Thinking Matters - Module III: Ethics & Advocacy

112 Pages·2020·10.308 MB·English

by  Gary Mar

Gary Mar
hinking atters
T M
Module Three:
Ethics & Advocacy
Copyright©2018GaryMar
Contents
Preface i
1 IsEthicsPossible? 1
What Happened to Morality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Ethical Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Testing Ethical Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2 EthicalTheories 15
Divine Command Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Utilitarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Kant’s Categorical Imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Social Contract Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Natural Law Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3 TheFragmentationofContemporaryEthics 57
A Synthesis of Ethical Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Summary of Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
4 APlaybookforAdvocates 77
When & How to Argue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Choosing Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Techniques of Argumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Rhetorical Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Preface
To Students ...
The ancient orator Horace (65–8 B.C.) once wrote, “Control your
mind or it will control you.” In today’s society we are faced with
morecomplexinformationandwithmoredifficultdecisionsthanever.
Many people feel overwhelmed and helpless. One way to become
lesshelpless—togaincontroloverone’slife—istogaincontrolover
your own thinking. We can feel helpless before the barrage of data,
information, opinions, statistics, and arguments if we lack the skills
to understand and critically evaluate them. This book is designed to
imparttheseskills.
Anycourseinauniversityshoulddomorethanteachinformation
–in nearly every field, ‘facts’ become obsolete quickly. The goals of
thistextaretohelpyou:
• tosolveproblemsmoreefficientlyandcreatively;
• tomakelogicaldeductionsmorefluidlyandtoexposefalla-
ciesmoreeffectively;
• toidentifyandcritiquemoralprinciplesusedtodecidecases
inethicalandlegaldebates;
• todistinguishsciencefrompseudo-scienceandtoknowhow
tocalculatewiththeprobabilitiesthatcanbeusedtoexplain
thelogicofscientifictesting;
• tocodealgorithmsartfullyandtocomprehendthepowerand
limitsofcomputationalthinking.
The text is punctuated with exercises or ‘personal experiments’
to challenge and stimulate your curiosity. These exercises may take
the form of an inventory to be taken, a puzzle to be solved, or some
thoughtstoponder.Youarestronglyurgedtocompletetheseexercises
before reading on. These exercises often provide you with concrete
illustrationsofwhatisdiscussedmoreabstractly,butnolessprecisely,
ii gary mar
in the text that follows. Intuition is not always a reliable judge to
what’slogicallyvalid. Supposeyouaregiven:
IfAlicetalkstotheCheshireCat,sheismad.IfAlicedoesn’ttalktothe
CheshireCat,she’llbelost.IfAliceisn’tmad,shewillnotbelost.
WhichofthefollowingcanbevalidlydeducedaboutAlice’smen-
talhealth?
(A) Aliceismad.
(B) Alicewillbelost.
(C) IfAlicedoesn’ttalktotheCheshireCat,thensheismad.
(D) IfAliceismad,thenshetalkstotheCheshireCat.
(E) IfAliceisn’tmad,thenWonderlandisachessboard.
In the last chapter of the book we’ll ask about what puzzles like this
canteachusaboutthenatureoflogicalknowledge.
WhenIwasinelementaryschool,IbecameenchantedbyMartin
Gardiner’s magical Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puz-
zlesandDiversions. Inthepagesofthisbookanditsnumeroussuc-
cessors,Iwasintroducedtologicpuzzles,hexaflexagons,probability
paradoxes,theGameofLife,cardmagic,fadandfallaciesinthename
ofscience,Newcomb’sparadox,andalife-longfascinationwithrecre-
ational mathematics and philosophy. This fascination led me to pur-
suephilosophyandmathematicsendingupasalogician. Indeedmy
dissertation, the last to be completed under the direction of the great
20th century logician Alonzo Church was on the topic of the logical
paradoxes. (Church was also the advisor for Alan Turing’s disserta-
tion,Church’sfourthPh.D.studentwhoseanalysisofcomputingwas
foundationaltothefieldofcomputerscienceandwhosecryptographic
work during World War II cracked the German Enigma code, saving
tensofthousandsoflivesandshorteningthewarbyanestimatedtwo
years.)
