Georg-Hipp-Realschule Klaus E. Birkner85276 Pfaffenhofen a. d. Ilm

MODULE II

General Introduction to Ethics

Contents

M1 Information Sheet 1 Organizational Details

M2 Information Sheet 2 Links and Sources

M3 Worksheet 1 Introduction (2 pages)

M4 Key to Worksheet 1

M5 Worksheet 2 General Introduction:

1 What is Ethics?

M6 Worksheet 3 2 Three Basic Approaches to Ethics

M7 First Written Test

M8 Key to M7

M9 Worksheet 4 3 What Use is Ethics? (2 pages)

If not otherwise stated, the texts are basically taken from www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/ and adapted. All the questions and tasks have been exclusively created by the author.

Module II: General Introduction to Ethics Birkner page 2

M1 Information Sheet 1: Organizational Details

Choose a topic that deals with society. Topics chosen by former pupils are

for example: plastic surgery; alcohol; school shootings; child labour;

Anne Frank & Holocaust, War in Serbia, globalization, Bill Gates;

protection of animals; exorcism – to name but a few.

You may not choose capital punishment (= death penalty) as a topic –

your teacher will talk about it to give you an impression of what your

project could look like:

Write about 2 – 3 pages.

o Pages one and two give basic information on the topic.

o Page three lists about 10 questions you could ask your classmates.

At the end of the project …

o … give your personal opinion: My personal opinion on the subject

is that …

o … say why you chose the subject: I chose this topic for my project

because …

Be prepared to answer your classmates´ questions.

Be flexible – interaction is what counts.

Give your classmates a list of important words they will probably not

know. Alternatively, write them on the board while you perform.

Write important items like proper names, major dates etc. on the board.

Print out two copies of your paper; one will remain with your teacher and

will be passed around in class.

Hand in your paper by Thursday, 7 January 2010.

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M2 Information Sheet 2: Links and Sources

The following links may be helpful to you when you work on your project:

General reference

http://en.wikipedia.org

http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/

BBC

www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/

www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/

Magazines for learners of English (some can be found in the library in PAF)

www.spotlight-verlag.de > Spotlight

www.spotlight-verlag.de > Spot on

www.sprachzeitungen.de > Read On

www.sprachzeitungen.de > World And Press

British newspapers

The Times www.timesonline.co.uk

The Daily Telegraph www.telegraph.co.uk

The Independent www.independent.co.uk

“Yellow Press”:

The Sun www.thesun.co.uk

The Daily Mirror www.mirror.co.uk

American newspapers and magazines

The New York Times www.nytimes.com

The Washington Post www.washingtonpost.com

TIME Magazine www.time.com/time/ > Magazine

Newsweek Magazine www.newsweek.com

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M3 Worksheet 1: IntroductionTask 1: (before handing out copies): Work together with a partner. Which

ethical issues do you think there are? Name between 10 to 15 and write them down.

Task 2: Copy the middle column from the transparency into the following table:

abortion

capital punishment

charity

contraception

euthanasia

male / female circumcision

forced marriage

honour killings / honour crimes / crimes of honour / torture

Additional vocabulary from the definitions:donate = spendenfoetus = Fötushonour = Ehreincurable = unheilbarpainless = schmerzlospregnancy = Schwangerschaft

pregnant = schwangerremove = entfernensuffer = leidensupply = liefern, bereitstellenwomb = Gebärmutter, Mutterleib

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Task 3: Match the following German words to the corresponding English words and write them into the third column of the table:

AbtreibungFolter Beschneidung von Männern / FrauenTodesstrafeZwangsheiratEmpfängnisverhütungNächstenliebe, WohltätigkeitSterbehilfeEhrenmorde

Task 4: Here´s a list of the ethical issues featured on www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/ (in order of alphabet):

AbortionAnimal ethicsCapital PunishmentCharityContraceptionEuthanasiaFemale CircumcisionForced MarriageHonour CrimesIntroduction to EthicsLyingMale CircumcisionSlaverySportTortureWar

Which – in your view – important issues are missing in this list? Work together with a partner and find at least five:

________________________________________________________________

Which feature is the most important one for you, which one the least important? Number the issues in order of importance, e.g. 1 for the most important one and 16 for the least important one. Write the numbers in the box above.

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M4 Key to Worksheet 1

Tasks 2 & 3

abortion removing the foetus from the womb during pregnancy

Abtreibung

capital punishment = death penalty: to punish s.o. by death, e.g. for murder

Todesstrafe

charity helping the poor by giving (= donating)

Nächstenliebe, Wohltätigkeit

contraception method of preventing pregnancy

Empfängnisverhütung

euthanasia the bringing about of a painless death for people that suffer from incurable diseases

Sterbehilfe

male / female circumcision

Beschneidung von Männern / Frauen

forced marriage having to marry s.o. your parents chose for you

Zwangsheirat

honour killings / honour crimes / crimes of honour /

the murder of a person accused of "bringing shame" upon their family.

Ehrenmorde

torture causing extreme suffering to somebody, e.g. a prisoner, especially to make him supply secret information

Folter

Module II: General Introduction to Ethics Birkner page 8

M5 Worksheet 2: General Introduction – What is Ethics?

1 What is ethics?

Ethics is a branch* of philosophy that covers* a whole family of things that have

a real importance in everyday life.

Ethics is about right and wrong

Ethics is about rights and duties*

Ethics is about good and bad

Ethics is about what goodness itself is

Ethics is about making moral choices*

Ethics is about the way to live a good life

Ethics is about how people use the language of

right and wrong

Ethics tackles* some of the fundamental* questions of

human life:

How should people live?

What should people do in particular* situations?

