Speak Up http://rockblogs.psu.edu/ Meet the Challenge. Speak Up. en-us Copyright 2012 Tue, 01 May 2012 01:00:00 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification Cycling to DC: Day 3 Click here to find out how things are going. ]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/05/cycling-to-dc-day-3.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/05/cycling-to-dc-day-3.html Tue, 01 May 2012 01:00:00 -0500 Cycling to DC
"Most people know the scientific and political dimensions of climate
change," he said, "but few have thought deeply about the moral implications."
According to Brockopp, these are among the most important climate issues:
"People right now are suffering from changes in our climate, and the floods and
droughts we have seen recently are only harbingers of what may be coming down
the pike."

The trip is sponsored by Pennsylvania Interfaith Power & Light , a state-wide non-profit that has its main offices in State College. The bikers are staying overnight in church basements and giving talks to colleges and religious communities along the way. Click here for an update on days one and two of the four-day trip.
]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/04/cycling-to-dc.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/04/cycling-to-dc.html Climate Ethics Climate Change Ethics RockEthics Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:10:19 -0500 Reflections on Ethics Education and Crisis Response Penn State Rock Ethics Institute Director Nancy Tuana offers the following reflections on Teaching 'The Kite Runner' at Penn State, an article recently published in The Chronicle Review by our colleague Sophia A. McClennen about her classroom experience in the first days of the current crisis:

One theme of The Kite Runner is moral failure. It includes the story of Amir who witnesses the rape of Hassan, his friend, but fails to intervene and later to even acknowledge the rape or apologize for his inaction. 

People do sometimes fail to act morally. While the ethical violations are often less egregious than Amir's, moral failures--to act with integrity, to tell the truth, etc.--do happen. McClennen asks: "Is the moral failure connected solely to the event, or is the continuing inability to correct it even worse?" 

What do you think? What are some of the impacts of a failure to take responsibility for an ethical wrongdoing: On those who were harmed by the wrongdoing? On the individual who acted unethically? 

McClennen's sincere hope is that her class has offered students "a chance to engage ethically and philosophically with the issues we are facing now at Penn State" and that "it has given them a moral vocabulary with which to think about these events by applying what they were learning in our readings." 

How have your classes helped prepare you to think about difficult and complex ethical issues like those we are currently facing at Penn State? What changes would you suggest we make to classes to improve them in this regard?
]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/02/reflections-of-ethics-education-and-crisis-response.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/02/reflections-of-ethics-education-and-crisis-response.html Responses to Crisis at Penn State Ethics Ethics Education RockEthics The Kite Runner Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:00:05 -0500 Moral Repair In a Town This Size On January 29th, the Centre County Women's Resource Center  partnered with the State Theatre to host:
 
"A Community Conversation: Addressing Sexual Abuse In a Town This Size (2011)" 

The event featured a screening of the recent film, by fine-art photographer and first-time documentary maker Patrick Viersen Brown, documenting some of the effects on an Oklahoma town brought about by the prolonged sexual abuse of children in the community at the hands of a local pediatrician. Following the screening, the film-maker was joined by specialists on, and survivors of, childhood sexual abuse for a community forum moderated by Kristen Houser, a State College native, alumna of Penn State, and anti-sexual assault activist who is currently working for the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape (PCAR).

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/02/moral-repair-in-a-town-this-size.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2012/02/moral-repair-in-a-town-this-size.html Responses to Crisis at Penn State CCWRC Ethics PCAR RockEthics Sexual Abuse State Theatre Thu, 02 Feb 2012 08:47:20 -0500 The Ethics of "Measuring Up"
This summary was provided by Rock Ethics Graduate Student Fellow David Agler

Introduction 

On November 28th, the Rock Fellows Seminar took part in a workshop for Christopher Mayes, a postdoctoral scholar in the Rock's Bioethics Initiative. Mayes's paper "Measuring Up the Future Subject: Obesity and the Political Rationality of 'Pre,' offers an analysis of discourse in Australia used to target 'pre-obese' subjects in an effort to promote future health and economic security.

