I have always liked discussing ethics so it is no wonder
that I enjoyed the class yet feel a little disappointed in it. Some of my fondest memories of my undergrad
days were debating the pros and cons of different ethical points of view in my
leadership & ethics class my senior year.
While I knew that it wouldn’t be the same because of this being an
online course, I had hoped for a little more discussion from the class. With that being said, this is an extremely hypocritical
statement coming from me as I posted around 4 posts per discussion question and
could have made a greater effort to both get myself and others involved in the
boards – probably the one thing I could have done much better in the class.
That aside, I definitely did learn from the class. While I already knew about consequentialism, deontology,
relativism, and some of the other big points in the first several chapters of
the book, it was great to get to go back and revisit the material to further
solidify my understanding of the subject matter. Additionally, I thought the author did a fantastic
job discussing opposing viewpoints throughout the book which helped to solidify
the knowledge I already had. Other than
that, I would say I was rather pleased with where my ethical evolution stands
and I look forward to continuing my pursuit of standing atop an ethical pillar.
So, three key lessons I took away from the course. First off, the author made me change my
stance on affirmative action. Going into
that discussion, I was opposed to it based on it being reverse
discrimination. How in the world I
failed to put several things together without his help was surprising to
me. I knew darn well that the economic and
educational stance of your parents plays a key role in determining how
successful one person will be in life.
That fact alone perfectly justifies the existence of the program as
racial equality was only “establish” a generation ago. The second lesson involves the use of the
Golden Rule. As I said during that week’s
discussion, if I had to describe an ethical person prior to this class, I would
have used the Golden Rule. As LaFollette
states though, that is an almost childish definition of ethics and it doesn’t
even begin to scratch the surface of complicated problems. The fact is the Golden Rule is somewhat like
Newton’s physical theories– it works 95% of the time but when you need to start
digging into complicated problems, it completely lacks the ability to define
the solution. Finally, I really enjoyed
the discussion on slippery slope arguments.
I knew they existed but had no idea what they were (I knew they existed
because I have heard them before – essentially if my response is “well that is
a stretch” it is a slippery slope). Now
that I have learned about them, I can be better equipped to identify them when
used (and they are used all of the time) and can help others to identify them
as well.
Addressing some of the other required points, I wouldn’t say
this was what I expected in the course but then again I wasn’t sure what I was
expecting. In the end, learning about
ethics is quite unlike learning other topics as it is a much more fluid process
without many concrete anchoring points. I
did enjoy the book however as I previously stated. More so than any of the texts I have
purchased in this curriculum, I plan on keeping that book readily handy to read
out of it. Other than that, as the text
stated and science has shown, ethical codes are related to the amount of education
you have and the amount that you have discussed ethics. From that stance, the class was a success as
it brought up multiple current day ethical dilemmas and presented multiple
points of view in the process. I don’t
think the class can get too much better aside from my already stated complaints
about the discussion boards. As it
stands, I am glad the class is required in the curriculum as it reminds us all
this is an incredibly complicated world we live in.
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