Ethical dimensions, issues and dilemmas.
Finding the ethical dimension, issue and dilemma
Before students, can find a suitable ethical issue and dilemma to analyse critically at the centre of the reflective project process, teachers need to feel comfortable tackling this area. On this page, and many others listed below, you can build up your understanding of ethics before giving the activities and lesson ideas a go with your students. All discussions you will have with students on Applied Ethics will often reassuringly encompass all the PPS themes.
Start here
A student needs to be able to understand the ethical ramifications of their chosen issue and dilemma; they will need strategies to help apply ethical principles. Here we explore definitions and give helpful activity suggestions. Use with Ethical Thinking for ideas on how to differentiate between terms with ease and how to help students access the skills they need. There are a very wide range of resources available here on ethics so, if this is your first time to this page, do make time to check out these further resources:
What am I preparing the students for?
It is really important to recognise that the field of philosophy is huge and care needs to be taken to make it truly accessible for students. The resources and exercises here promote systematic building of knowledge, discussion and real world application. This can be supported further with the Ethical Thinking and Critical Thinking pages.
In brief ... students should be able to establish the ethical parameters of their dilemma and the questions it raises at the start of their essay to hook in the interest of the reader/assessor. They then must be able to carry that thread throughout the project as they way up the strength and weaknesses of different perspectives and impact of cultural contexts.
How 'ethical' does it need to be?
We are not often called to define ethics explicitly and differentiate between ethical terms. Students struggle with terms - especially the term 'dilemma' so being able to break this down without over complication is vital. This is an area that PPS and Core teachers can easily feel out of their depth; confused how to approach building ethical understanding and which ethical frameworks to draw upon in such a huge academic field. Furthermore, how to simplify complex ideas without dumbing them down to make them user friendly.
5 Key points about ethics to build the reflective project on:
Students' projects must be built upon the following understandings. Students can use this as a checklist before
1. Ethics are about the moral principles that govern, shape or guide the behaviour of a particular 'culture'.
2. Ethics and morals can be terms used interchangeably but, at its simplest: ethics refer to rules provided by an external source and morals refer to an individual's own principles regarding right and wrong.
3. An ethical issue worth exploring for the reflective project must have a controversial angle and arise from the career-related study. There must be disagreement or conflict ...
4. ... which leads to the ethical dilemma. For a dilemma to be viable, there must be a clash of principles without an obvious solution. With an obvious solution, there is no dilemma.
5. Therefore the reflective project to explore an ethical dilemma, it must have the opportunity to: analyse different pespectives; contextualise the dilemma with local or global examples; consider the impact of the ethical dilemma on community or communities; consider the impact of cultural influences
The IB's mission statement refers to the importance of appreciating how 'other people with their differences, can also be right'; this notion that is at the heart of the reflective project. Criterion B is the key area where the student's grasp of ethics is assessed but it has implications for the success of the entire project.
Summary of Criterion B
Show knowledge and understanding of the issue
Utilise a local/global example of the issue in which the ethical dilemma is embedded to contextualise the ethical dilemma and be able to analyse different perspectives on it
Illustrate an awareness and understanding of the impact of the ethical dilemma on a local/global community and demonstrate how cultural influences can effect the perceptions of the ethical dilemma
Meta-ethics
Key question: What is it to be morally right or morally wrong?
Meta-ethics studies the nature of ethical judgments, the definition of ethical terms and different ways ethical arguments can be carried out. It is a step back from whether something is right or wrong; more the nature of right and wrong or good and bad.
How does this relate to the reflective project? This is the starting point for students in understanding what it means to be moral or ethical. It is the nature of how ethics affects their present and their future; why is an ethical education necessary? It is also the nature of why ethical judgments take place, in what form and why this is important. More specifically, students will have considered the nature of ethical judgments and arguments within their career-related subject itself as well as in PPS. Without the foundation of definitions, it is impossible for students to select and issue and dilemma that will be appropriate and successful for their reflective project.
Normative ethics
Key question: What does it mean to act ethically? Should ethical behaviour be influenced by what is right for the person; the intention behind the action itself; or what the consequence will be?
Normative ethics ... is all about creating theories and frameworks for ethical behaviour. The attention here is turned away from the moral nature of ethics but more towards how we should act. The 'act' in itself has three moral angles to consider: the agent, the act itself and the consequences; furthermore they are each emphasised respectively in Virtue, deontological and consequentialist ethics.
How does this relate to the reflective project? Normative ethics give students the appropriate tools to analyse behaviour and judge whether it is ethical. By using specific frameworks that consider the multiple angles of ethical response, will enable students to identify their own ethical compass and voice. Using ethical frameworks also gives students the confidence to extend their thinking with questions that start 'but what if ...?' This leads onto Applied ethics as they will have the tools by which to evaluate the specific ethical issue and dilemma they have identified.
Source: Three introductory videos on examples of Virtue, deontological and consequentialist ethics
Virtue ethics
Commonly known as agent-centred or teleological ethics; pursues 'eudaimonia' (human flourishing).
Key words: virtues, vices and the Golden Mean; 'You are what you do'; Catholic 'natural moral law'
Key questions: Who am I? Who ought I to be? How do I get there?
This video clearly explains the basics of Aristotelean virtue ethics and where it can be seen in action.
