THE MORALITY QUIZ! From Civilization And Its Discontents Sigmund Freud On Freuds Civilization And Its Discontents Ian Johnston The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Ursula LeGuin Sigmund Freud Documentary Part 1 (Video Supplement) Sigmund Freud Documentary Part 2 (Video Supplement) Sigmund Freud Documentary Part 3 (Video Suppliment) Weekly Questions 1. What does Wilson mean by a moral sense? What is his theory about the origin of morality? 2. Briefly discuss what Wilson declares about the moral sense and how societies function. 3. Is Freuds view of humans basically positive or negative? Explain. 4. According to Freud, how are societies sustained? 5. Discuss Homer and Platos views of society. 6. Discuss the Pleasure Principle versus the Moral Sense in Omelas. 7. Discuss three interesting new things you learned about Freud from the video. Week 2 The Moral Sense Chapter 2 Sympathy Parable Of The Good Samaritan New Testament Zimbardo Stanford Prison Experiment Saul McLeod The Milgrim Experiment Saul McLeod Asch Experiment Saul McLeod Discovering Psychology: The Power Of The Situation (In-Class Film) Journey From The Psychology Of Evil To The Psychology Of Heroism (Video Supplement) Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) 1. Discuss what Wilson has to say about evolution and sympathy. 2. Why is the Parable Of The Good Samaritan so often held up as the model of sympathy? 3. Discuss Freuds view of humanity and the Zimbardo, Milgrim and Asch experiments. 4. Discuss the three experiments in light of Nazi Germany or the Rape of Nanking. 5. Does Zimbardo make a deal with the devil in defending Chip Frederick, especially after what he implies later in the video about free will and heroism? explore the tendency toward (or away from) a specific type of moral behavioraltruism, self-sacrifice, helping, empathy, etc.in individuals and groups. (Compare and contrast individual and group behaviors.) Week 3 The Moral Sense Chapter 3 Fairness Rousseaus Social Contract Maurice Cranston Night And Fog (In-Class Film) Blind (In-Class Film) Democracy And Participation: Rousseaus Social Contract (Video Supplement) Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) 1. Discuss Wilsons ideas about the social origin of fairness. 2. Do you believe children are born basically fair or basically selfish? Explain. 3. Compare and contrast Rousseaus basic ideas on society and justice with those of Freud. 4. Can Wilsons ideas about innate fairness and justice be reconciled with what we see in Night And Fog? 5. Would the two characters in Blind have made good Nazi German citizens? Why or why not? 6. Are most people more like the two in Blind or less like them? Explain. 7. Discuss Rousseaus idea of moral freedom under the law. Week 4 The Moral Sense Chapter 4 Self-Control Discipline Ralph Waldo Emerson The Fast: Gaining Strength By Doing Without Linda L. Crighton Marx, Religion And Sociology Of Religion David H. Kessel Sam Keen: In The Absence Of God (Video Supplement) Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) 1. Discuss Wilsons ideas about ediquette as a precursor or form of morality. 2. Do you believe there is a biological component to self controlor a lack thereof? Explain. 3. In what ways does Emerson view Nature as the teacher of discipline and self control? 4. Is religion and its rituals necessaryif not for every individual, then for every societyin order for there to be discipline, self-control and moral order? Why or why not? 5. Is religion not a form of self-control but, as Marx insisted, a way of being controlled? Why or why not? 6. Briefly discuss Keens view of what religion should be. Week 5 The Moral Sense Chapter 5 Duty The History Place Hitler Youth Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Dietrich Bonhöffer U.S. Soldier Refuses To Serve In Illegal Iraq War Leni Reifenstahlss Triumph Des Willens (Video Suppliment) Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) 1. Discuss what Wilson has to say about fulfilling duties and the longing for attachment. 2. Discuss ways the sense of duty can go terribly wrong (see Hitler Youth). 3. Is there a fundamental difference between instilling duty and indoctination? If so, what is it? 4. Was it dutiful for the German soldiers to fight for Hitler? For an American soldier to fight for what he sees as an unjust cause? Or does duty lie in refusing such orders? 5. Give your own personal definition of duty and tell where you think it comes from. 6. Discuss elements of the Reifenstahl film that could easily brainwash a people desperate due to hunger and financial ruin after the Treaty Of Versailles. * Rough draft of second paper: Discuss the idea of fairnessjustified human intent and actionin relation to a war in which innocent people and children are certain to die. (You may decide such a war would be entirely unfair, that any dead child rules out fairness; that the reason for the war entirely justifies the incidental killing of innocents and children; or anything in between. You can use an example from history or construct a hypothetical war of your own, but do discuss particular circumstances. Support your thesis with reasons and good reasoning!) Week 6 The Moral Sense Chapter 6 The Social Animal From The Descent Of Man Charles Darwin Robert Richards Lecture On Darwinian Moral Theory (Video Supplement) Feral Children (In-Class Film) Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) 1. Detail reasons why Wilson believes even babies are sociable. 