Description

This fun video introduces the academic field of philosophy of ethics.  Ethics asks questions like “What ought I do?” “how do I decide what to do?”  “what is ‘good’?”  “what makes something right or wrong?”  Ethics is the branch of philosophy investigates values, character, virtues, principles, and behaviors.  The video focuses on the importance of ethical reasoning and challenges supposed moral authorities and the validity of moral or cultural relativism.  It also discusses the importance of and how to run an ethics class.

Discussion Questions

• What are some of the questions that philosophy of ethics asks?
• Why is it important to ask these questions and think them through?
• Why shouldn’t we accept the blind dictates of a moral authority?
• Can we think through ethical questions?  Or is it just a matter of what our society already says is right or wrong?

Keywords: ethics, moral theory, moral reasoning, morality, philosophy