1. Culture

My cultural customs play a strong role in my value system.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

What beliefs or knowledge are independent of culture?

Is it reasonable to explain human behaviour independently of what people claim are their intentions or inspirations? Are there insights into behaviour that can only be afforded by finding these out?

The following are a list of questions to ask of a culture. Consider how these customs (following them or not) contributes to your sense of value, and how you judge others.

Do men and women greet each other differently? Is it appropriate to ask about salary? Is it appropriate to stand 10cm away from somebody when you are talking to

them? How do teachers and students speak to each other? Would you offer a seat to an elderly/infirm person or a pregnant woman? Would you open a door for anybody? What would people think of someone who, out of choice, wore clothes that were

full of holes and unwashed? Would you offer to carry a heavy bag for a stranger? Would you introduce yourself to new neighbours and buy them a gift? What are the norms regarding greetings between people of different status? Is it acceptable to ask someone about their religious belief? Should a woman look a man in the eyes when he is talking directly to her? Can a woman ask a man out on a date? Can she pay for his dinner? Is there a class system? If so, is it based on religion or wealth? How important are family groups/friendship groups? Is the individual or society the centre of the culture? Is there a rigid legal system? Is it an equitable society in terms of marital wealth?

2. Geography

I feel a strong connection to land- in an aesthetic way.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

4.2 Environmental Aesthetics and Environmentalism

The relationships between contemporary environmentalism and the positions and ideas of environmental aesthetics have sources in the aesthetics of nature developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. As noted, early environmental movements, especially in North America, were fueled by a mode of aesthetic appreciation shaped not only by the notion of the picturesque but also by ideas developed by thinkers such as Muir (Hargrove 1979, Callicott 1994, Wattles 2013). However, more recently the relationships between environmental aesthetics and environmentalism have been less congenial (Carlson 2010). Some individuals interested in the conservation and protection of both natural and human heritage environments have not found in traditional aesthetics of nature the resources that they believe are needed in order to carry out an environmentalist agenda (Loftis 2003). Others investigate problems posed by environments with unique features, such as isolation (Parsons 2015). The problem is especially acute concerning environments, such as wetlands, that do not fit conventional conceptions of scenic beauty (Rolston 2000, Callicott 2003). Moreover, in line with earlier criticisms that much of the empirical work in landscape assessment and planning was focused only on scenic, picturesque environments, much of the historical tradition concerning the aesthetic appreciation of nature has come under attack. Various themes in the aesthetics of nature, such as appreciation grounded in the idea of the picturesque, have been criticized in a number of ways: as anthropocentric (Godlovitch 1994), scenery-obsessed (Saito 1998a), trivial (Callicott 1994), subjective (Thompson 1995), and/or morally vacuous (Andrews 1998). Similarly, in agreement with the aesthetics of engagement's critique of the theory of disinterestedness, some find that concept to be questionable from an environmental standpoint (Rolston 1998).

Source: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/environmental-aesthetics/

Which of the following campaigns are you immediately inclined to support?

3. Family Loyalty

I consider issues of morality differently when a family relationship is involved.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

You know the identity of someone who has committed a serious crime resulting in a person being badly injured. Are you morally obliged to reveal their identity to an appropriate authority so that they are dealt with justly?

You have a brother. You know that someone has been seriously injured as a result of criminal activity undertaken by him. Are you morally obliged to inform them about your brother's crime?

A situation arises where you can either save your own child from death or contact the emergency services in order to save the lives of ten other children. You cannot do both, and there is no way to save everyone. Which course of action are you morally obliged to follow?

Reflect on the moral dilemma “A Father’s Agonizing Choice”. Should the father be held more morally accountable for the death of his son, rather than the death of a stranger?

Why is there such a strong reaction to cases of parents harming or even killing their children?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2011/03/02/infanticide-ruling.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/what-drove-a-father-to-kill-his-three- children-7962530.html

4. Age

I have a different set of values that govern moral behaviour toward people of different ages.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

Consider the articles on Euthanasia. Does age matter when you consider this practice? Is euthanasia more or less justified at different ages?

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/theeditorialpage/story.html? id=06277eb4-2015-4fce-946f-c4c931fdd565

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2161494/Tony-Nicklinson- euthanasia-My-life-miserable-undignified-says-locked-syndrome-sufferer.html

You are working under pressure and can provide a life saving operation to one person and have to choose between two patients; the one who you do not choose will not survive. One patient is an infant and the other is a man in his fifties. Does age factor into your decision? Consider why/how?

Do you agree with a justice system that treats young offenders differently than adults who commit the same crime?

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/alberta/ Girl+murdered+Medicine+family+wins+curfew+extension/6386803/story.html

5. Action vs. Inaction

I believe that we have a responsibility to act and that to remain neutral is as immoral as doing a negative action.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so. - Immanuel Kant.

A charity collection takes place in your office. For every $10.00 given, a blind person's sight is restored. Instead of donating $10.00, you use the money to treat yourself to a cocktail after work. Are you morally responsible for the continued blindness of the person who would have been treated had you made the donation?

You walk down the hallway in your school and hear students using derogatory terms as they joke with each other. Do you keep walking or make a comment about the terms being offensive?

6. Religion and Spirituality

I believe in a higher power (religion or spirituality) that guides my value system.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

The true meaning of religion is thus not simply morality, but morality touched by emotion. – Matthew Arnold.

There is only one religion, though there are a thousand different versions of it. – George Bernard Shaw

Religion is the opiate of the masses. – Karl Marx

Do you believe in something greater than yourself? Does it contribute to how you make decisions?

Does the promise or potential of what will happen to you after you die impact how you consider your actions?

Does religion have a place in today’s society? http://life.nationalpost.com/2011/07/06/qa-canadian-civil-liberties-associations-

cara-zwibel-on-religion-in-schools/

7. Choose your own adventure.

_________________________________________________________________________________________.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

What is not included here that you can identify as having a significant, or completely insignificant, influence on your personal ethical framework?

Consider a formative event or experience where you can identify a change in your way of thinking or understanding. Or, consider a particular piece of art or scientific exploration that had considerable impact upon you.

What do you spend most of your time doing? How does that influence your decisions, choices and opinions?

What do you wish you could do, or say, or think, that you feel would be disrespected by your family, your peers, or other communities to which you belong?

Do you feel caught between two worlds? What about each of those worlds is in conflict with each other and is there one with which you feel a greater connection?

8. Beauty

I value things that I perceive to hold beauty.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

“The Essential Function of art is moral” – D. H. Lawrence

What does North American media tell us about our own perception of beauty? http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200106/why-i-hate-beauty

Why do we value art? http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uctlsfd/papers/the_value_of_art.pdf

9. Time

My value system is governed by my thinking about long-term implications of action.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

If you were given a month to live, would it change how you act/behave?

If you knew that everything you did today would be forgotten tomorrow, would it change how you make decisions?

10.Intrinsic vs. External recognition

My value system is governed by my desire to be recognized as being a good person by other people.

(0 – strongly disagree, 5 – strongly agree)

Do you require other people to know that you’ve done something good?

Have you ever performed an act of kindness and told no one? Have you ever done something mean and told no one?

Can you be immoral in thought and moral in action? Does the thought matter if the action is moral?

http://www.livestrong.com/article/174305-the-difference-between-intrinsic-motivation-extrinsic-motivation/

When you submit a piece of work that comes back with a grade lower than you expected, do you immediately discount how you felt about the piece of work because of the grade, or do you still feel the same about your work as you did before?