St Mary's School - Shaftesbury...

Well -after rather a long drive, this Tuesday saw me arrive at St Mary's School, in Shaftesbury - where I talked (quite a lot, if I recall) about Utilitarianism.

Those interested in the Omelas short story that I mentioned, and its relation to Utilitarianism can look at some discussions we had on this site by clicking HERE... I also talked about moral dilemmas - such as those at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4954856.stm - which might remind you of some of the ones I used in the session!

And - as I said after a simliar session (albeit in the West Midlands, rather than Dorest): For those who thought I was a little tough on Utilitarianism (I have been accused of this) - you can redress the balance at http://www.utilitarian.net/

I hope the sessions were of some use for your AS Religious Studies paper - and thanks for inviting me..

Dave

New comment on The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

For more new comments on The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas see http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/03/ethics-in-ones-who-walk-away-from.html and scroll down - including a response by Ursula LeGuin herself, sent to Martha Allen Sherwood, in the context of discussions about the story...
Cheers - Dave

Ethics in The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Note: If you are a student looking at this to help with a paper/essay on the Omelas short story - that is great, we hope something here helps - but be sure to give a reference - and send me an e-mail to let me know if you find the material useful..

Dave W: dwebster@glos.ac.uk

Last Semester (in RPE101, Philosophical and Ethical Arguing) we used the Ursula Le Guin short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas to discuss a number of ethical concerns that we were going over in class. Details of this post are at:
http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2006/12/ones-who-walk-away-from-omelas.html

In EZ205 (Ethics and Language), we have covered a number of ethical theories, and I wanted to raise some of the related issues with the class. I would like you to look at the story and consider your response in a number of ways….

• What is the nature of the ethical problem here? How is it linked to the theories we have been looking at in class?
  
• What would you do – and why?
  
• In what way do we share the dilemma of the people of Omelas in our current economic and political world?
  
• Would it be worth the life of one innocent child to free the world from, say, AIDS?
  
• Is the contrivance of the story useful - do such exmaples help our moral thinking?
  
• In Le Guin’s description of the city of Omelas (which is striking), what do we learn of her view of what the Good life consists of?
  
  

Please use the ‘comments’ feature of the blog to respond to these questions (and make any other comments others that occur while reading or reflecting…)
Other RPE students (and indeed anyone else) are welcome to join in here!

See you in class…
Dave

The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

See update at: http://r-p-e.blogspot.com/2007/03/ethics-in-ones-who-walk-away-from.html as well... - esp for discussion of the story in more detail..

Note: If you are a student looking at this to help with a paper/essay on the Omelas short story - that is great, we hope something here helps - but be sure to give a reference - and send me and e-mail to let me know if you find the material useful..

Dave W: dwebster@glos.ac.uk

In the RPE101 (Philosophical and Ethical Arguing) class today, we talked about the Ursula Le Guin short story The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas - as a focus for concerns about Utilitarianism and responsibility...

There is a wikipedia piece at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_From_Omelas - which explains the story - but also see the essay at http://www.sfu.ca/~etiffany/teaching/phil120/omelas1_120.html - whose conclusions I am not convinced by: but ask yourself the questions

1 - Would you stay in the city - knowing your happiness was at the expense of a suffering child?

2 - Do we not anyway enjoy an easy life at the direct expense of others in the developing world already? Are we not just at guilty as the Omelas-people who choose to stay?

responses welcome...
Dave