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The Deviant Philosopher > Applied Ethics

Applied Ethics

Unit: The Ethics of Sexual Preference

Sexual preferences represent a rich site for ethical exploration of topics such as oppression, responsibility, freedom. Because everyone has sexual preferences of some kind or another, everyone has some stake in the answers to these questions. Moreover, the deeply entrenched (indeed, possibly involuntary) nature of sexual preferences illustrates the extent to which oppression is socialized and internalized by individuals in even the most intimate spheres of life.

Lesson: Whānau Ora Health Policy

The pursuit and realisation of self-determination for Māori communities has been intimately bound up with – among other things – the revitalisation of Māori philosophies. The capabilities of Māori communities to be able to define who they are, and to pursue and realise lives they value is bound up with the extent to which Māori are able to articulate and appropriately apply and reapply their concepts and values to their lives and futures. One of the ways that Māori have set out to articulate, pursue, and realise their self-determination in the area of health is through the Whānau Ora policy. This lesson explores whānau ora and can be used in a range of ways for a range of philosophy courses.

Unit: Psychological Obstacles to Acting Ethically

Most undergraduate students want to be morally good people, and most ethics instructors want to help them be morally good people. Part of accomplishing this task is teaching students how to engage in moral reasoning and examine difficult moral questions, which is what most ethics courses emphasize. Yet no matter how familiar one is with controversial moral issues or the complexities of contemporary ethical theorizing, this knowledge alone is not enough to overcome the myriad of psychological tendencies that can cause people to act unethically even when these people have good intentions. This unit reviews those psychological tendencies, highlights how they pose challenges to behaving ethically, and considers the ways that they can be overcome.