Foraquarterofacentury,GardnerthroughhisScientificAmeri-
cancolumncreatedasocialnetworkthroughcorrespondenceofmath-
ematicians(RogerPenrose,JohnConway),logicians(RaymondSmullyan),
magicians and skeptics (Persi Diaconis, James Randi), philosophers
(RobertNozick),writers(IsaacAsimov,ArthurC.Clarke,artists(M.
TheGathering4Gardner(G4G) C. Escher, Salvador Dali), computer scientists (Donald Knuth, Dou-
Foundationpreservesthelegacyof glas Hofstader), among others. In the introduction to his book,
MartinGardner.
Gardner wrote the following words, which have inspired the way I
teachandthewayinwhichthisbookiswritten:
[C]reativemathematiciansareseldomashamedoftheirinterestinrecreational
topics. TopologyhasitsorigininEuler’sanalysisofapuzzleaboutcross-
thinking matters – module iii: ethics & advocacy iii
ingbridges.Leibnizdevotedconsiderabletimetothestudyofpeg-jumping
...DavidHilbert,thegreatGermanmathematician,provedoneofthebasic
WARNING:MartinGardnerhasturned
theorems in the field of dissection puzzles. The late Alan M. Turing, a
dozensofinnocentyoungstersinto
pioneerinmoderncomputertheory,discussed...the15puzzle[youmight mathprofessorsandthousandsofmath
rememberthoseslidingsquaresona4x4fieldinwhichyoutrytogetthe professorsintoinnocentyoungsters.
numbers1through15inorder]inanarticleonsolvableandunsolvableprob- PersiDiaconis
lems...[A]sectionofEinstein’sbookshelfwasstockedwithmathematical
gamesandpuzzles. Theinterestofthesegreatmindsinmathematicalplay
isnothardtounderstand,forthecreativethoughtbestowedonsuchtrivial
topicsisofapiecewiththetypeofthinkingwhichleadstomathematical
andscientificdiscovery.
The idea of this book is not to intimidate you but to instill in
youahealthyconfidenceinyourongoingprocessofcriticalthinking.
It is not meant to confuse you with a lot of jargon, nor to give you
specialized tricks for passing standardized tests. Instead this book is
designedtotrytoequipyouwiththinkingtoolswhichyoucanusefor
almostanythingfortherestofyourlife.
Sotrytorelaxandenjoyit. Rememberthatinabookthatistry-
ing to teach you to think, the effort of trying to think logically and
criticallycountsforfarmorethangettingthe‘rightanswer’. Inalot
ofcases,youmayfindthatthe‘rightanswer’isnotrightafterall—or
thatperhapsyouwillfindabetteronethantheonewefound!Sodon’t
beafraidtouseyourhead. Ifyoucanfigureouthowyouareusingit
andseehowtouseitbetter,thenthisbookwillhaveaccomplishedits
goal.
Our universe of thought emerges out of problems encountered in
our everyday life just as our dreams emerge out of the events of the
day. Ifwehaveasenseofwonder,theworldmayserveasaclue—a
pointofdeparture—suggestingquestionsthatchallengeustoconsider
ways of solving problems of a quite abstract and theoretical nature.
Today our intellectual universe is so vast that in order to have some
ideaofitsnatureandextent,itisusefultodivideitintosmallercon-
stellations. This procedure is useful provided that we keep in mind
that these constellations are not separated by clear-cut barriers. This
bookisonlyasmallmapofmanyexcursionsthatarepossible,anditis
basedonthecollectedexcursionsofmanypioneerswhohaveexplored
beforeus. Itisourhopethatthroughreadingandthinkingyourway
throughthisbookyouwillcometoappreciateyourthinkingmatters.
iv gary mar
To Teachers...
