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What is morality?
What is morality?
Morality concerns our values. Morality determines whether we ought (or ought not) to act is some way. We cannot make moral claims -- cannot call anything 'good,' 'bad,' 'right,' 'wrong'-- unless we have some conception of what we mean by good or right.
Euthyphro (Plato)
Euthyphro (Plato)
On Facts, Opinions, and Truth
On Facts, Opinions, and Truth
Authority & Conformity
Authority & Conformity
Is an action permissible just because it is legal, or wrong just because it is illegal? Should social norms or taboos determine whether an action is right or wrong?
Apology (Plato)
Apology (Plato)
Crito (Plato)
Crito (Plato)
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
"Letter from Birmingham Jail" (Martin Luther King, Jr.)
Moral Frameworks
Moral Frameworks
Moral theories and frameworks highlight important moral considerations for moral reasoning.
Utilitarianism (Bentham)
Utilitarianism (Bentham)
Utilitarianism (Mill)
Utilitarianism (Mill)
Virtue Ethics (Aristotle)
Virtue Ethics (Aristotle)
Divine Command Theory and Religion
Divine Command Theory and Religion
Moral Issues
Moral Issues
Contemporary moral issues are those issues which raise moral concerns. There may be disagreements about which moral considerations should be prioritized when those moral concerns compete with other moral concerns and/or limited resources. We might approach issues from different moral frameworks or a different account of the relevant facts. Topics in contemporary moral issues include but are not limited to: the morality of our laws and justice system, abortion, physician assisted suicide, patient care, eating meat, pollution, having children, charity, drug use, prohibition, labor rights, immigration, borders, prisons, policing, housing, social services, and issues related to women's rights and trans rights, racial equity and justice, free speech (think about when Twitter makes the news), protests, and more...
Abortion
Abortion
Recommended reading: first three pages of Judith Jarvis Thomson's "A Defense of Abortion"
in Philosophy & Public Affairs, Vol. 1, no. 1 (Fall 1971) and reprinted in "Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics," 5th ed., ed. Ronald Munson (Belmont; Wadsworth 1996). pp 69-80.)
"Active and Passive Euthanasia" (Rachels)
"Active and Passive Euthanasia" (Rachels)
"Famine, Affluence, and Morality" (Singer)
"Famine, Affluence, and Morality" (Singer)
Singer Solution to World Poverty (Singer in NYT)
Singer Solution to World Poverty (Singer in NYT)
"Should You Give Money to Homeless People?"
"Should You Give Money to Homeless People?"
"Wrath of Grapes" (Chavez)
"Wrath of Grapes" (Chavez)
"A Case for Residency" (Williams)
"A Case for Residency" (Williams)
"America's Unjust Drug War" (Huemer)
"America's Unjust Drug War" (Huemer)
"An Eye for An Eye" (Nathanson)
"An Eye for An Eye" (Nathanson)
"The County" (The Guardian)
"The County" (The Guardian)
Moral Grandstanding (Tosi & Warmke in Aeon)
Moral Grandstanding (Tosi & Warmke in Aeon)
Additional Resources:
Op-Eds, news, and websites
Additional Resources:
Op-Eds, news, and websites
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian | Philosophy + Ethics page
"Meat production today is not just inhumane, it's inefficient" by Peter Singer
"Vote - or else" by Peter Singer
"Putting ethics before profits" by Peter Singer
"Some are more equal" by Peter Singer
"The dilemma of ethical consumption: how much are your ethics worth to you?" by Matt Beard
"I wish I'd never been born: the rise of the anti-natalists" by Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow
"Cars without drivers still need a moral compass. But what kind?" by David Edmonds
Aeon
Aeon
"Philosophers and other animals" by Christine Korsgaard
"Righteous Incivility" by Amy Olberding
"Why you should eat meat" by Nick Zangwill
"If anyone can see the morally unthinkable online, what then?" by Daniel Calcutt
"Why no-platforming is sometimes a justifiable position" by Neil Levy
"Abolish life sentences" by Judith Lichtenberg
"The right right thing to do" by Iren McMullin
Overview of Frameworks for Ethical Decision Making (Brown U)
Overview of Frameworks for Ethical Decision Making (Brown U)
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
For those seeking additional or supplementary explanations of ethical theories and concepts discussed in this class, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a reliable source for information:
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/consequentialism/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mill-moral-political/
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-moral/
Markkula Center for Ethics at Santa Clara U
Markkula Center for Ethics at Santa Clara U
Data on U.S. Deaths related to Drug Use and Overdose
Data on U.S. Deaths related to Drug Use and Overdose
"In 2020, 91,799 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States."
"Opioids were involved in 68,630 overdose deaths in 2020 (74.8% of all drug overdose deaths)."
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/deaths/index.html
"In 2020, approximately 3,358,814 deaths† occurred in the United States."
"During 2020, COVID-19 was listed as the underlying or contributing cause of 377,883 deaths (91.5 per 100,000 population)."
