Ethical Inquiry Discussion Project Reasons for judgments

Each group will be assigned one of the hypothetical cases on the sheet “Cases for Discussion.”

1. Discuss your case in any way that seems fruitful to you. Try to ensure that everyone gets a chance to express his or her thoughts about it. You need not (but may) try to agree about what should be done in the situation described in your case.
2. Now reflect back on your conversation and answer the following questions:
1. Was each of you able to give reasons for your opinions about what should be done? Did those reasons strike the others in your group as good reasons?
2. Were any of you persuaded in the course of your discussion that one or more of the reasons you offered was actually not a good reason but was instead a rationalization or a prejudice or an emotional reaction or parroting? (See Dworkin’s piece in the textbook for the explanation of these concepts.)