Dear Thinkers,
How might we use the ‘ways of knowing,’ or our ‘intuition’ or one of the ‘moral paradigms’ to guide us through the process of determining what is right and what is wrong? How can our approach, lens, or theory shape how we think about ethical issues? And most importantly, are you ethically responsible to act ‘ethically’ upon the knowledge you gain?
Like our art presentations, where we presented unique ideas/examples to further our discussion of art as an area of knowledge, I would like for you to find a ‘real-life’ situation that deals with ethics as an area of knowledge. A ‘real-life situation’ is real; it is not hypothetical, imagined, or fabricated. This is important because we want to engage in thinking about real issues that we can really affect.
1. Find a ‘real-life’ situation dealing with an ethical issues that can be viewed or perceived from two or more perspectives/lenses. There should be no duplicate issues shared, so whomever posts first has the most topics to select from. And, whomever posts last will need to have read all the other comments/replies so that his/her topic is new and has not yet been shared with the class.
2. Briefly summarize the issue (50 words). Include the link to the article/web site/video in your reply so we can read/view the content and comment.
3. Develop a “question about knowledge” using one of the key ToK concepts we have studied, or by linking to the ‘ways of knowing’. Post your summary and knowledge question.
4. Due Wednesday, 27 April
5. Return to this site, read, and comment on at least two of your classmates’ replies by Friday, 29 April.
I suggest that you consider exploring issues that are either international or environmental in nature because they can be viewed from a variety of perspectives. Also, consider searching these sites for your ‘real-life situation.’
Russian News
Al Jazeera News
NPR-National Public Radio
Democracy Now
Huffington Post
Kind Regards,
Coey
p.s. I will post an example of what your reply might look like