Ethics is about choices

Ethics produces some of the most passionate arguments* that take place in parliament, church, family, school and down the pub. It covers* topics like abortion and euthanasia, punishment and justice, human rights and freedoms, and the proper conduct* of doctors, lawyers* and businesses.

branch = Zweigcover = abdecken; sich befassen mitduties = Pflichten, Aufgabenfundamental = basiclawyer = Rechtsanwalt

moral choices = moralische Entscheidungenparticular = besondere(r/s)passionate arguments = leidenschaftliche /

wilde Streitereienproper conduct = richtiges Verhalten tackle = in Angriff nehmen, angehen

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M6 Worksheet 3: Three Basic Approchaches to Ethics

2 Three basic * approaches * to ethics.

… the choices that matter

Descriptive ethics This describes what people and societies actually do about moral issues

Normative ethics Sets out what is good and what is bad Sets out what people when faced with moral problems should do Sets out how people should be in order to live good lives It's what people are dealing with when they ask 'is euthanasia wrong?' It's what people are talking about when they refer to* behaviour as

'unethical' -- they mean that the behaviour falls short of what people should have done and that the people concerned have not made the morally ideal choices

Meta-Ethics This is what philosophers deal with*. It's about the mechanics and

meanings behind normative ethics. It deals with questions such as "what do people mean by good?"

approach = Herangehensweise, Ansatzbasic = grundlegend, grundsätzlichdeal with = sich befassen mitdescriptive = beschreibend ( to describe)

fall short = etwas nicht erreichen, zu niedrig liegen, zu kurz greifen, zurückbleiben hinter

normative = vorschreibend, Vorschriften enthaltend

refer to = sich beziehen auf

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M7 Worksheet 4: First Test in Ethics (English)

1 Fill in the following table: [Ergänze die folgende Tabelle!]

German English German English

…………………. honour crimes Abtreibung ………………….

…………………. contraception Folter ………………….

42 Explain the following ethical topics by giving a definition. [Erkläre, was die folgenden ethischen Themen bedeuten, indem du möglichst auf Englisch eine Definition gibst. ]

euthanasia: _______________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________2

forced marriage: ___________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________2

3 Name one ethical issue (other than in tasks 1 and 2) that is very important to you. Give a reason for choosing it. [Nenne ein ethisches Thema (es darf nicht aus den Aufgaben 1 und 2 entnommen sein), das dir sehr wichtig erscheint. Begründe deine Auswahl! Antworte möglichst auf Englisch. Sprachliche Fehler werden nicht gewertet.]

issue: ___________________________________________________________1

reason for choosing it: ______________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________1

4 There are three main approaches to ethics. Give their names and underline the approach that sets out how people should be in order to live good lives.[Es gibt drei grundlegende Ansätze (Herangehensweisen) an die Ethik. Nenne die 3 Begriffe auf Englisch, notfalls auch auf Deutsch, und unterstreiche denjenigen, der vorgibt, wie die Menschen sein sollen, wenn sie ein gutes Leben führen wollen.]

1 ______________________________ 2 __________________________

3 ______________________________ 3+1

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M8 KEY: First Test in Ethics (English)

Task 1

Ehrenmorde abortion

(Empfängnis-)Verhütung torture

Task 2

Euthanasia: helping someone with an incurable disease to die painlessly

Forced marriage: having to marry someone your parents chose for you

Task 3

Example: Protection of the environment.

The global warming with all its negative effects makes this

topic a very important one.

Task 4

descriptive ethics, normative ethics, meta ethics

14-14 12-11 10-9 8-7 6-5 4-0

1 2 3 4 5 6

Module II: General Introduction to Ethics Birkner page 12

M9 Worksheet 4: What Use is Ethics?Note: This text is not easy to understand because it´s pretty philosophical and abstract. But don´t be discouraged. Use a dictionary and write down the words you don´t know right in the text.

3 What use is ethics?

Ethics needs to provide answers

If ethical theories are to be useful

in practice, they need to affect the

way human beings behave.

Some philosophers think that ethics

does do this. They argue that if a person

realises that it would be morally good to

do something then it would be irrational

for that person not to do it.

But human beings often behave

irrationally - they follow their 'gut

instinct' even when their head suggests a

different course of action.

However, ethics does provide good

tools for thinking about moral issues.

Ethics can provide a moral map

Most moral issues get us pretty worked up - think of abortion and euthanasia for

starters. Because these are such emotional issues we often let our hearts do the

arguing while our brains just go with the flow.

But there's another way of tackling these issues, and that's where philosophers

can come in - they offer us ethical rules and principles that enable us to take a

cooler view of moral problems.

So ethics provides us with a moral map, a framework that we can use to find our

way through difficult issues.

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Ethics can pinpoint a disagreement

Using the framework of ethics, two people who are arguing a moral issue can

often find that what they disagree about is just one particular part of the issue,

and that they broadly agree on everything else.

That can take a lot of heat out of the argument, and sometimes even hint at a

way for them to resolve their problem.

But sometimes ethics doesn't provide people with the sort of help that they really

want.

Ethics doesn't give right answers

Ethics doesn't always show the right answer to moral problems.

Indeed more and more people think that for many ethical issues there isn't a

single right answer - just a set of principles that can be applied to particular

cases to give those involved some clear choices.

Some philosophers go further and say that all ethics can do is eliminate

confusion and clarify the issues. After that it's up to each individual to come to

their own conclusions.

Ethics can give several answers

Many people want there to be a single right answer to ethical questions. They

find moral ambiguity hard to live with because they genuinely want to do the

'right' thing, and even if they can't work out what that right thing is, they like the

idea that 'somewhere' there is one right answer.

But often there isn't one right answer - there may be several right answers, or

just some least worst answers - and the individual must choose between them.

For others moral ambiguity is difficult because it forces them to take

responsibility for their own choices and actions, rather than falling back on

convenient rules and customs.