Why Teach Ethics?

In some ways, ethics is a democratic field.  Many people have experience with ethical quandaries.  Most people believe they have their own moral code that they can use to make decisions, and critique others' choices.  Anyone is entitled to an opinion and can be a part of an ethics discussion.  Thus, some mistakenly believe that an ethics class should simply be looking at quandaries and hearing different opinions about the best way to act.

One of the worst ways to teach ethics is to present an ethical quandary and ask "what would you do?"  This makes ethics into personal preference or opinion.  Ethics is not just one's opinion.  There are standards to our ethical reasoning.  There are good arguments and bad; there are well-reasoned moral stances and there are poorly-reasoned ones.  A more effective way of teaching ethical reasoning might be to present an ethical quandary and to ask "what is the right thing to do, and why?"  We must hold people to these standards in our ethics conversations.  We must push people to draw strong, well-supported conclusions.  We must demand that people look at the consequences of their theories, and push for consistency and fairness.  I would want for someone to do this to me.  Ethics is not law, but in an ideal world, our laws and customs should reflect strong moral thinking.  This is why the study of ethics is so important.  By reading, discussing, and thinking real hard about tough issues, we can influence our culture to assure that laws and customs are ethical.  By doing this, we can make ethics more than just "one's opinion;" perhaps we can change one's opinion into a conviction.

Effective discussion about ethics doesn't just happen by accident.  People don't learn ethical thinking just by living.  It must be taught with intention and fostered with good thinking.  We must study people who have good ideas or express things in meaningful ways.  We must push each other to think hard and hold each other to high standards in our ethical reasoning.  That's what we hope to do in the Revolution.