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What does art mean to you? discussion center
What does art mean to you? discussion center
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In addition to the usual materials I use in our Ethics unit, I’m going to ask students to look through these specific “Baby Hitler” articles from last fall:
The Ethics of Killing Baby Hitler is from The Atlantic.
The philosophical problem of killing baby Hitler, explained is from Vox.
Would You Kill Baby Hitler? is from The Big Think.
A journalistic service: Here is which Republican candidates would murder baby Hitler is from The Washington Post.
What a world without Baby Hitler might look like is from The Washington Post.
Why It’s Unethical To Go Back In Time And Kill Baby Hitler is from Forbes.
2017 Lit Log PPT Module F
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Step 1 - Pre Reading
The Ship of Theseus paradox:
The Ship of Theseus paradox:
The Ship of Theseus and the Question of Identity:
The Ship of Theseus and the Question of Identity:
Aristotle:
Aristotle:
According to the philosophical system of Aristotle:
four causes or reasons describe a thing:
- The 'form' is the design of a thing,
- The material cause is the matter of which the thing is made,
- The 'end' or final cause, which is the intended purpose of a thing,
- The efficient cause is how and by whom a thing is made.
So, what would Aristotle say about this paradox?
read more about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus
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Another philosophical question:
What would you say to a demon who told you he had to take every part of your body except one? Which part of your body would you choose?
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A. Ted-Ed: The Trolley Problem:
More clips about the Trolley Problem:
Watch in groups and explain to class??
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2015/05/16/the-best-videos-about-the-famous-trolley-problem/
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An ethical dilemma:
4 people on a life boat:
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The cost of life:
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B.
How have other people answered this question?
How have other people answered this question?
Step 2: basic understanding:
Step 2: basic understanding:
Read the poem and answer the questions:
Read the poem and answer the questions:
"Ethics" by Linda Pastan
Our teacher asked this question every fall:
If there were a fire in a museum
which would you save, a Rembrandt painting
or an old woman who hadn't many
years left anyhow? Restless on hard chairs
caring little for pictures or old age
we'd opt one year for life, the next for art
and always half-heartedly. Sometimes
the woman borrowed my grandmother's face
leaving her usual kitchen to wander
some drafty, half imagined museum.
One year, feeling clever, I replied
why not let the woman decide herself?
Linda, the teacher would report, eschews
the burdens of responsibility.
This fall in a real museum I stand
before a real Rembrandt, old woman,
or nearly so, myself. The colors
within this frame are darker than autumn,
darker even than winter the browns of earth,
though earth's most radiant elements burn
through the canvas. I know now that woman
and painting and season are almost one
and all beyond the saving of children.
Questions:
Questions:
- Define ethics.
- What is the ethical dilemma presented in lines 2-5 in the poem?
- Where is the question asked?
- Who asks the question?
- In lines 9-12, who does the old lady sometimes become?
- What does Linda suggest one year?
- In lines 15-16, what is the teacher’s answer to Linda’s suggestion?
- What changes in line 17?
- What is described in lines 19-23?
Step 3 - Analysis and Interpretation
Step 3 - Analysis and Interpretation
What is an ethical / moral dilemma?
Definition: An ethical dilemma is a complicated situation that will involve a conflict between two or more values, in which choosing one value means opposing the other. Often, the choice would be the “lesser of two evils”.
Ethics is not about which choice you make but about why you make that choice.
Ethical dilemmas, also known as a moral dilemmas, are situations in which there is a choice to be made between two options, neither of which resolves the situation in an ethically acceptable fashion. In such cases, societal and personal ethical guidelines can provide no satisfactory outcome for the chooser.
Ethical dilemmas assume that the chooser will abide by societal norms, such as codes of law or religious teachings, in order to make the choice ethically impossible. Often, the choice can be described as the "lesser of two evils".
Why do we need an ethical code?
One of the basic needs people have, after food and shelter, is the need to belong. Living in groups makes us feel safe. However, to live in a group means to "play by the rules", otherwise the group may refuse us (example: prison, admission denial). Once we know the rules and can join the social group we want, we feel safe and secure.
Ethical Dilemmas:
Choose an ethical dilemma, copy it and answer the questions that follow.
Analysis of Linda Pastan's Poem "Ethics"
Analysis of Linda Pastan's Poem "Ethics"
In her poem "Ethics," Pastan leads the reader through an uncomfortable struggle with a value-testing philosophical question.
In her poem "Ethics," Pastan leads the reader through an uncomfortable struggle with a value-testing philosophical question.
- By comparing "a Rembrandt painting" on the one hand, and "an old woman who hadn't many years left anyhow" on the other, Pastan highlights the value of one option while devaluing the other. Since Pastan weighs the nonhuman option more heavily than the human, even though it should seem obvious to value human life over a painting, the reader may struggle with what could otherwise be a very easy question.
- Throughout the poem, Pastan provides detailed images of the two savable objects in question. By allowing the reader to get to know both the painting and the woman, Pastan makes it hard for the reader to be forced to choose to terminate one of them.
- Sometimes Pastan imagines the old woman to be her own grandmother (line 10). As the reader pictures his own grandmother, he would never think to end the life of a woman he loves so dearly in favor of some expensive artwork.
- But at the end of the poem, Pastan describes the Rembrandt: she describes its vivid colors, and how it seems to jump out of the canvas and pull the speaker into the world of the painting. As the reader depicts it, he would rather not allow this beautiful work of art to burn into ashes.
- However, the question does not become any easier to answer at the end of the poem. Pastan portrays the difficulty of answering ethical questions such as this one,despite the speaker's increased maturity
Step 4 - Bridging text and context
Step 4 - Bridging text and context
Choose a masterpiece that you like.
What is seen? Describe it. (Add its picture)
Where can it be found?
Who was / is the artist?
What is the artist's background? (briefly)
What does the masterpiece try to convey?
Explain why it is considered a masterpiece.
Do you like this masterpiece? yes / no / why.
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