what this blog is for and how it is to be used (general)

The aim of this blog is to encourage discussion of ethical issues raised by the world as we find it.  As you know, our inquiries in class and in the readings occur at a rather high level of abstraction.  The natural move is from ethical understanding to its application to real-world issues.  I think that’s important, but it’s also important for ethics to be approached from the other direction: starting with awareness of some challenging real-world situation, and exploring it in hopes of finding ethical insight.  My aim in creating this blog, and opening it up for you to use as you like, is to encourage that sort of thinking. 

So the idea is that you’ll start by describing some real-world situation about which guidance might be sought.  You might end there (perhaps with a word or two about why you think guidance is needed, if it isn’t obvious).  Or you might anticipate guidance which might be offered, or which you have in fact considered, and explain why you’re not totally satisfied with it.  And then, of course, my hope is that others will actually contribute to the attempt to provide such guidance (or, of course, that you’ll do it for the situations described by others).  So the pattern is: original post describing some challenging situation, and then discussion of that situation.  Those discussing the situation can comment on the original post, or on others comments, or comments on comments, and so on.  My hope is that at least some original posts will gather significant discussion.

So far as which situations to discuss, I leave that up to you.  You can describe personal situations faced by you or others (so long as you don’t breach anyone’s confidentiality without their consent).  Or you can describe situations that affect society or humanity in general.