Conversations in Contemporary Ethical Issues with Jennifer McCrickerd
Five Thursdays from 10 a.m. to noon on April 20, 27, May 4, 11, 18 at the Wellfleet Adult Community Center (formerly the COA).
Course limited to 20 participants.
Most of us have a pretty clear sense of what we want to do, as well as what the law requires of us. Additionally, we have a good idea of what our friends, society and all the rest say, but we might still wonder what is the right thing to do, at least in some circumstances. Or, whether our views are correct or, even if confident we are correct, whether we fully understand the reasons someone might reasonably disagree. These are questions people have wrestled with for centuries, though it might seem that differences of opinion about what is ethical are starker than ever before.
In this course, we will discuss a wide variety of ethical issues determined by participants, but possibly including: -issues of immigration, taxation, justice, individual rights, medical ethics, environmental ethics, ethical issues arising from recent innovations in technological abilities. The goal of our discussions will be to become more informed and nuanced in our thinking on specific issues, while also becoming more confident regarding some of the underlying fundamental ethical issues such as:
- what sorts of things can have rights?
- where do rights come from?
-If respecting someone’s rights creates harms to others and the harm can only be prevented by violating rights, where should we land and what are the implications of whatever position we take?
We will also discuss how to talk about ethics across difference and about why people who know what is ethical might still behave unethically and how we can best decrease chances for unethical behavior in ourselves and others.
This is a discussion -based course with articles made available as a grounding for conversation. Participants will leave the course with a deeper understanding of the complexity of thinking about ethics as well as increased ability to think about ethics in a more nuanced manner.