I’m not entirely sure that there is any way to put into words the magic, transformative experience that was this year’s Mississippi Governor’s School (MGS) session, but if there is a way, it must be through getting to know Jernia, the blue elephant. Jernia first appeared while me and another faculty member, Lea, were preparing… Continue reading Chronic What? Cles of Jernia: More on Play
Category: Ethics
Moral Monday: Going to Camp
I’m back from my hiatus teaching at Mississippi Governor’s School for three weeks. I had even less time to work on this blog than I thought I would, but the process of being there was amazing and life-changing, and is something I plan to write more about soon. This particular dilemma seemed appropriate in light… Continue reading Moral Monday: Going to Camp
Moral Mondays: The Spam
You are the network administrator for a rather large company. You have a young family and need your job to support them. As part of your responsibility as a network administrator is to monitor the emails for the organization. Usually this just means occasionally allow through emails for staff members that have been accidentally blocked… Continue reading Moral Mondays: The Spam
Moral Monday: Sophie’s Choice
Today’s dilemma is one of the classics from history. This dilemma allegedly occurred during WWII. You are an inmate, imprisoned in a concentration camp. A guard tells you that you must choose one of your two children – a younger daughter or an older son – for him to take to the gas chamber. If… Continue reading Moral Monday: Sophie’s Choice
Moral Monday: Making Rugs
Today’s Moral Dilemma: You are a child slave in Africa, laboring away 18 hours a day making rugs. One night, you have a dream: God comes down from heaven and tells you that no one, not one person in the world, is buying your rugs. Would you feel: Tell us why in the comments!
Moral Monday: Communicating Peas
You’ve probably heard of the moral arguments against eating meat, but here’s a new one: When it comes to a plant, it turns out to be not only a what but also a who — an agent in its milieu, with its own intrinsic value or version of the good. Inquiring into justifications for consuming… Continue reading Moral Monday: Communicating Peas
Introducing Moral Monday: The Sadistic Guard
NPR recently published an interesting article on the psychology of fraud. The article essentially argues that when we’re thinking about a decision from one point of view, such as business, we can forget to consider other points of views, like ethics: Essentially, Tenbrunsel argues, certain cognitive frames make us blind to the fact that we… Continue reading Introducing Moral Monday: The Sadistic Guard
What is the Good Life (part 3): 3 Reasons Practical Wisdom Matters
Previously we’ve discussed that for Aristotle, living the good life means achieving a state of eudaimonia, or internal excellence, which is both hard to achieve and hard to lose once achieved. The good life consists of two types of excellence: character excellence, and intellectual excellence. What exactly is intellectual excellence, then? It’s phronesis, or rather, practical wisdom.… Continue reading What is the Good Life (part 3): 3 Reasons Practical Wisdom Matters
What is the Good Life (part 2): Excellence of Character
Last time, we left off discussing Aristotle’s conception of the good life and how it requires reason to achieve excellence. For Aristotle, there are two kinds of excellence within man. The excellence most often discussed by scholars is that of excellence of character: Excellence, then, is a state concerned with choice, lying in a mean… Continue reading What is the Good Life (part 2): Excellence of Character
My Battle With Quitting Soda (Episode 2): On Willpower
The toughest part of quitting my soda habit was the extreme desire internal desire to drink it. It often feels as if my brain is hard-wired and will never stop craving the yummy goodness that it sees as a soda. There are two situations that almost always give rise to these cravings: 1. Eating a meal… Continue reading My Battle With Quitting Soda (Episode 2): On Willpower