Week 1: Moral Philosophy and Why It Matters (Reading Response)

"What is the Meaning of "Culture?'" by Joshua Rothman

Joshua Rothman argues in “The Meaning of ‘Culture’” that our sense of the word culture is “fractured” and it has “grown darker, sharper, more skeptical.” He describes three different meanings of the word as outlined by Raymond Williams: culture as a process of cultural enrichment, culture as a group’s way of life, and culture as an activity pursued. 

I most often use the second definition of culture when I speak about culture. I think the first definition comes up more when I'm in conversations about the need or celebration of diversity. The third definition I think is a bit antiquated or reserved for a particular kind of person. Most people these days don't care about being "cultured" unless they're overly romantic or a little high on themselves. 

Rothman is most upset that culture does not appear to him to be associated with the “idea of personal, human enrichment” but instead with “unconscious groupthink.” I get his point, but I don't really sympathize. Word meanings change all the time and I think Rothman is being too precious about a word that belongs to the people who use it, not just him.

Moral Minds, Ch. 1 by Marc D. Hauser

The main takeaway I gathered from this reading is that there are many conflicting factors that contribute to moral judgments and that the variety of different languages is a helpful analogy in thinking about the variety of moral systems. 

If this reading was meant to be an introduction for people with less background knowledge about developmental psychology, I can't help but think there might have been a better option. This reading took the most time to get through and it was the least helpful in terms of broader thinking.

"Ethics and Moral Reasoning" by Jay Black and Chris Roberts

I found this article most relevant to my loose understanding of what I thought this class would be about. As someone who hopes to work within digital media, I think this chapter does a good job of generally explaining ethics and morals and how understanding when something is an ethical problem will help to make responsible decisions. I'd be happy to see more of this book or its ideas if they come up again on the syllabus.

"What's morally acceptable? It depends on where in the world you live" by Jacob Poushter

I found this short article very well illuminated the part of the Moral Minds reading that talks about how "ethicality judgment would emerge from a universal moral grammar, replete with shared principles and culturally switchable parameters” (Hauser 43), meaning that moral systems very much vary like language and grammar rules from culture to culture. 

This short article also made me question what makes something a moral issue. For example, my stance on abortion is that it is every woman's right and choice and should be available to any woman until a specific stage of pregnancy where the fetus is too developed. I struggle to understand whether, for me, abortion is morally acceptable or not a moral issue given the reasoning behind my stance on the issue. 

This also makes me wonder if it's possible for a controversial moral issues to ever reach a point where it no longer qualifies as a moral issue...Once upon a time, segregation in America was a hot button issue. Racism isn't gone, but it's less prevalent...

"Raising a Moral Child" by Adam Grant

This article emphasized the significance of modeling generous behavior over simply preaching it. Unlike the previous readings assigned for this week, this article does not meditate on the difficult question of what makes something moral, but how to encourage children to make generous choices (which most people would agree is a moral behavior).

As this article focused on children specifically, I wonder how this could be applied to adults and professionals?