17th. Class Meeting Assignment due Monday 30, September
A. Read the excerpt from Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Liberal Education by Martha
Nussbaum, pp. 136-139.
1. What does Nussbaum mean by “normative skepticism”?
2. Explain Nussbaum’s view of tolerance.
3. What does Nussbaum identify as a common code of morality for all humans?
4. Why is Nussbaum critical of “normative chauvinism”?
5. What does Nussbaum mean by “paradigms of evil”?
6. How have you participated, either consciously or unconsciously, in a “paradigm of evil”? Please give
a specific personal example from your life.
B. In preparation of the assignment for CM18, please review Gay Basics: Some Questions, Facts, and Values
by Richard D. Mohr. Although the text is from 1989 and American attitudes and laws have changed, Mohr
describes the social history of arguments regarding the moral, ethical, and political status of sexuality.
18th. Class Meeting Assignment due Tuesday 1, October
A. Type III writing response: “Letter from the Head of School”
Imagine and pretend that you are the Head of School for Hyde-Woodstock, CT. Type a brief, professional
letter to Hyde parents that declares your position on the morality of homosexuality (i.e. moral, immoral, or
amoral), explains the ethical criteria for your judgment, and describes how you plan to act on homosexual
attitudes and behaviors at school.



FCA 1 (35 points)= typed, professional letter format (Use the Bedford Handbook style sheet for a letter
in full block style.)
FCA 2 (30 points)= underline your best idea.
FCA 3 (35 points)= highlight your thesis declaration and one action-step you propose.
One of the normative applications of ethical philosophy is to explain a position on an issue; this is referred
to as “applied ethics” (see Glover pp. 5-6). In this case, you will discuss whether homosexuality is moral,
immoral, or amoral. You are encouraged to develop an original position, but here are some examples of
possible thesis statements, where each thesis applies normative ethical criteria to determine whether a
practice is good or bad, better or worse:
MORAL:
IMMORAL:
AMORAL:
Homosexuality is moral because each individual has a right to pursue happiness in accord
with her or his biological dispositions.
Homosexuality is immoral because heterosexuals sometimes report that homosexual
advances harm their feelings and undermine their self-confidence.
Homosexuality is beyond the scope of moral judgment because there is no objective
morality; instead, as the theory of emotivism suggests, people have been conditioned by
society to have feelings regarding homosexuality in order to influence human behavior.
19th. Class Meeting Assignment due Thursday 3, October
A. Preview the assignment in section B below and, then, read pages 155-164 “The Trap of the Trenches,”
Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century by Jonathan Glover.
B. Nihilism vs. Moral Resources:
1. List three effects of trench warfare on human psychology.
2. Describe what soldiers do to interrupt aggression and to break out of the trap of war.
3. Describe what authorities do to trap soldiers and create aggression.
4. List three causes of peace.
5. On pages 158-159, Glover explains how soldiers were trapped by the psychology of obedience,
resignation, and resentment. Explain how each psychological factor (i.e. obedience, resignation, and
resentment) is used by off-track leaders of student culture at Hyde to immobilize, entrap, and
demoralize on-track, conscientious students.
a. Obedience Example:
b. Helpless Resignation Example:
c. Fruitless Resentment Example:
20th. Class Meeting Assignment due Friday 4, October
A. Since the unit one test on “Moral Reasoning and Amorality” will be open notes, you should organize your
binder, gathering notes for any missed classes, and completing any incomplete readings or assignments.
History 12: Ethics, Political Theory, and Philosophy
Page 9
B. Unit test structure:
1. Five terms or definitions (5 minutes).
2. Three to four short answer questions (25 minutes).
3. One reading response (15 minutes)
4. One short essay (30+ minutes).
History 12: Ethics, Political Theory, and Philosophy
Page 10