Exploring ethical theory via a personal moral dilemma assessment piece
David Hunter1, University Of Adelaide Adelaide 1University Of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Abstract
Bioethics is often taught with reference to big, exciting and controversial cases – those that appear in the news media or the court room. While this may be engaging it also has the implication that ethical issues are these rare and exotic beasts – that only arise in these big cases that you might not encounter in your career.
This is exacerbated by teaching moral theory – which like many areas of philosophy can excessively lean on thought experiments which are alien to the life experiences of the students.
All of this contributes to a potential disconnection between what students learn in ethics and the lives, and future professional practice of those students.
In this talk I will describe an assessment strategy that I have adopted to reinforce student’s understanding of moral theory and to connect it with their lives.
In this early assessment piece I ask the students to pick a moral dilemma or quandary that they have faced in the last month and describe it. I then ask them to pick one of the moral theories we have discussed in the introductory weeks of their course and discuss what advice that theory would give. Finally I ask them to assess whether that advice is helpful for them to resolve that dilemma.
This connects the ethical theory to their own lives and their own challenges, allows an opportunity to check on their understanding and to reflect deeply.
Biography
David Hunter is a political philosopher by background – he specialises in applying insights from political philosophy in the context of applied ethics.