Philosophyspeaking topic
Virtue ethics: does asking 'what kind of person should I be' capture morality better than 'what should I do'? Is it rules that make us good, or character?
— Aristotle, virtue ethics
practice with this topic
Set the timer (5-30 min), take 20 seconds of prep if you like, start talking. Jot your thoughts onto the sticky-note board.
similar topics
- The doctrine of double effect: is intending a bad outcome different from foreseeing and accepting it? If a drug given to ease a patient's pain hastens their death, does intention make the act legitimate?
- The past no longer exists, the future does not exist yet, and the present is an instant too short to measure. If no part of time actually exists, how do we manage to feel that we live inside it?
- The unexamined life is not worth living.
- The Chinese room: a person who speaks no Chinese sits in a room matching Chinese symbols according to a rulebook, producing flawless answers. Do they understand Chinese? Is producing the right output ever the same thing as understanding?
- Acts and omissions: is there a moral difference between doing harm and failing to prevent it? Should pushing someone carry the same weight as watching them fall?