Career Connections at SAVY 2019: Session 3, Day 2 – Science and Ethics of Gene Editing (Rising 7th)

Posted by hallep on Tuesday, July 23, 2019 in Grade 7, SAVY.

Today we learned about different ethical philosophies and how they can help us think through ethical dilemmas. We discussed moral questions such as “Is stealing wrong?” and “Should I tell on my friend that’s cheating on a test?”. We taught mini lessons on important ethical theories, such as virtue theory, contractarianism, natural law theory, categorical imperative, and utilitarianism. We had some really in-depth discussions as a class about how dilemmas can be solved by applying these specific theories.

Parents- here are some thought-provoking questions you can ask your young ethicist over dinner:

– Is stealing food okay if a mother is stealing it to feed her children?

– Is changing the direction of a trolley to kill one person and save 5 people better than not changing the path at all?

– What is the Golden Mean and how can it be applied to an ethical situation?

– What is the difference between moral and cultural relativism? 

See you tomorrow for another great day!