After watching Professor Stites's lecture introducing you to virtue ethics, please join with your classmates to deliberate about those questions that Professor Stites identified as at the heart of all philosophical speculation:
What sort of a life is worth living?
What kind of person should I be?
How should I act/behave?
In asking you to deliberate, I'm using that word quite literally. Whenever you sit down to post in the DB to deliberate with your classmates, I'd like you to imagine yourself as on a jury, probably the best embodiment of a deliberative body. All members of a jury must keep an open mind and avoid prejudging the case they are asked to deliberate about. The jury may come to its decision only after carefully examining all the evidence and seriously considering all the possible ways to interpret that evidence. No member of a jury may presuppose he or she knows the truth from the start. Rather, through deliberation, the jury members together achieve consensus about what the truth really is.
There are three principles to keep in mind, therefore, as you engage in deliberation in the discussion board:
Do not presume you know the truth already. No matter how certain you may feel about the rightness of your views, when you post in the discussion board, you need to suspend judgement and put yourself in a position to explore and figure out what the truth really is.
Believe that the truth is attainable. After suspending judgement, you need to "wallow in complexity," as our book describes it, and commit yourself to discovering the truth or getting as close to the truth as you can by analyzing the details of whatever you're deliberating about. See yourself involved with others in a process of "critical inquiry," as another chapter in our text describes it, whenever you join the discussion in the Discussion Board.
Do not dismiss those who disagree with you as "idiots" or "bigots" or worse. As much as possible, try to see why those with whom you disagree think about and see things the way they do. Encourage them to elaborate on their position if you have a hard time understanding or accepting it. Assume, no matter what their position, that they want the same things you do-to do the right thing and to act according to the truth. Enlist them in the quest to discover that right thing and truth together with you.
Keeping those three principles in mind, then, please use your posts in the discussion board to figure out the answer to the question or questions you choose to address. I'd prefer to see you start out your post saying something like, "I'm not sure what to say or how I feel about this. On one hand, I'm feeling . . ." These questions are intended to make you think as you attempt to arrive at an answer. I am more interested in reading your thinking right before my eyes, as it were, than I am in reading the answers your thinking may lead you to. It will be all right to finish a post without answering the question you set out to answer by simply announcing something like, "My head is spinning now and I really need to sleep on this before I go further . . . "
Note 1: Please do not attempt to answer more than one question at a time in a single post. Start with the question that most perplexes you and/or that you feel may lead to the most interesting insights. Pursue the answer to that question only in a single post. You may certainly return to the same question in a subsequent post, too, but do not offer an answer to each of the questions identified above all in one post.
Note 2: Do not feel compelled to answer all the questions identified above. Focus only on that question or those questions that truly intrigue you and that you feel may lead you somewhere.
Note 3: You should attempt to answer at least one of the questions identified above, but in other posts you may turn your attention to what your classmates have posted. Be as encouraging and polite as you can be in your responses to the thinking that they've shared. No harshness, sarcasm, or "flaming" is desired or allowed. It is good to remember the Golden Rule in writing your responses. Build on any insights that they've shared. Raise questions that may challenge what they've said or to let them know where you would appreciate more clarification. Whatever you do, even in your responses to others, keep thinking and exploring and searching for answers.