3. Discuss Darwins ideas about intelligence and the broadening of hard-wired moral instincts. 4. Applying Darwins theory, tell whether an ant can have any sort of moral sense. 5. Do cases of feral children argue for or against the idea that humans are innately sociable? Explain. 6. Do cases of feral children prove that humans are inherently base animals just barely socialized? Why or why not? 7. Briefly discuss Richards theory that Darwin was more Deist than atheist. * Final draft of second paper Week 7 The Moral Sense Chapter 7 Families MLA Format Morality And The Emotional Brain Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) Wilsons view of the family is obviously limited to the traditionaladdress the following questions: 1. Can gay and lesbian couples with children do as good a job with family living as man/woman couples with children? Explain. 2. Can unmarried couples do as good a job with family living as married couples with children? Explain. 3. Can single parents and nontraditional familes do as good a job with family living as traditional husband/wife families? Explain. (Note: these are not loaded questions. You will receive full points for answering either way.) 4. In your opinion, which is worse, rule-obsessed parents or laissez-faire parents? 5. To what degree do you agree or disagree with Nichols theory in the video supplement? Explain. Week 8 The Moral Sense Chapter 8 Gender Gilligans Theory Of Feminine Morality Jennifer Cole Wright Sex On The Bench: Do Men And Women Have Different Moral Values? Part I Sex On The Bench: Do Men And Women Have Different Moral Values? Part II THE MORALITY QUIZ! (the discussion) Taking Sex Differences Seriously (Video Supplement) 1. Are Wilsons delineations between men and women too severe? Why or why not? 2. Do you believe gender roles are more biological or culture? Explain. 3. Discuss the difference between the propositions of Kohlberg and Gilligan on gender and morality. 4. Detail three ways (sitcoms, commercials, magazines, etc.) that the popular media misportrays gender roles and differences. 5. Give an example you have seen in which personality overrode gender stereotype. 6. Rhodes work in gender differences has been controversial. Do you think what he says encourages inequality? Why or why not? Does the work of Kohlberg and Gilligan, and our own Morality Quiz support what Rhodes has to say about gender differences? Explain. * Rough draft of third paper: To what degree do outlying circumstances (family conditions, socio-economics, religious beliefs, culture, etc.) and innate tendencies (biology, inheritability, hardwiring, etc.) influence ones sense of moral values in regard to such basic principles as sympathy, fairness, duty, etc.? (This is a nature versus nurture sort of questionwhether morality is nonexistent if not taught or whether it is hard-wired into the human machinery, or something in between.) Use at least one example from culture, history or personal experience to support your thesis. Your thesis doesnt necessary have to exactly match any theory we have studied this quarter, but use good reasoning and clear explication to support your ideas. OR Using at least three of the questions in the morality survey (and the answer percentages given by each gender), along with any other data you wish from the morality quiz stat sheet or outside sources, formulate a thesis concerning gender and morality To a degree, this is, again, a nature/nurture paper: are men and women wired differently for moral decisions, or does environment shape them, or is there a varying degree (and how much) of each? It can, but does not have to argue that one gender is more moral than the other; it can, but does not have to, consider different kinds of moral thinking/reasoning/emoting done by men and women; it can, but does not have to, involve examples from life. It does have to have a central point around which the argument is based and come to some sort of conclusion concerning gender and morality. Week 9 The Moral Sense Chapter 9 The Universal Aspiration Weekly Questions (about 100 words apiece) A Modest Proposal Jonathon Swift Shooting An Elephant by George Orwell Jane Elliot The History Of Violence (Video Supplement) 1. Is moral behavior really a universal aspiration? In short, do you agree with Wilsons premise? 2. Discuss Swifts sarcastic dressing down of socio-economic oppression in A Modest Proposal. 3. Discuss the power of peer pressure in Orwells Shooting An Elephant. 4. Does Elliots experiment with children undermine Wilsons basic ideas about the innate nature of morality? Why or why not? 5. Why choose moral behavior over self-interest? Or should we? 6. In what ways do Pinkers ideas support both the theories of Wilson and Darwin? The Moral Sense Chapter 10 The Moral Sense And Human Character Flight From Death: The Quest For Immortality (in-class film) Free Will And The Brain(Video Supplement) Do We Have Free Will Or Is Everything Determined? (Video Supplement) 1. What does Wilson say about moral universals? 2. List as many moral universals as you can. If you do not believe there are any, explain. 3. What basics are necessary in order for there to be a moral sense in a human being? 4. Are most people basically moral or immoral? Explain. 5. Discuss your opinions concerning the principles put forth in the two video supplements.
The Moral Sense Chapter 1 The Moral Sense
