21 July 2014

Learn what an ethical issue is.

Learn how to identify ethical issues.

Why do we need an ethical theory?

Begin with our first ethical theory: ubuntu.

Make sure you sign the register before you leave.

Hopefully I will have consultation times, an office, a class

list, an email address and study guides all by Wednesday!

Lectures:

o Monday 09:30-10:20

o Wednesday 09:30-11:20

No Thursday lecture.

You should be able to make a start on this assignment after

the lecture today.

Due: 25 August at 09:30 (beginning of the lecture)

Format: Arial size 12, 1.5 line spacing, justified margins.

You will be penalised if your format is incorrect.

You will be penalised if your assignment is late.

No hand-written assignments will be accepted.

This assignment is designed to be done in groups of 3 or 4

students.

Identify one ethical issue relating to PR or communication more broadly in a newspaper article. Attach that newspaper article to your final assignment.

(1) Explain the situation in your own words and state the ethical issue/problem you identify in that situation.

(2a) Explain one ethical theory (of your choice) and (2b) apply what you think one should do in this ethical issue based on this theory.

(3a) Explain a second ethical theory (again, of your choice) and (3b) apply what you think one should do in this ethical issue based on this second theory.

(4) Which ethical theory provides better guidance, in your view? Explain your preference briefly.

I do not want you to tell me what you think is the right thing to do.

You need to put yourselves in someone else’s mind and think what they would think.

Provide your view in (4), and support your preference with good reasons.

Finding an ethical issue is different from giving an answer. All this involves is finding a problem and putting it into a clear sentence.

An ethical issue is a question about what course of action is right or wrong.

An ethical issue might arise out of a situation when a moral decision needs to be made…

o We identify these in order to guide our ethical decision making.

…or when we are trying to evaluate a decision.

o We identify these in order to judge whether a decision that has already been made was right or wrong.

Ethical questions can be framed broadly…

o “Is killing always wrong”?

…or more specifically.

o “Is it wrong to kill an intruder in self-defence?”

o “Is abortion killing and, if so, is it wrong?”.

Find one article that you think raises an ethical issue.

In a clear sentence, write down the ethical issue your group

has identified.

See if you can identify both a broad (eg. Is killing wrong?)

and a specific (Is it wrong to kill an intruder in self-

defence?) ethical issue from the same article.

Now that we’ve seen how to identify ethical issues, why do

we need ethical theories?

What is the point of having an ethical theory or thinking

about different ethical theories?

An ethical theory gives us a principle or standard for to tell

the difference between “rightness” or “wrongness”.

In this way, an ethical theory can provide an answer to an

ethical issue or question.

This can guide our moral decision making, and assist us in

choosing an ethical course of action.

Philosophy is not dead. It didn’t end with the death of

Aristotle, and it certainly is not irrelevant today.

At the moment, Oxford University (UK) employs over 150

philosophers!

People who are trained in philosophy go into diverse fields,

from art, music and film, to law, medicine and research.

What you’re going to be thinking about in ethics is part of a

WORLDWIDE and ANCIENT debate. And it’s still going on.

Socrates (470 BC)

Aristotle

(384 BC)

Plato (428 BC)

Augustine

(354)

Thomas

Aquinas

(1225)

Descartes Leibniz

David Hume

Immanuel

Kant

Friedrich

Nietzsche

G. W. F. Hegel

Ludwig

Wittgenstein

Martin

Heidegger

Bertrand Russell

Hilary

Putnam

John

McDowell

Jean-Luc Marion

Ethics is a branch of philosophy.

Philosophy is the oldest academic subject, and ethics is one of

the oldest areas of philosophy.

Philosophy asks the most fundamental and important questions

about life, knowledge, politics, science, religion, language, etc.

Specifically, it asks normative (prescriptive) questions (which are

not empirical), and thereby seeks to find normative answers

(which are also not empirical).

Ethics tries to give normative answers to our actions, what we do.

Other important areas of philosophy are logic, epistemology,

metaphysics and philosophy of language.

Have any of you thought about what your ethical principle or

theory is?

What do you think all right actions have in common? What

is your ethical theory?

Ethics is a theory or principle used to make moral

judgments (moral decisions). As such, an ethical theory

brings together what is common in all moral judgments.

Moral judgments say whether something is right or wrong,

good or bad. Ethics, therefore, is the study of moral

rightness and wrongness.

What do you take the term “African philosophy” to mean?

How can we translate ubuntu? “Umuntu ngumuntu

ngabantu.”

Who can have ubuntu? Can I have ubuntu?

Can ubuntu even be considered an ethical theory?

Before we look at ubuntu as an ethical theory, we will build a specific understanding of “community” and “person”.

These concepts form the starting point for our discussion of ubuntu, since they are the intellectual context that grounds ubuntu.

African aphorisms/proverbs:

1. “It takes a village to raise a child.”

o Think of the responsibility of the village and the identity of the child.

2. “A man who uses force is afraid of reasoning.”

o What is the communal value of reasoning over violence?

3. “A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn.”

4. “A family is like a forest, when you are outside it is dense, when you are inside you see that each tree has its place.”

[Take note of the metaphorical (figurative) language used.]

What do these sayings tell us about African values, beliefs and priorities?