How to Teach Assessments of Ethical Dilemmas
In order to teach assessments of ethical dilemmas at a college level, it is important to provide both a theoretical and a practical perspective. Introduce your students to the major ideas in the field of ethics, especially those of Aristotle, Mill and Kant. Provide a detailed examination of a particular situation, noting the nuances and complexities that make it difficult to reduce any ethical dilemma to a simple moral equation.
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Instructions
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Provide an overview of the basic ideas in the field of ethics. Start with Aristotle's ideal of the Golden Mean, or the wisdom of striving for a middle path between excess and austerity. Proceed to John Stuart Mill's idea of utilitarianism, which holds that truly ethical behavior involves actions that offer the greatest good to the greatest number of people. Also familiarize your students with Kant's idea of the moral imperative, which states you should act in such a way that the maxim behind your actions could serve as a universal ethical principle.
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Give examples of where these ethical principles converge and where they diverge. For example, running a business with the goals of making enough profit to sustain the enterprise and pay the employees fairly is consistent with Aristotle's Golden Mean because it involves moderation, as well as Mill's utilitarianism because it involves the greatest good for the greatest number and Kant's moral imperative because equitable employment practices make a valid, universal ethical principle. On the other hand, if you are in the position of allocating limited food resources, you might have to choose between giving an inadequate amount to everyone or providing an adequate amount to some people rather than others. This might do the greatest good for the greatest number of people--conforming to Mill's utilitarian ideal--because it would at least enable some people to survive. But it would be difficult to distill a Kantian universal ethical principle from your actions because you are deciding that the needs of some people are more important than the needs of others.
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Provide a series of practical examples of ethical dilemmas. Use situations from your own experience, from news stories and from fiction. Explore the examples you provide first from the standpoint of your students' gut reactions. Then examine these examples through the lens of each of the moral principles you have previously taught. Emphasize the complexity of ethical principles and the fact that, in many situations, there is no simple answer.
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