Comments:
a) striking number of people rejected question #1 (406) as being dualistic (!)
b) examples of using reason and/or sentiment:
[a problem with acting on sentiment: contrasting (good) choices based on sentiment]
1) Most people act on their sentiments. There have been people in my past who have upset me or made me mad. It was sentiment that led me to treat them differently from then on. There was no logical reason to treat them differently, I was just upset and held a grudge. This is the case with many people in our society. It is easy to follow one's emotion rather than rationally decide what would be the most logical thing to do. This is also present in cases where we help a disadvantaged person or groups of people. It is less obvious because many times the outcome is the same, but the action is more directly based on sentiment because it comes more quickly and easier rather than [an] act of our rational choice.
[characteristic of many responses stressing the role of reason in helping us counter our more immediate emotional responses in episodes of conflict with others.]
2) An event that recently occurred in my life did involve rational arguments regarding which action was right. The situation happened to be one of miscommunication. The end result was that I acted more out of reason, because I was right (honestly, I was). If anyone should've acted out of sympathy, it should've been them sympathizing with me due to the way in which they treated me. However, I must say, out of my sympathy for my having miscommunicated myself to them, I reasoned that I should rise above the situation and be the first one to "break the ice." In this event, I used both sympathy and reason.
3) I must admit I do have feelings. However, I feel that Kant and Aristotle were right when they said reason motivates us. Sentiment is definately a key factor in the way people respond, but if you notice, some of the most virtuous actions are the most reasonable. Reason and contemplation are much more difficult things for people to realize that they have used. Sentiment is right there at the top of our being, it emanates from us when we are acting. However, I feel that the inner drive to act is encouraged by its rightness.
Recently, I found someone whose personality sharply conflicted with mine. I knew this person for about six months before I began to examine how, and why I felt about their personality. I don't know too many people who I "don't like" just because of their personality. Many people I have had conflict with their actions, but not usually just because of a character trait. I began to contemplate why I didn't like this person. Could I like this person? I realized that I didn't agree with this guy because he usually pushed my buttons. He made me feel angry at times. This is where I feel that sentiment is not always involved in virtuous action. My sentiments told me not to like this guy, but my reason told me that he was a good person, but our personalities conflicted. I made up my mind that I would try to get along with him, and respect his opinions, because they were usually good. I found virtue in him, and through reason I think I gained virtue.
4) I agree with Hume that "reason and sentiment work in conjunction
to affirm each other."
This quote states precisely his view on the relationship between reason and sentiment. One cannot successfully be a virtuous human being with only one of these elements. In the case of the Jewish rescuers [Gentile rescuers of Jews] who used words like pity, compassion and concern, sentiment was the primary faculty involved in prompting them into action, but reason was also involved, in that they had to make a decision on the action that was to be taken based on consequences or not. Reason was involved, also, in the very process by which the Jews were rescued and kept hidden. Without reason and rational thinking the rescuers would have done themselves and the Jews more harm by being careless and not planning.
It could be stated (like the quote above) that sentiment is what motivates us into moral action while reason allos us to carry out the actions in an organized and rational way.
5) I agree with Hume and Noddings that we are generally motivated to act by sentiment. For example, in Junior High I was very "clickish" with my friends and would give in to peer pressure and not hang around certain peple. Once a group of us were being mean to one girl, talking about her and prank-calling her. I felt guilty about how I treated her, but I didn't reason that I should quit. Instead, I identified with her and decided I wouldn't want to be treated like that and changed my actions. The change resulted more from a feeling of sympathy for her hurting, but it did involve reason on the level of deciding I didn't want someone to treat me like that so I shouldn't do the same to her. Sentiment helps break dwon the barriers for change to result, but once sentiment takes place, one can reason along with feeling sympathy for the person - to bring about the most moral and just action.
Additional comments [future note: omit these to make more time for discussion]:
To Have or to Be? (Erich Fromm)
411f., # 6, 7 [Nietzsche/Christianity|| having/being]
419, # 1,4 [human nature|| college experience]
421, # 2Additional Reading:
Group 1: William F. Baxter, "People or Penguins" (Arthur, 143ff.)
Group 2: J. Baird Callicott, "The Land Ethic" (Arthur, 148ff.)
Group 3: Maria Mies and Vandana Shiva, "Introduction to Ecofeminism" (reserve, Olin Library)
Group 4: Richard E. Rice, Raymond E. Gullison and John W. Reid, "Can Sustainable Management Save Tropical Forests?" (Scientific American, April 1997, 44-49: reserve, Olin Library)
Discuss:
a) If you can endorse a virtue ethics as part of your ethical framework - which virtues seem most significant, and why?
b) By now we will have examined a series of possible environmental ethics:
"traditional"/hierarchical (Cartesian) - "anthropocentrism," including Baxter's utilitarian/cost-benefit approach to environmental problems.
animal rights (Singer)
more holistic views - including Leopold's Land Ethic and Ecofeminism
Which of these ethics
I) seems most plausible or defensible to you?
II) seems most in keeping with the virtue ethics you endorse in "a)"?
a) Review Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from the Birmingham Jail - and your initial response to this letter (see the Assignment in the Syllabus from the first day, as well as the related web materials).
Please comment (in writing):
b) Assessment exams - Values Analysis, Critical Thinking
c) Wrap up: comments, suggestions for how I might improve this course in the future?
Especially:
more/less use of case studies <--> less/more focus on theory?
more/less informal writing <--> less/more formal writing?
Other?