Let’s be honest. Critical thinking is hard to teach. It can be both
extremelychallengingandextremelyrewarding. Asecrettoteaching
a successful course is to use both your strengths and your insatiable
curiosity as a critical thinker. Design your courses to that you teach
topicswithwhichyou’rethoroughlyacquaintedbutalsoalwaysbein-
novatingwithnewtopicsthatcanbecomecoursesintheirownright.
Thinking Matters is designed in modules so that you can easily vary
yourcoursestructureaccordingtoyourgoalsandinterests.
The first module on problem solving, which can be read and un-
derstood by the students without additional lecture material, is de-
Ifachildistokeepalivehisinborn signedtoarousethestudents’curiositiesandenticethemintoasense
senseofwonder,heneedsthecompan-
ofintellectualplay.Theproblemsolvingmodelsusedtosolvepuzzles
ionshipofatleastoneadultwhocan
shareit,rediscoveringwithhimthejoy, are developed later in subsequent units. More importantly, the mod-
excitement,andmysteryoftheworldwe
ule is designed to restore in them a healthy confidence in their own
livein.
RachelCarson abilities to solve problems by their own means. This module can be
used as additional background reading for problem solving activities
designedtohelpthestudentstogettoknowoneanotherandtoestab-
lish a classroom community of learners. The path you take depends
on your strengths and the interests and needs of the students in your
class.
The various modules of the course are related to one another, but
actuallytherelationshipsaremorereflectiveandrefractive—thecon-
nectionsnotsomuchlinearasfractalinform. Materialfromeachof
the modules is reflected within each of the other modules, extending
yourpreviousunderstandinginnewways.
Soyoucanthinkofadiagramofthecourseasbeingfractal:
Today,relevancetocontemporarylifeisoftendemandedinlogical
thinking matters – module iii: ethics & advocacy v
studies. Wehaveneverthelessfoundthathistoricalandtheoreticalas-
pectsoflogicprovideanintriguingandindispensablebackground.We
havechosennottoshuntheoreticaltopicsinourdesiretobepractical.
ThetheoreticalaspectsoflogicareminimizedinModuleTwo,butde-
veloped more extensively in the latter chapters of Modules Four and
Five.Thosewishingtoeschewsymbolismcanstilldesignafullcourse
withoutthosechapters. Theepilogue“LogicinRetrospect”isaphilo-
sophical review of the material in the style of Lewis Carroll’s Alice
inWonderland. ThemoduleTheArtoftheAlgorithmandComputa-
tionalThinkingisone,thoughnottypicallycoveredincriticalthinking
courses,isonethatimpartsasetofskillscriticallyimportantinthein-
formation age. Algorithmic thinking is a powerful problem solving
tool and computer simulations are is increasingly used as models in
science. Theimpactofalgorithmsonhumansocietyandthepolitical
consequencesofprofilingandcreatingwedgeissuestodivideandma-
nipulatefactionsinademocraticsocietyraiseimportantmoralissues.
Thetexthasseveralpedagogicalfeatures.Eachchapterbeginswith
a story or puzzle to illustrate and introduce the subject that follows.
Eachsectiondevelopsaclusterofbasicconceptsandsetsforthvari-
ousformalorinformaltechniques. Thechaptersendwithasummary
of the new concepts, and exercises are provided at the end of each
section. The exercises are typically arranged into three groups. The
firstgroupconsistsofstraight-forwardexercisesdesignedtohelpthe
studentdiscoverwhetherheorshehasunderstoodthebasicconcepts
of the section. The second group of exercises further develops and
reinforcestheconceptsintroducedinthechapter,andthethirdgroup
consistsofopen-endedexercisesdesignedtostimulatefurtherinterest
in the subject. Inevitably as a teacher, what you ultimately impart to
your students —and what they will remember most about the course
—iswhatyoumodelinclass. Manyofthevaluesofcriticalthinking
arethesortthatmustbe‘caught’asyoutryyourbesttopracticewhat
youteach. Goodluck!