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Lesson 6

We will continue to expand our understanding of ethics by reading about the rights approach and synthesizing our learning in an Ethical Approach Note-Taking Tool.

Lesson Goals

  • Can I formulate and use questions to establish and deepen my understanding of key terms and concepts related to ethics?

  • Can I express an accurate understanding of the central ideas of texts related to ethics?

  • Can I use a variety of strategies (e.g., context clues, word study, and vocabulary resources) to learn the meaning of key terms related to ethics?

Texts

Core

  • Digital Access
    • “Kant & Categorical Imperatives: Crash Course Philosophy #35,” Crash Course Philosophy, PBS Digital Studios, YouTube
    • “Utilitarianism: Crash Course Philosophy #36,” Crash Course Philosophy, PBS Digital Studios, YouTube
  • Unit Reader
    • “A Framework for Ethical Decision Making,” Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, Santa Clara University, 2015

Materials

Tools

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Write – Discuss

We will use the Ethical Approach Note-Taking Tool and our notes from the previous lessons to Capture key information about the utilitarian approach.

You have learned about the utilitarian approach to ethics and about Kant and his categorical imperatives. Using your Ethical Approach Note-Taking Tool, begin to describe various approaches to ethics, the benefits or advantages of each approach, and what makes an approach challenging or difficult to implement.

Using your Video Note-Taking Tool, Attend to Details Tool, Learning Log, and evidence from the materials in this unit, work with a partner to complete the first row of the Ethical Approach Note-Taking Tool for the utilitarian approach, attempting to answer the following big questions:

  1. On what do we base our ethical standards?

  2. How are those standards applied to specific situations we face?

In order to answer these questions, accomplish the following for each approach:

  1. Name the approach and individuals who have shaped it.

  2. Summarize the approach in two to three sentences.

  3. Describe the advantages of the approach.

  4. Describe the disadvantages of the approach.

As a class, discuss the information that you wrote down for the utilitarian approach.

Activity 2: Read

We will read about another approach to ethics and ethical decision making, the rights approach.

Now, with the same partner, read The Rights Approach section from the "A Framework for Ethical Decision Making." Use a copy of the Attending to Details Tool to respond to one of the following guiding questions:

  1. What words or phrases help you understand the meaning of the rights approach?

  2. What is the rights approach based on?

  3. What information or terms seem similar to those presented in the Crash Course video or our analysis of categorical imperatives?

Determine whether you or your partner will share your highlights, and engage in a whole-class discussion.

Activity 3: Discuss

We will apply the rights approach to previous thought experiments we reviewed and discuss some of the approach’s advantages and disadvantages.

With your partner, join with another pair to form a quartet. Working in this group and consulting your Video Note-Taking Tool and Attending to Details Tool, discuss the following questions:

  1. How does this approach relate to the question, "Should Batman kill the Joker?" that was posed in the Crash Course video?

  2. What are the advantages of this ethical approach?

  3. How is this a challenging ethical approach? What are some of its disadvantages?

Delegate someone from your quartet who has not yet shared to share out with the whole class.

Activity 4: Read – Write

We will use our Ethical Approach Note-Taking Tool to synthesize information about the rights approach.

On your own, return to your Ethical Approach Note-Taking Tool and complete a row for the rights approach. Remember, the goal here is to do the following:

  1. Name this approach and the individuals who have shaped it.

  2. Summarize this approach in two to three sentences.

  3. Describe the advantages of this approach.

  4. Describe the disadvantages of this approach.

Be prepared to share your responses with the whole class.