Deontological ethics - example 1: Immanuel Kant
Deontological ethics is fuelled by duty and the right action. Religions come under the umbrella of deontological ethics eg. Judaism and Christianity: 'Thou shalt not kill'. Famous proponents of deontological ethics include Immanuel Kant and his 'categorical imperative'.
Key words: duty, reason, logic, action
Key words for Immanuel Kant: categorical imperatives, three maxims
Source: This video is one of four by Dr. Todd May, that explores the ethical dilemmas in the comedy 'The Good Place' that follows the adventures of four very different characters in 'heaven'. Students may well be familiar with this series already; it certainly explores the nature of morality and ethics in a comical form throughout every episode. Rather handily for teaching, one of the characteristics of being in heaven is the inability to swear and, if attempted, words are immediately altered to something much tamer and nonsensical.
Consequentialist ethics
Consequentialist ethics tell us that actions are motivated by the outcome desired.
Example 1: Utilitarianism
In the case of utilitarianism, the extent to which an action is deemed useful is by how much happiness it brings people. This philosophy was first associated with Jeremy Bentham who stated 'an action is right if it brings about more pleasure than pain and wrong if it brings more pain than pleasure'.
Key words: Hedonic calculus, univeralizability, 'the greatest good for the greatest number'.
Source: This is a good introduction to the basics of an extensive topic.
Example 2: Situation ethics
This is a consequentialist theory influenced by the Christian notion of love and made prominent in the 1960s through Joseph Fletcher. Agape (love) is that the heart of all moral-decision making which can differ in many situations. Actions are only defined as moral by their consequence.
Key words: agape, four working principles, six fundamental principles, relativism, pragmatism, positivism, personalism.
Applied ethics
Key question: What are the different ethical courses of action in this situation?
Applied ethics seeks to apply normative ethics and subsequent frameworks in practical situations.
How does this relate to the reflective project? The reflective project is about critical thinking to a specific current ethical dilemma in their career-related subject; this is a project about applying ethics. Students need parameters within which to work which is why their understanding of normative ethics must be built up systemmatically and clear in how to apply it in a range of scenarios. The contextualising of the ethical dilemma through a local and/or global examples and consideration of its impact emphasises the unique nature of a specific situation on an ethical dilemma.
Source: The whistle-blower: this talk is a fascinating exploration of the importance of ethical principles in the workplace and authentic example of applied ethics.
Thinking routines to promote ethical thinking and debate
Students can have it drilled into them that they must question what they see but they do not necessarily know how to ask questions or what questions are worth asking. The key to thinking routines such as these below, attributed to and adapted from Harvard Project Zero, and why they work so well is that it is never presumed that the student knows what questions to ask. Most importantly is to remember the word 'routine' - these are habits of mind, to be visited often so the structure becomes a familiar process. With this familiarity, comes confidence, clarity of communication and enhanced critical thinking.
Same and Different
This is a Harvard Project Zero thinking routine that helps students go beyond superficial observations of similarities and differences. It is an excellent routine to carry out for students to appreciate that ethical dimensions, issues and dilemmas are not black and white or contain polar opposites: often the truth is murky and grey with subtleties and degrees of difference.
'Choose a debate, incident or object in which opposing views are clearly apparent or images that look different but are grouped together.
1. First glance: What was the first impression you had about this?
2. Perspective Taking: From what other points of view could this be perceived? What would one say from those points of view?
3. Same and Different: What are the similarities? Differences? How is this case the same and different at the same time?'[1]
Varying the activity
1. As a whole class activity, especially with a bigger class size, once the thinking routine has been established, different groups can be given a specific and relevant stakeholder from the initial prompt, to develop and research further. The evaluation of similarities and differences can be done as a whole class where their responses to stage 3 above can be expanded upon and more and more complexities developed.
2. On an individual level, students can carry out this activity when using a specific article they are utilising for the ethical issue they are researching. The identification of specific stakeholders, visibly recording the different points of view and recording similarities and differences should be a habitual part of their research process. Students might consider recording their ideas in a venn diagram to help them visualise this process.
Strengths and weaknesses of ethical frameworks
After embedding the basics of different ethical frameworks, the next step is for students to consider the strengths and weaknesses of each framework. No framework is perfect. Before viewing the videos for teleological and consequentialist ethics or the further notes for the Kantian dilemma, students should carry out a reflection or a pair/group mindmap of strengths and weaknesses they have identified when they apply these ideas to specific ethical dilemmas.
a) Teleological or Agent-centred ethics: includes Aristoteloan Virtue ethics
b) Deontological: duty-based ethics - examples include Christianity and Kantian ethics
Class discussion: What would be the Kantian response to 'lying'? What examples can you find that might question this response? Can you find examples where you think the Kantian response would be right?
Teacher notes to support discussion
The Kantian response to lying would be that it is always wrong. In other words, telling the truth is ALWAYS right.
Students might well give examples of people hiding Jews from Nazis in the Second World War. They might also consider the role of 'white lies' in the functioning of healthy relationships within a family. In terms of supporting this maxim, students might consider the functioning of a court of law and, more widely, the role of truth in society. Furthermore, they might consider the role of truth in their career-related subject and the implications of not telling the truth. The TED talk above by Kelly Richmond Pope on whistleblowing could support this discussion further.