History of Western Philosophy in Five Minutes

1. History of Western Philosophy in Five Minutes Video

2. Philosophy 2030 Spring, 2016 Class #1 Title: Introduction to Ethics Instructor: Paul Dickey E-mail Address: pdickey2@mccneb.edu faculty.mccneb.edu/pdickey2 http://mockingbird.creighton.edu/NCW/dickey.htm Class Websites: www.quia.com Create your own userid & password.

3. It is easy to ask whether an act is moral or not and attempt to answer by means of reasons. For example, you go into a store and select an item you want. Most of us, I think, would say that it is wrong to just walk out of the store without purchasing it. But what if we were to attempt to purchase the item and the clerk undercharged us? Many of us (but perhaps not all) would think it still wrong not to inform the clerk of his error. But even then, however, are there some extenuating circumstances in which it would cease to be wrong? Answering all of these questions in a consistent and reasonable manner is the process of ethical reasoning.

4. Thus, to a large extent, ethics seems a logical and intellectual effort of sorting out good actions from bad. We attempt to prescribe acts which are consistently based on principles of morality. The prime tool we have to do so is our human reason and thus, we must be guided by the nature of critical analysis.

5. A noted contemporary philosopher Martha Nussbaum has noted that morality in addition to being rational is an emotional human response that thus cannot be understood without recognizing that. Inspired by Prof. Nussbaum, our textbook author is suggesting that Ethics should be studied in the context of stories, that is narrative that can address the total human and emotional experience of life above and beyond perhaps the simple, cold element of reason.

6. 1) Introductions – Tell Us a Story • 2) Syllabus • 3) Discussion – • What is Ethics anyway?

7. My Story: • Once upon a time in a faraway country, the virtuous Queen ventured into the hinterlands to purchase apples to feed the poor children. She happened upon a farmer with apples for sale. She asked him how much should she pay him for his apples. He said two pennies per pound and each apple would weigh about a pound. He told her to pay his good and loyal son while he was busy picking more apples. But when the Queen asked the son to weigh her apples, he refused and said his father was a fool and he would charge her no more than one penny per whole apple and that just to spite the old fellow, he would throw in several more free. • .

8. Knowing that she needed the apples for the hungry children, what should the virtuous queen do? • Not buy any apples at all from the son or father and make the children go hungry so for her to remain virtuous. • Insist on telling the father and paying for the apples at the price he had given her, thus ensuring the wrath of the father towards his son. • Accept the son’s offer so everyone would maximally benefit. The children would eat. The Queen got them at a good price. The son was cheered in his contempt for his father, and the father remained believing in his son’s loyalty.

9. Moral of the Story: • The virtuous queen paid the son for the apples at his price but refused the free ones and prayed that the son and father would soon reconcile.

10. Philosophy 2030 Introduction to Ethics Textbook: Author: Nina Rosenstand Title: The Moral of the Story: An Introduction to Ethics Edition: 7th Edition, 2013 Publisher: McGraw Hill 1) Reading Assignment for Next Class Period: Chapter 1: pp. 1-18, 36-39 2) “Write your story down”