In our MAPP course we have looked at ethics from two stand points – firstly ethical procedures that are about ‘right & wrong’ from the perspective of agreed social moral expectations of how we should behave. Ethical procedures link to the kinds of questions ethics boards ask (for instance the MORE on-line form at Middlesex). The right-ness or wrong-ness of the procedures are dependent to some extend on historical, cultural and social contexts. Even when adhering to them it is important to notice what assumptions about ‘good’, or ‘bad’ the ethical procedure is making. It is clear that these change over time, for instance something we accepted even 50 years ago are now considered unacceptable.
In this video, Michael D. Burroughs raises the question of teaching ethical thinking (the obligation to ask yourself questions and reflect on your assumptions) to young people. There is a sense we do not engage children with ethics because adults ‘know right from wrong’ and children don’t! But it could be argued children are much more willing to adhere to the rules of fair-ness, turn-taking, and listening that society perceives to be appropriate ways to behave.
I am interested in the role of ‘play’ as an alternative to competitive/consumerism. I wonder what lessons/methods in ethical thinking play itself ‘trains’ us in.
Play requires rules and at the same time an openness to not knowing what will happen next. This resonates with components I relate to ethics – ie rules, trust…
The following article discusses ‘the ethics of play’ by giving short insights into how play has been addressed across a number of different theoretical frameworks.
Through following what philosophers have said like Wittenstein, Sachs, Foucault…the article looks at different ethical approaches to what play is
As we explore what ethics can be, where it should be etc… we move into what on this course we have called ethical consideration (consideration = reflections, thoughts ideas).
The way you approach ideas includes ethical considerations.
The conclusion you draw from considering ideas ethically starts to form your theoretical framework. The framework into which you organise the relationship between truth, meaning, body, etc…
In this way ethical considerations help you noticethe frameworks you are working in.
Hello to everyone! In the desire to start an open discussion, I would like to confess that I have found the topic of ethics very intimidating. The idea of deep ethical discussions quickly becomes very abstract and rich in philosophical exchange. I find these conversations, articles and lectures hard to follow and hard to relate to as a dancer. However, I found this blog post extremely easy to follow. The idea that games are en-laced with ethics at a core level is truly fascinating and an excellent way to make ethics relate-able from an early age. Furthermore, the Ted Ex talk appeals to a natural and intuitive sense in children towards ethics and the facing ethical dilemmas in our daily lives. Perhaps, this is where I had separated myself from the discussion without realising that there is a heavy ethical load to all the decisions I make in my daily life as a dancer, researcher and human being. The ethical discussion is not something that is beyond me in complex philosophical language, but rather something so relevant that the discussion can become extremely deep and complex.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Video, and the discussion about ethics. I am still trying to list all of the ethical concerns I need for my research project.
ReplyDeletethe conversation on ethics, helped many people with the questions that they have about the M.O.R.E. ethics submission portal(?). I am glad that I was able to listen to the questions that other people had about their ethical considerations, and where they work, and what situations that they may deal with. The form itself, is not the difficult part. The difficult it how not to overthink everything, and let myself get stressed out by lack of understanding what I do understand.
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