Determining Rights versus Wrong Mass shootings, racial hatred, social injustice, incivility, fraud, and White Supremacy are just a few of the examples of the moral decay in America. These extreme forms of behavior have occurred because of a decline in morality and ethical behavior. Morality is the system through which we determine right and wrong […]
The Causes of the Moral Decline in America Read More »
Does Teaching Ethics Do Any Good? Does teaching ethics work? If teaching ethics does no good, then why are we doing it? The answer may lie in knowing what are (or should be) the goals of teaching ethics. First, let’s discuss what ethics education is not and should not be expected to do. One thing
Identifying the Goals of Ethics Education Read More »
Our Disconnected Society You may be familiar with the biblical parable of the Good Samaritan: A man from the ancient city of Samaria sees another man lying in the road. Many people ignored the man and passed him by, but the Samaritan stopped to help him. He followed the Golden Rule: Do unto others as
The Bystander Effect and a Civil Society Read More »
Where’s the Moral Outrage? The events of last week which at least 50 people were killed and 50 wounded in an attack targeting two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch, were despicable. The admissions cheating scandal in the U.S. raises serious questions about whether the large group of people involved know the difference
Have We Regressed into Nietzsche’s “Moral Nihilism”? Read More »
Medical Ethics and End-of-Life Decisions Morality depends on the cognitive dimension of our behavior or our thought processes – the way we conceptualize right or wrong and make decisions and reason about how we should behave. Moral issues concern both behavior and conduct. They arise when people are faced with such questions as: “What should
What are the Moral Considerations in Physician-Assisted Death Read More »
Do all Religions and Cultures Believe in the Same Set of Values? The existence of a common set of values across religions would go far to explain why different cultures and societies believe that the Golden Rule is the basic standard of behavior. Rushworth Kidder, the founder of the Institute for Global Ethics, wrote a
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Doing Good by Being a Good Person What makes one person speak out and blow the whistle on wrongdoing while another remains silent? Is it a “moral sense,” as Thomas Jefferson wrote, that instinctively motivates a person’s thoughts and actions? Is it motivated by avoiding harm to others? The other day, a reader sent in
When Are Our Actions Morally Praiseworthy? Read More »
Teaching Ethics to College Students Do you teach ethics to your college students as I do? If so, how do you avoid teaching ethics without students feeling like you are trying to convert them to one set of beliefs or another? These are important issues for us as educators. Personally, I set a goal to
Ethics Without Indoctrination Read More »
Principles of Ethical Behavior It’s not so much that The Golden Rule establishes a moral code for society as it provides guidance on how we should lead our daily lives. The Golden Rule Says to: Treat Others the Way We Want to be Treated. It is a mantra we should say over again as we
Responsible Behavior Shoved Aside for Biased Reporting The media has been referred to as “The Fourth Estate” with the important function of being the news media – “the press” – and serving as the eyes and ears of the public. The traditional print and media reporting has been viewed over time as the way to
The Role of the Media in Politics Read More »