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7014e1.htm#T1_down
"During May 2020–April 2021, the estimated number of drug overdose deaths in the United States exceeded 100,000 over a 12-month period for the first time, with 64.0% of deaths involving synthetic opioids other than methadone (mainly illicitly manufactured fentanyls [IMFs], which include both fentanyl and illicit fentanyl analogs)"
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7050e3.htm?s_cid=mm7050e3_w
"Approximately 47,000 persons in the United States died from an opioid-involved overdose in 2018 (1), and 2.0 million persons met the diagnostic criteria for an opioid use disorder in 2017 (2). The economic cost of the U.S. opioid epidemic in 2017 was estimated at $1,021 billion, including cost of opioid use disorder estimated at $471 billion and cost of fatal opioid overdose estimated at $550 billion"
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/70/wr/mm7015a1.htm?s_cid=mm7015a1_w
CALIFORNIA
"6,843 Deaths Related to Any Opioid Overdose, 2021"
"21,016 ED Visits Related to Any Opioid Overdose, 2021"
14m prescriptions for Opiods
https://skylab.cdph.ca.gov/ODdash/?tab=Home
KERN COUNTY 2021
270 Deaths (30.4/100k)
133 Hospitalizations (14.2/100k)
709 ED Visits Related to Any Opioid Overdose (76/100k)
411,305 Prescriptions (464.4/100k)
https://skylab.cdph.ca.gov/ODdash/?tab=CTY
"Unintentional injuries include opioid overdoses (unintentional poisoning), motor vehicle crashes, and unintentional falls"
https://www.cdc.gov/injury/wisqars/animated-leading-causes.html
"Unintentional injuries, the 3rd leading cause in 2019, became the 4th leading cause in 2020."
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db427.htm
"An estimated 105,752 people died of drug overdoses in the 12-month period ending October 2021, according to provisional data
Links to an external site. published Wednesday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. "
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/16/health/overdose-deaths-record-high-fentanyl
"
According to preliminary 2021 data, accidents were the leading cause of death among 18-45 year-olds, with accidental synthetic opioid overdoses amounting to less than half of those deaths, Lancashire wrote.
“It doesn’t appear that fentanyl alone is the leading cause of death among 18-45 year olds and definitely is NOT the leading cause of death among all adults,” he wrote. “However, we don’t break down the leading causes in such a way that we can rank fentanyl anywhere.”"
https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-leading-cause-deaths-fentanyl-154394187670
Moral Issues: What do people believe?
Moral Issues: What do people believe?
Issues in the News
Issues in the News
9/8/22 "Newsom to decide on bill that would help trans kids" on page 2 of Bay Area Reporter
LOCAL
Philosophers in The Bakersfield Californian
Philosophers in The Bakersfield Californian
Other community members:
Local News on Housing
Local News on Housing
1. See a general overview of the FAQs for a local homeless shelter:
2. Requirements at the Mission of KC:
https://themissionkc.org/programs/
3. 12/6/2019 City Proposes Alternative Site for Homeless Shelter in East Bakersfield
"At the last meeting, when the council was on the verge of purchasing the Calcot office complex for $3.8 million, a large crowd of neighbors gathered to protest the sale."
4. 1/8/2020 Bakersfield Split on Plans to Build New Homeless Shelter in Southeast Bakersfield
"Yet the comments the city received echoed those that have been made since the city announced its intention to build a new shelter. Valley Bible Church Fellowship continued its opposition to the city’s plan. A representative of the church attended the meeting and said the shelter would bring more violence and thefts to the community"
5. 7/22/2022 Panel Highlights challenges, progress to helping homeless population
"Chronically homeless people are also the hardest to shelter because homelessness experts must prove various criteria. Individuals must have documentation of disability — either physical or mental — which is hard to get, Scott said.
But to get unhoused people into services, they first must have unoccupied apartment complexes. With a historically low vacancy rate plaguing Bakersfield — Scott estimates about 2 percent of rental units are unoccupied — it’s difficult to find stable housing." https://www.bakersfield.com/news/panel-highlights-challenges-progress-in-helping-homeless-population/article_63555876-0a2a-11ed-82dc-0383dfda6f10.html
6. 4/22/2021 Bakersfield threatens legal action against home for homeless women, children planned for residential neighborhood
"Residents of the Panorama Bluffs neighborhood have objected to Casa Esperanza since it was first learned the nonprofit planned to move in. Some have said the home could change the character of the area and others have expressed displeasure at multiple families living under one roof in the R1 zone."
6. 10/6/2022
Optional:
"The Public Works Department is in the process of hiring and training rapid response teams designed to quickly eliminate encampments."
"While those in the safe camping areas will be screened for weapons and drugs will be confiscated if found, campers will not face tight scrutiny for illicit drug activity, she said. However, if someone has a desire for information about treatment options, there will be people around who can help."
"But the expansion includes much more than additional beds. There’s also more space for residents’ property, their pets and case managers, also known as navigators, who are there to provide a spectrum of services that might help make people’s transition from life on the street more lasting."
23 News has an entire section of their site dedicated to reports on the local homeless crisis:
https://www.turnto23.com/news/homeless
The Kegley Institute of Ethics at CSUB
The Kegley Institute of Ethics at CSUB
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