Thursday, January 11, 2018

Will an ethics class help you be ethical?

A lot of our moral decisions occur when we know what the right thing to do is, and we are trying to find the guts to do it. In this type of situation, an ethics class won't help you. In fact, it might do  harm, because it might give you an excuse to come up with rationalized reasons not to do what you know is right. (What if, what if, what if.......) 
On the other hand, other issues are hard to decide from a moral point of view. If that is the issue, that is, an issue where moral reasoning is needed, then this course can be helpful. But no class is going to give you moral fortitude. 

2 comments:

bmiller said...

Victor,

Sounds like you could start teaching a "Moral Fortitude" class and run the table.
I've never seen one of them on any University curriculum

Joseph Hinman (Metacrock) said...

studying ethics has clarified my thinking about being ethical. Does that carry over to my behavior? i doubt it. Still worth it to know.