Mayes began the workshop with a brief overview of his paper. Mayes claimed that the theoretical framework of "pre" is general notion used to capture preemptive, precautionary, and preventive principles that aim at predicting and pre-empting threats prior to their actualization. A key theme of his paper (drawing from Diprose, Francois Ewald, and others) is the shift from a perception of risk that is naturally occurring and calculable to one that is incalculable and the result of human agency, particularly with respect to how the latter can lead to catastrophe.]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/12/the-ethics-of-measuring-up.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/12/the-ethics-of-measuring-up.html Ethics Fellows Seminar Ethics Obesity Prevention Rock Fellows Seminar RockEthics Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:19:07 -0500 Jason Berry on Ethical Action in an Institutional Context 0 0 1 341 1947 Penn State 16 4 2284 14.0

In an interview with The Atlantic, investigative journalist Jason Berry discusses the parallels and differences in the way the Catholic Church and Penn State responded to allegations of sexual abuse. See the interview here - What the Catholic Church Can Teach Us About the Penn State Scandal

In this interview Jason Berry raises a number of key themes for ethical deliberation in an institutional context:

1)  1. The relationship between knowledge of ethics and ethical practice.

a.     How can highly educated people who have received training or instruction in ethical thinking fail to act in accordance with this knowledge?

b.     What factors can wedge between knowledge and practice to create a situation where knowing the right thing doesn't lead to doing the right thing?

c.      Is there something intrinsic to institutions such as a Church, University or Company, that create the conditions in which ethical practice is determined by the institution rather than what is considered right beyond the institutional boundaries?

2)   2. The value of leadership

a.     Leadership is valued in the sporting arena, boardroom and ER. In these situations the leader leads towards victory, profit and success. These are valuable goals in society, but what of ethical leadership?

b.     Does ethical leadership lead toward a goal? If so what is it?

c.      If the goals of doing the right thing conflict with the goals of success or profit how are these reconciled - which yields?

3) 3.  The role of cultural sensibilities

a.     How do cultural sensibilities, as sources of identity and meaning, shape ethics?

b.     If these cultural sensibilities are criticized or dislodged what impact can this have on ethical deliberation?

c.      What is place of the individual within the culture? Is it possible to stand up for what is right and remain loyal to that culture?

Jason Berry addresses a range of ethical issues for the individual and institution. What aspect of Berry's perspective did you find helpful in thinking through the ethics of what occurred at Penn State? Where there parts that you thought were unhelpful or misguided? - we would like to discuss your thoughts and ideas.

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/jason-berry-on-the-catholic-church-and-penn-state.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/jason-berry-on-the-catholic-church-and-penn-state.html What Would You Do? Ethical Leadership Ethics Institutional Ethics Jason Berry Sandusky Fri, 18 Nov 2011 14:23:27 -0500 Ethics Training at Penn State The following thoughts were contributed by Prof. Stephen Schaeffer from the Biology Department at Penn State's University Park campus.

In August of 2011, when Dean Daniel Larsen asked for volunteers to attend a workshop on integrating ethics into technical courses from each of the departments in the Eberly College of Science, I was a bit nervous about signing up. I am a geneticist by training. I had always raised potential ethical issues when genetic information was discussed, but I was really a novice with respect to using the language of ethical arguments. I decided to volunteer to be a participate in the workshop to see if I could learn about how to more effectively integrate the language of ethical thinking into my Advanced Genetics course.

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/ethics-training-at-penn-state.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/ethics-training-at-penn-state.html Responses to Crisis at Penn State Curley Ethical Leadership Ethics Ethics Education Paterno RockEthics Sandusky Schultz Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:01:32 -0500 Response to the Current Crisis

 

During this time of unprecedented crisis within the Penn State community, the Rock Ethics Institute remains committed to fostering careful reflection and dialogue concerning the many ethical challenges facing our community.  We acknowledge our responsibility to participate in addressing the particularly difficult challenges that recent revelations have raised by initiating and lending our support to programs that aim both to increase awareness of and to foster careful reflection concerning issues such as:

  • ethically appropriate responses to the spectrum of harms done to children who have been sexually assaulted 
  • the interrelations between individual and institutional ethical responsibility, and   
  • the requirements for a diverse and multi-faceted organization like Penn State both to advocate for and to exemplify integrity in all aspects of its mission.

The Penn State Rock Ethics Institute will draw on the expertise of members of the community, on the Institute's existing resources in the areas of ethical leadership and moral literacy, as well as on the resources that are emerging from our current examination of institutional corruption in support of this reflection and dialogue. We appreciate input from anyone in the community concerning how we might best facilitate this challenging process. Please leave your comments below.  

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/response-to-the-current-crisis.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/response-to-the-current-crisis.html Responses to Crisis at Penn State Ethical Leadership Ethics Moral Literacy Penn State RockEthics Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:29:01 -0500 Sustainability
The discussion focused on what is required in order to live sustainably. This included questions about human population. Although it is unclear what the "carrying capacity" of the planet is for human population, there is presumably some limit to how many humans can live sustainably on the Earth. However, it is unclear whether or how population growth should be curbed, as doing so might involve violating certain rights of various persons.

The topic of how to manage finite resources was also considered. It was suggested that transitioning to renewable energy sources would be much more sustainable than current energy sources, most of which rely on limited stores of fossil fuels.

