Part 1
From childhood on you have been told who you are, how the world works and how you must operate in it if you wish to be successful in it. You were told what to think and feel; what foods to eat, what sort of people to associate with, what music you should listen to, what books to read and what words to use. In short, you have been told the good and the bad, the right and wrongs of things. Failure is pursuing what is bad and success is the result of pursuing the good.
Part 1
1. List and briefly describe/explain all the sources from which values of good and bad, right and wrong emerge?
2. Define good and bad, success and failure.
•Do good and bad, success and failure have universal definitions or are they subjective?
•How did you arrive at those definitions?
•How do you know those definition are right and true?
•Are your answers to the above questions based on knowledge or opinion?
•Is feeling the same as knowing?
3. Do you need to be told how to behave because your nature is sinful, bad or evil and left to your own device, you would hurt yourself and others because you are inclined to always do and feel wrongly?
4. What, according to Plato, is the function of education?
5. Is it true that when you wrong yourself, whether through wrong thinking or feeling, which then manifests itself outwardly through your actions, you would in turn hurt others?
•If this is true, do you then believe that your freedom should be taken away because you may seriously hurt yourself and others?Part 2Meet your trainers, the people who have trained you how to behave, think and live well: your parents, teachers, lawmakers, politicians and religious leaders. These people have inherited their "wisdom" from their parents, teachers, lawmakers, politicians and religious leaders.
6. Are these trainers trying to mold us in accordance with their conception of what it is to be a good person?
•How do you define a good person?
•Do all cultures have similar view as to what the nature of a human being is?
7. If human nature is bad, is it then true that these trainers too have bad natures and cannot train us into goodness.
8. How do social, political, and religious authorities know what is best for you?
9. Do you think that without them you would behave, think and live wrongly?
•How do you know?
•Why should you trust their wisdom? What is wisdom?Part 3You have been told that you are intelligent and have sufficient decision-making power. But upon closer examination you come to realize who and what you are is the product of your trainers: parents, teachers, lawmakers, politicians and religious leaders.
10. What criteria do you use in making relevant and meaningful ethical decisions; or, who is actually making the ethical decisions?
•You or your trainers?
•If it is your trainers, who should be rewarded or punished regarding the consequences of your actions?
- If you made the decisions, who are you?
•What does it mean to be an individual?
11. If you are the product of your environment, were you free in the creation of your identity?
•How do you define freedom?
•What is determinism?
12. If your actions have profound impact those around you, should you be given freedom to act or just a privileged few who know how to use their freedom wisely?
•Should power be in the hands of a wealthy few or a few wise?
•What is wisdom and do the wise begin with democracy or dictatorship?
13. What is the best type of society and government that would bring about human creativity, harmony, well-being, goodness, equality, understanding, wisdom and compassion?
14. Do you think that human beings are equal or unequal in essence?
•In what ways are human beings equal and, or unequal?
•Is equality or inequality based on who and what we are as human beings or is it based on our actions?
•If we are social creatures, what then determines our psychological, economical and spiritual makeup?
•What governs our actions?
•If equal, then, what sort of a government and society must there be for equality to become part of the social and political fabric?
•What does it mean to be psychologically, politically, economically and socially equal?
•What happens to the concepts of freedom and free market under the banner of equality? Part 4You have been moving from one foster home to another for the past twenty years. You are not yet finished with your education, have no financial security and no loving parental community.
15. What do you think are some of the reasons as to why you were pushed into foster care?
•Why do you think your parents were unable or incapable of keeping and loving you?
•What are the psychological and emotional impacts of being passed from one home to another?
•How do you define love and trust?
16.How has your life history impacted your self-worth, self-identity and the manner in which you interact with others?
17. How is the self defined in Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and Taoism?Part 5Exhausted after football practice, you go home and wonder if you should watch pornography or begin writing this essay. You decide to watch porn!
18. Why do you watch pornography?
•What do you think is the difference between pleasure and happiness?
•What does Epicurus say about pleasure and what according to Epicurus is required to attain pleasure?
19. What are the arguments for and against pornography?
•In what ways does pornography help and hurt marriage?
•What do you think your girl/boy friend would say about you watching pornography?
•Would you be okay if your girl/boy friend or your sister/mother desired to become a porn star?
- Is it right/ethical to only care for those closest to us (parents, siblings, relatives, friends) and be indifferent towards those with whom we have no relations?
•What are the social implications regarding pornography?
•What are the benefits and harms of pornography within the context of human relationships?
•What happens to self-respect and human dignity when starring in or watching porn?
- How do you love and beauty are defined within the context of pornography?
20. Do you think pornography should be censored?
•Under what circumstances can freedom and the pursuit of happiness be healthy and, or unhealthy for the individual and society? Part 6You girlfriend's monthly cycle is delayed. Concerned, she takes a pregnancy test and the result is positive. She is pregnant! She is, however, unsure whether or not the child is yours as she has been sexually involved with other men.
21. What are some of the reasons for not being faithful to one's companion?
•What are the impacts of lying, cheating, and breaking promises on oneself and others?
22. Should your girlfriend be obligated to tell you that she is pregnant, even if the child may not be yours?
23. Is she obligated to tell you that she has been with other men?
24. Why do you think she has been sexually intimate with other men?
•Could she be considered a "prostitute?"
•What is the meaning of human sexuality?
•What is the difference between sex and love?
•Is what your girlfriend has done moral?
•Is it possible to have one love-partner and many sexual-partners?
- Is this moral or immoral?
25. Do you think that human beings are monogamous or polygamous animals?
•If humans are polygamous, do you still believe that what your girlfriend has done is wrong?