Philosophy
We had our senior thesis presentations the other day and one of our seniors wrote on the moral responsibilities that stem from friendship relations. She took an Aristotelian sort of approach and during the Q&A section, a colleague raised the issue of high maintenance friends and asked whether it was a character flaw. Is "high maintenance" a moral category or at least does it have an ethical dimension? There is a difference being immoral and annoying, where do we put being high maintenance?
- Are Friends Necessary?
Having friends is a wonderful thing. No one would deny that. But is having friends necessary for a well-lived human life? Could you have a full and satisfying life without friends. The question does not ask whether one could be a happy...
- The Dignity Of Inanimate Objects
Working in Gettysburg and driving past the cemetery where Lincoln delivered his address every morning, you understand the ways in which we take things and places and grant them a special status. I have a student who argues that this status is dignity...
- The Moral Responsibility To Friends And Family
We grant special moral considerability to people who are our friends. Friendship comes with responsibility. You care about your friends in ways you do not care about strangers and therefore there will come times when you have to do things...
- Moral And Ethical?
I've never understood why people say "moral and ethical" as in "the moral and ethical implications of that action are serious." I've always thought the two words were synonymous making that phrase redundant, saying the same thing over again, and...
- Somebody Please Explain Situational Ethics To Me
One of the bogeymen of the right is "situational ethics." I will admit that I haven't a clue what it is they mean. Some mean ethical relativism, and that has its own set of problems, but others clearly intend something else and I'm not sure what...
Philosophy
High Maintenance as a Moral Category
We had our senior thesis presentations the other day and one of our seniors wrote on the moral responsibilities that stem from friendship relations. She took an Aristotelian sort of approach and during the Q&A section, a colleague raised the issue of high maintenance friends and asked whether it was a character flaw. Is "high maintenance" a moral category or at least does it have an ethical dimension? There is a difference being immoral and annoying, where do we put being high maintenance?
- Are Friends Necessary?
Having friends is a wonderful thing. No one would deny that. But is having friends necessary for a well-lived human life? Could you have a full and satisfying life without friends. The question does not ask whether one could be a happy...
- The Dignity Of Inanimate Objects
Working in Gettysburg and driving past the cemetery where Lincoln delivered his address every morning, you understand the ways in which we take things and places and grant them a special status. I have a student who argues that this status is dignity...
- The Moral Responsibility To Friends And Family
We grant special moral considerability to people who are our friends. Friendship comes with responsibility. You care about your friends in ways you do not care about strangers and therefore there will come times when you have to do things...
- Moral And Ethical?
I've never understood why people say "moral and ethical" as in "the moral and ethical implications of that action are serious." I've always thought the two words were synonymous making that phrase redundant, saying the same thing over again, and...
- Somebody Please Explain Situational Ethics To Me
One of the bogeymen of the right is "situational ethics." I will admit that I haven't a clue what it is they mean. Some mean ethical relativism, and that has its own set of problems, but others clearly intend something else and I'm not sure what...