Philosophy Now Forum

Have enough people got a copy of the recently published Ultimate Guide to Ethics to start a chat? It's an interesting and comprehensive collection with some oddball pieces as well as sound papers on the usual issues. Even the Trolley Problem turns up, though for myself, those sort of puzzles are only good ways of teaching differing philosophical approaches and their drawbacks, rather than guides to what one ought or might do in such a fix. Anything caught anyone's eye yet?

Anyone for boxing? There's an article by Gordon Marino in ETHICS-the ultimate Guide arguing for boxing as a method of attaining the virtue of courage. This in the context of Aristotle's notion that becoming a virtuous person is the way to acting ethically. Marino accepts that he's pretty well alone in recommending courage as a virtuous attainment these days and says his students typically list self-respect, sense of humour, honesty and tolerance as the essentials of moral character. An odd selection maybe? When I tried the same question, enthusiasm always came top. (That's Larry David you can hear yelling somewhere). There is a deeper question here about whether you can teach virtue - in this case courage - or whether you are stuck with what your psycho-biology has delivered you, with a margin that can be manipulated educationally/socially on top. (200 years of efforts to reform prisoners don't offer much hope given recidivism rates).One of my students on a teacher training degree had seven years active service in the usual hell holes and was paying his way by bouncing in a tough night club. No one could doubt his courage therefore - but - in front of a class of kids his throat dried, face reddened, and every item of his lesson plan fled. So, I just wonder. Is courage transferable or specific - and does that apply to other virtues too? Is character mostly inborn as many have argued, including Schopenhauer I think. Or are we much more Lockean blank slates?

Aristotle's virtue is simply well practiced, not necessarily ethical in a modern sense

-Imp

dorothea wrote: ↑Thu Dec 14, 2017 2:23 pm Have enough people got a copy of the recently published Ultimate Guide to Ethics to start a chat? It's an interesting and comprehensive collection with some oddball pieces as well as sound papers on the usual issues. Even the Trolley Problem turns up, though for myself, those sort of puzzles are only good ways of teaching differing philosophical approaches and their drawbacks, rather than guides to what one ought or might do in such a fix. Anything caught anyone's eye yet?

I wrote the chapter "Miss Manners' Guide to Sex" in the "Miss Manners' Guide for Dummies". Ethical and/or virtuous behaviour is actually behaving well-brought up. Nothing to it, if you read my Guide.