Crash Course in Ethics

What: A Curious Soul Philosophy workshop series

Where: Online via Zoom
When: Each workshop is 3 Saturdays, new dates TBA
What Time: 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Workshop Description:

We each have the freedom to choose our course of life, to decide what our highest values are, and to make the commitments that ultimately define who we are as individuals and communities. But how do we think through what those values and commitments should be, so that our choices don’t become arbitrary or destructive of our personal and political lives? In other words, how do we take responsibility for this great freedom that we have? What tools can we use to think through the questions of how we should live, who we should be, and what we should do?

Join us for a crash course in ethical thinking to examine classic and contemporary approaches to human health and happiness, personal integrity, and what it means to treat others with respect. The workshops are relevant not just for individual ethical dilemmas or personal life-struggles, but also for the big political questions we face having to do with our global pandemic, climate change, education, healthcare, immigration, taxes, housing, issues of inequality surrounding race, class, gender, sexuality, disability, age and more. You bring the problems, we’ll bring some different approaches for thinking through the problems.

Workshop One: Classic Approaches to Ethics

Our first workshop will introduce and examine three dominating approaches in ethics.

The first is Aristotle’s virtue ethics, which is concerned with how we develop good characters, manage our emotional life, and cultivate the habits that create and maintain human health and happiness.

The second is Immanuel Kant’s duty-based ethics, which is concerned with clarifying and abiding by universal moral laws that treat human beings as intrinsically valuable, rather than as a means to an end.

And the third is John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism, which is concerned with bringing about the best consequences, in terms of the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest numbers of people.

Workshop Two: Contemporary Approaches to Ethics

Our second workshop will introduce and examine feminist and environmental approaches to ethics, which will point out the strengths and weaknesses of the classic approaches and open up ethical thinking in new directions.

Feminist ethics reveal the ways in which classic conceptions of “the good” and “the right” have been defined from a masculine perspective and have set themselves up in opposition to the “feminine” realm. Taking the wisdom of women’s experiences seriously, feminist ethics reveal the ways in which emotion, empathy, and care (among other things) can and should play positive roles in ethics.

Environmental ethics reveal the ways in which classic conceptions of “the good” and “the right” have been defined from an anthropocentric perspective that privileges human beings over all other forms of life. Environmental approaches to ethics re-conceive the value of animals and the rest of nature and consider how humans can and should treat them with respect.

About Philosophy Workshops

Philosophy Workshops emphasize discussion, life experience, and practical application. They are led by philosophy professors committed to accessible language and open conversation. No prior philosophical training is necessary . . . just an open mind, a respectful approach to others, and a sense of humor!

About Your Workshop Leader:

Monica Vilhauer, Ph.D. is a former professor of philosophy and the founder of Curious Soul Philosophy. She’s committed to the practical value of philosophy for everyday life, and she’s always looking for ways to move philosophy beyond academic settings and into the community. She does this by offering workshops, retreats, and individual philosophical counseling through Curious Soul.

The Theory and the Lab:
There are two portions of this discussion-based workshop: 1) the Theory, and 2) the Lab.

In the Theory portion of the workshop (the first half of each session) we’ll work to understand key concepts from our reading for the day and from supplementary mini-lectures given by the workshop leader. In the Lab portion of the workshop (the second half) we will reflect on the ways in which the theory applies to our own personal and political struggles. We will devise “experiments” for putting key concepts into practice in our lives, and we will discuss with each other how our experiments work out.

Readings:

Readings will be emailed to registrants as pdf files at least a week in advance of our discussion.

Preparation: 

For each meeting, participants should read in advance the selection of text we’ll be discussing, consider some questions Monica will send by email to help us focus, and come with some marked passages to talk about.

Cost per person for each workshop: $200 (Each workshop is three 2-hour philosophy sessions)

• You may register for one or both workshops
• The workshops have limited space. Register today to save yourself a spot!
• Deadline to register: TBA
• ​Register by clicking the button below and following instructions to use PayPal. If you do not have a PayPal account, PayPal still allows you to pay using a credit card.

Registration is now closed.