Finally, the issue of sustainability was connected to social justice. In particular, ethical sustainability seems to depend on the notion that present persons have duties to future generations. These duties are thought to require currently living persons not to deplete the resources that might be needed by future persons, as well as to protect the environment from degrading in ways that could harm the well-being of such future persons.
]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/sustainability.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/11/sustainability.html Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:14:52 -0500 Racial Jokes and Racist Jokes th, the Rock Fellows Seminar took part in a workshop for Luvell Anderson, the Alain Locke Post-Doctoral Fellow in Philosophy at Penn State. Luvell's paper, "Why So Serious? An Inquiry into Racist Jokes," considers the relationship between race and humor, offering a rubric for determining the appropriateness of a racial joke. Rejecting the simplistic view that a joke either is or is not racist, Luvell suggests a tripartite distinction whereby a given joke may be classified as "merely racial," "racially insensitive," or "racist." 

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/10/racial-jokes.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/10/racial-jokes.html Ethics Fellows Seminar Ethics Race Racism Rock Fellows Seminar RockEthics Wed, 26 Oct 2011 10:46:03 -0500 What are Our Food Values?

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/10/what-are-our-food-values.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/10/what-are-our-food-values.html Ethics Fellows Seminar Ethics FoodEthics Rock Fellows Seminar RockEthics Values Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:17:09 -0500 Global Responsibility "Responsibility and Global Justice: A Social Connection Model", Andrew Kuper's "Global Poverty Relief: More than Charity" and Peter Singer's "Poverty, Facts, and Political Philosophy". The following summary of the discussion was provided by Cori Wong:

]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/09/global-responsibility.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/09/global-responsibility.html Ethics Fellows Seminar Ethics Global Responsibitlity RockEthics Social Justice Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:33:18 -0500 At What Cost?

There are three types of polio infection: subclinical, nonparalytic, and paralytic. The majority of the infections are subclinical, in which there may not even be any noticeable symptoms. Nonparalytic and paralytic polio infections affect the central nervous system. From the names, it is pretty easy to tell the difference. Nonparalytic polio infections can cause an assortment of symptoms you can find on the PubMed website. Paralytic polio can cause breathing problems, difficulty urinating, muscle contractions and muscle pain, and muscle weakness, amongst other symptoms. In about 90% of the cases, the CNS is not directly involved, and full recovery is entirely possible. If the brain or the spinal cord is involved, permanent paralysis and death are possible.

There is a vaccine to prevent polio. Just to provide a refresher, UNICEF has a really good basic description of how vaccines work: "During vaccination, a harmless version of a germ is introduced to the body and the immune system responds by producing antibodies to attack the intruder. Thereafter, a memory of this 'invasion' remains so that the immune system can quickly recognize and neutralize disease-causing agents when they appear." There are two different forms of the polio vaccine available now: the inactivated polio vaccine given via injection, and the oral polio vaccine, which is given by drops orally. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, there is a slight risk of contracting polio from the oral drops because that version of the vaccine has weakened but still live poliovirus, whereas the injectable version does not contain live polio.
]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/06/at-what-cost.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/06/at-what-cost.html Tue, 21 Jun 2011 00:17:02 -0500 The Proper Role of Government: Considering Public Goods and Private Goods This post was written by guest-blogger Donald Thompson, Professor of Food Science at Penn State University Park.

What is a "private good"? Individual life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are commonly cited. Health is a fundamental private good. Some minimal level of material well-being is part of the "good life" envisioned by the founders of the country, but it is important to note that in the Classical tradition on which the founders drew, the good life, or "happiness," included more than material well-being. In this tradition participation in the life of society is commonly considered part of the "good life."


]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/04/the-proper-role-of-government-considering-public-goods-and-private-goods.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/04/the-proper-role-of-government-considering-public-goods-and-private-goods.html Education Ethics Government Justice Private Goods Public Goods RockEthics Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:06:21 -0500 Janet Swim on Consumer Ethics
Dr. Janet Swim

"Ethical Consumerism: Bridging the Divide between Consumption and Its Impacts on Nature and People"

In her talk at the recent Sustainability Ethics Conference at Penn State University Park, Janet Swim presented psychological research she conducted with Brittany Bloodhart on the attitudes of consumers regarding the impacts of consumption on human beings and the biosphere. They found that individuals tend to have greater ethical concern about their consumption after being exposed to films that detail the environmental impacts of consumption. For example, such increased concern might manifest itself upon seeing the adverse effects that the disposal of consumer products can have on human communities in other countries.


]]> http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/03/janet-swim-on-consumer-ethics.html http://rockblogs.psu.edu/2011/03/janet-swim-on-consumer-ethics.html Sustainability Ethics Conference Consumerism Environmental Ethics Ethics RockEthics Sustainability Wed, 30 Mar 2011 08:05:16 -0500