things just so far as the nature of the subject matter admits. Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 1094b24-26

29. Cicero 106-43 B.C.E.

30. “It is hard work to be excellent … To do this to the right person, to the right extent, at the right time, with the right motive, that is not for everyone, nor is it easy…” Aristotle Nicomachean Ethics 1109a

31. IV. casuistry in the classroom

32. start with detailed cases

33. explore differences between cases

34. work out a taxonomy