Doing Philosophy: An Introduction Through Thought Experiments, 2/e

Theodore Schick, Muhlenberg College
Lewis Vaughn

The Problem of Relativism and Morality

Don't Question Authority: Might Makes Right

Thought Probes

Moral Children: Does the fact that young children agree on their moral assessment of various situations lend credibility to the claim that there are universal moral standards?
Experts Say Children Show Empathy Early (http://web.dailycamera.com/livingarts/youth/14pempa.html) Article by Karen Patterson from the Dallas Morning News



Moral Education is Finding Its Way Back Into Public Schools (http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/fulltext/character/23.pdf) Article by Christina Hoff Sommers



Vision and Virtue (http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/arts/al0082.html) Article by William Kirkpatrick from the Catholic Education Resource Center



Relativism (http://www.friesian.com/relative.htm) Detailed discussion by Kelley Ross (Friesian School Proceedings)



Ethical Relativism (http://www.scu.edu/SCU/Centers/Ethics/publications/iie/v5n2/relativism.html) Article by Claire Andre and Manuel Velasquez from Issues in Ethics, 1992; summarizes and criticizes ethical relativism

When in Rome: Can a person raised in another culture be faulted for not following the rules of the culture she now finds herself in?
Female Genital Mutilation: An Issue of Cultural Relativism or Human Rights? (http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/jc.htm) Article by Jacqueline Castledine (Mount Holyoke College)



Clitoridectomy (http://www.iifhr.com/womens%20website/clitoridectomy.html) Information from the World Health Organization



Female Circumcision and Female Genital Mutilation (http://web.uflib.ufl.edu/cm/africana/fgm_pathfinder.htm) Resource guide from the University of Florida



Hands Off Clitoridectomy (http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR21.3/Tamir.html) Article by Yael Tamir from the Boston Review



Double Moral Standards (http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR21.5/Nussbaum.html) Response by Martha Nussbaum to Yael Tamir's article



Moral Relativity is a Hot Topic? True. Absolutely. (http://pascal.iseg.utl.pt/~ncrato/Recortes/EdRothstein_NYT_20020613.htm) Article by Edward Rothstein for the New York Times



Is Multiculturalism Bad for Women? (http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR22.5/okin.html) Article by Susan Moller Okin for the Boston Review arguing that cultural relativism is inconsistent with feminism



Whose Culture? (http://bostonreview.mit.edu/BR22.5/pollitt.html) Article by Katha Pollitt for the Boston Review responding to Okin's article and addressing the issue of feminism and mutliculturalism

Commanded to Kill: Would you follow a command from God to perform an immoral act?
The Abraham Story (http://www.geocities.com/paul49200/genesis22.html) Discussion of Genesis 22



Faith: Practical Obedience to God's Word (http://www.winners-chapel.com/SignsAndWonders/Teachings/FEB17_2002.htm) Article by David Oyedepo



Minister Pleads Guilty to Insurance Fraud (http://abclocal.go.com/wls/news/071202_ns_insurancefraud.html) ABC News story



Victims of Religion (http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/cults/Victims%20of%20Religion.htm) List of those who have suffered or died for their religious beliefs



Bad Bible (http://www.glurge.com/glurge127.html) Article describing questionable practices condoned by God



The Divine Command Theory of Ethics (http://www.faithnet.freeserve.co.uk/divinecommand.htm) Discussion from Faithnet

Moral Knowledge: Does the fact that we all agree that it would be wrong not to give a child an anesthetic before a painful operation show that we have moral knowledge? Why or why not?
Moral Epistemology (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/moral-epistemology/) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article



Moral Skepticism (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-moral/) Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy article



Moral Rationalism (http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/m/m-ration.htm) Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy article



Justice, Self, and Natural Rights (http://www.chapman.edu/argyros/faculty/machan/justmore.pdf) Defense of universal rights by Tibor Machan (University of California, Santa Barbara)



Moral Skepticism (http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~ploobuyc/Moral%20skepticism.doc) Summary of different views of moral skepticism by Patrick Loobuyck (Flanders Funk for Scientific Research)

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