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Lesson 2

We will begin shifting our focus to the moral and ethical obligations inherent to discussions of communities and the relationships developed within those communities. Additionally, we will review the arguments made by the authors in the previous section and discuss what role ethics, if any, plays in their arguments.

Lesson Goals

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

  • Can I develop and clearly communicate a meaningful and defensible claim that represents a valid, evidence-based analysis?

Texts

Core

  • Unit Reader
    • Excerpt from “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital,” Robert D. Putnam, National Endowment for Democracy and The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995
    • “The End of Solitude,” William Deresiewicz, The Chronicle of Higher Education. Used with permission from the author., 2009
  • Digital Access
    • “Ethics Defined,” Ethics Unwrapped, McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin

Materials

Tools

Reference Guides

Question Sets

Editable Google Docs

Activity 1: Write – Discuss

We will begin by introducing the concept of ethics and determining what role that concept has in the formation and maintenance of community.

Work individually to define the term ethics. This definition can be full sentences, or several bullet points that communicate the larger idea.

Once you have written down your individual thoughts, share your response with your classmates and determine any trends or repetitions from those individually generated definitions.

Work together to determine a whole-class definition based on your individual responses.

Activity 2: View – Discuss – Write

We will view the brief video “Ethics Defined.”

Step 1

View the brief video, "Ethics Defined” and consider both your individual definition of ethics and the one generated as a class.

While viewing, take some notes about how ethics is defined.

Step 2

After viewing, discuss the following questions (all questions are also included in the Section 4 Question Set) with a partner, making note of your responses in your Learning Log:

  1. How does your personal and class-generated definition compare with the one represented in the video? If different, where do those differences arise? Why might this be the case?

  2. How have those who traditionally study ethics shifted their study and understanding?

  3. What is the relationship between a code of conduct and ethics?

  4. What distinction is made between ethics and morals in the video? What distinction do you see between ethics and morals?

  5. The video ends by stating that ethics "provides a framework for understanding and interpreting right and wrong in society." To what extent do you believe this to be true?

Activity 3: Read – Write – Discuss

We will shift our focus from discussing ethics within the context of the video to ethics with regard to the view of community from the previous section.

Return to your notes from "The End of Solitude" and "Bowling Alone."

Using your own definition of ethics, the class-generated definition, and the one provided by the video, write a response to the following question:

  1. To what extent do you see these ideas about ethics expressed in each of the essays?

Share and discuss your response with a partner.

Activity 4: Discuss

We will engage in a whole-class discussion in which we debate the relationship between ethics and community building.

Share your responses from the previous activity in a whole-class discussion.

Then continue that discussion by responding to the following questions:

  1. How should ethical concerns of a community be identified and addressed?

  2. Make a list of voluntary and involuntary communities you belong to (e.g., voluntary: the football team; involuntary: your family). Are there different expectations for ethical behavior between voluntary and involuntary communities?