Lifeboats & Trolley Cars

Ethical Experience Project

Introduction to Ethics

RIT Fall Term 2008

Assignment: Ethical Experience Project

Moral judgments are based in both emotion and in reason. Both of these aspects of moral judgment are influenced by our life experience. Humans tend to feel more sympathy or compassion with people to whom we feel connected, and we feel a higher level of concern about issues that affect us directly. Similarly, we can reason more clearly about a moral issue when we know more about it, and especially if we can draw on experiential knowledge.

For these reasons, a major assignment for this class (worth 20% of the course grade) is to engage in an activity that will provide some sort of experience that you can relate to the issues in practical ethics that we will discuss, and then to write a 2- to 4-page reflection on that experience, due October 27. Such experience can take many forms. One form that I especially encourage is “service” or volunteer work. Another form might be to organize a dialogue among people that you know, in order to share experiences and views on a particular topic. I will provide some specific ideas for activities (some below and more in blog entries) and some specific questions to answer in your written reflection.

I encourage you to design your own project. If you are not certain if it would meet my requirements, then don’t hesitate to ask! In general, an experiential project should

1.) be an activity that you would not otherwise do; and

2.) should either involve a hands-on physical experience or a social experience.

Since our class is focused on environmental problems, the ideas I offer have that theme, but you may instead generate other ideas or service projects, such as participating in a voter registration drive. You may also find service opportunities through Campus Life at http://campuslife.rit.edu/leadership/csc_opportunities.php. You may collaborate with other class members, so long as you each do your own writing and reflection.

PROJECT IDEAS

— Art project: National Park(ing) Day. September 19, at locations around Rochester. The deadline to sign up is Sept. 9. This project lends itself to group work.

— Service project: Saturday, September 13, 9:30am in Perinton (southwest of Rochester). Work with the Genesee Valley Audubon Society to help to eradicate invasive species on a “Weed Walk.” JPG flyer here.

— Service project: International Coastal Cleanup. Saturday, September 20, 9am @ various locations in Rochester. A number of non-profit organizations and the city are organizing volunteers to pick up trash along Lake Ontario and the Genesee River. RIT’s Student Environmental Action League will be participating in Irondequoit.

— Local markets activity: Compare shopping at a farmer’s market to shopping at a grocery store. Cook a meal made entirely from local products. Reflect on what McKibben has to say about local agriculture.

— Biodiversity activity: Visit the Seneca Park zoo. Do you experience any moral emotions? How does the zoo convey a conservation message? Examine the value of zoo visits to the education of schoolchildren. Does it increase their knowledge? Their sympathy?

— Conservation activity: Conservation is one focus of attempts to minimize climate change. Explore a website that motivates conservation, such as carbonrally.com. Try some of their suggested actions. Are there actions that you are unwilling or unable to take? Evaluate the overall effectiveness of these changes and of the website.

— Conservation activity: Attend one or more meetings of a local Low Carbon Diet Challenge (sponsored by the Sierra Club and town governments).

— Wilderness activity: Take a hiking or camping trip, and notice various human effects on the land and whether there are invasive species. Why do people enjoy hiking/camping? Do outdoors activities provide a moral benefit? Why would many people rather hike in the woods than through downtown? Consider going with the RIT Outing Club.

— Education activity: Attend the movie and panel discussion on “The Water Front.” Wednesday, October 15, 7pm at the Little Theater.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

1. What did you do for your project? Describe the activity and why you picked it.
2. What did you learn during the activity? (You might say something about how learning from experience compares with learning from books.)
3. Were any controversial issues discussed during the activity? What were different people’s viewpoints? How were conflicts resolved? 
4. What issues of right action or “the good life” were highlighted? How does your activity relate to topics from the course, e.g. duties to future generations, human rights, coordinating social action to achieve public goods? 
5. What aspects of the experience will you remember? Did it change or enhance your previous commitments? Have you (or will you) change your behavior as a result of this experience?

Disclaimer: As an outside of class assignment, this project may entail certain risks and responsibilities. Before committing to a service activity, you should find out if the organization has liability coverage or insurance for its volunteers; if it does not, you should understand that RIT assumes no liability for your participation. Also, you should consider yourself a representative of the RIT community and follow RIT’s rules for student conduct. Students are responsible for fees to participate in certain activities, such as film screenings, and for transportation to and from events.