Saving The World Part I: What Do We Want? [Philosophy/Ethics Seminar]

​Many efforts to improve the world have some assumptions baked-in about what improvements are worth making – i.e., they assume some base theory of ethics. Yet much of the difficulty in effecting such change is due to ambiguity and disagreement over what the goal should be. (E.g. should we be trying to stop climate change or not? Should we try to preserve as much human life as possible, or is it okay for some [even many] people to die, as long as our society as a whole continues to advance?)

​Subtle complications at this level lead to massively divergent stances on what changes we should (or should not) strive to make in the world. In this class, we will take a step back and try to clarify what change we truly want. We will dive deep into different theories of ethics and meaning, and ask very basic questions about what it means to live the Good Life both as individuals and as a collective.

​Structure

​Each week will be an open ended discussion, either as a group or in small groups (sometimes both) depending on the group's size.

​Our discussion will be shaped by a selection of overview readings for each week, which will be sent out in advance but which we will reserve time for at the beginning of each week (no homework!)

​Syllabus

​The below is the tentative syllabus over our 5 weeks together. We anticipate (and are excited) for our topics to shift depending on the groups interests and where we feel a desire to deeper together.

​Week 1: "Why do ethics matter?"

• ​What does ethics mean to you?

• ​How do you determine what actions you consider right and wrong?

• ​Does the question "why is this wrong" seem important to you? Why?

​Week 2: Considering Relativism and Pluralism

• ​Are there objective theories of what is good? How does this help or hurt our cause?

• ​How does our conclusion impact how we ought to act?

​Week 3: Moral permission vs. moral obligations

• ​How much good must we do?

• ​How do we balance living "the good life" with living the life we want to live?

​Week 4: Collective and Individual Ethics

• ​What is the concept of "we"?

• ​Is it the individual's imperative to awaken the collective?

• ​What does this mean for what actions we are obligated to take?

​Week 5: How should we live?

• ​Given everything we have discussed, what do we conclude?

• ​What questions do we still have?