Ethics and Education, 6-25-2010

An idea came to me, something I should have done years ago, of writing a book about ethics. From I can read of Bureau of Prison rules, this cannot be done in prison. Maybe you can write it.

I cannot have my books in prison. I see no sense of buying new versions when I have too little money for laundry. 

But I do want to write on this subject. Being placed in a half-way house with people moving from prison to normal life has given me a different perspective on ethics and education. I also wanted to trace what went wrong with my life.

About the second topic, you will find notes about that. I do not need my philosophy books to work on that project. I have already started it. 

I think we can have ethics education in high school. If we can teach the Bible as literature, then certainly we can teach ethics. I found a copy of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics ($4.00) while on a pass to my lawyer's office. I have been assiduously reading away my time (when not writing). Let me recommend Aristotle as the starting point for teaching ethics, and as an example of how to teach ethics.

As for teaching, blend lectures with the Socratic method. It is not enough to propound ethics, but also how to think about the ethical. People need to apply the ideas about ethics to their lives, to their culture. I see many here conforming to the ethics of their subculture. That is not the same thing. The Socratic method would make them explain, justify, their ethical choices of their subculture in the context of the mainstream culture.

sch

[Rather an abrupt ending there, sorry. I guess I can apologize for my 2010 version. I have forgotten most of the details of these old notes, so I was surprised as you. It looks like he meant for these notes to be short, or he was just tired of writing, or this was as much energy as he could muster at the time. I can say I had memories of ethical behavior even through the daze of my depression and its related anger and paranoia. If I had not been trapped on my own petard of no harm to others, I would not be here. Looking ahead, he has follow-up articles; this may also explain the abruptness of this piece. See Aristotle, Ethics, and Me. sch 12/18/22.]