Gary Mar hinking atters T M Module Three: Ethics & Advocacy Copyright©2018GaryMar Contents Preface i 1 IsEthicsPossible? 1 What Happened to Morality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ethical Challenges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Testing Ethical Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2 EthicalTheories 15 Divine Command Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Utilitarianism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Kant’s Categorical Imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Social Contract Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Natural Law Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 3 TheFragmentationofContemporaryEthics 57 A Synthesis of Ethical Theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Summary of Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 4 APlaybookforAdvocates 77 When & How to Argue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Choosing Sides . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Techniques of Argumentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Rhetorical Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Preface To Students ... The ancient orator Horace (65–8 B.C.) once wrote, “Control your mind or it will control you.” In today’s society we are faced with morecomplexinformationandwithmoredifficultdecisionsthanever. Many people feel overwhelmed and helpless. One way to become lesshelpless—togaincontroloverone’slife—istogaincontrolover your own thinking. We can feel helpless before the barrage of data, information, opinions, statistics, and arguments if we lack the skills to understand and critically evaluate them. This book is designed to imparttheseskills. Anycourseinauniversityshoulddomorethanteachinformation –in nearly every field, ‘facts’ become obsolete quickly. The goals of thistextaretohelpyou: • tosolveproblemsmoreefficientlyandcreatively; • tomakelogicaldeductionsmorefluidlyandtoexposefalla- ciesmoreeffectively; • toidentifyandcritiquemoralprinciplesusedtodecidecases inethicalandlegaldebates; • todistinguishsciencefrompseudo-scienceandtoknowhow tocalculatewiththeprobabilitiesthatcanbeusedtoexplain thelogicofscientifictesting; • tocodealgorithmsartfullyandtocomprehendthepowerand limitsofcomputationalthinking. The text is punctuated with exercises or ‘personal experiments’ to challenge and stimulate your curiosity. These exercises may take the form of an inventory to be taken, a puzzle to be solved, or some thoughtstoponder.Youarestronglyurgedtocompletetheseexercises before reading on. These exercises often provide you with concrete illustrationsofwhatisdiscussedmoreabstractly,butnolessprecisely, ii gary mar in the text that follows. Intuition is not always a reliable judge to what’slogicallyvalid. Supposeyouaregiven: IfAlicetalkstotheCheshireCat,sheismad.IfAlicedoesn’ttalktothe CheshireCat,she’llbelost.IfAliceisn’tmad,shewillnotbelost. WhichofthefollowingcanbevalidlydeducedaboutAlice’smen- talhealth? (A) Aliceismad. (B) Alicewillbelost. (C) IfAlicedoesn’ttalktotheCheshireCat,thensheismad. (D) IfAliceismad,thenshetalkstotheCheshireCat. (E) IfAliceisn’tmad,thenWonderlandisachessboard. In the last chapter of the book we’ll ask about what puzzles like this canteachusaboutthenatureoflogicalknowledge. WhenIwasinelementaryschool,IbecameenchantedbyMartin Gardiner’s magical Scientific American Book of Mathematical Puz- zlesandDiversions. Inthepagesofthisbookanditsnumeroussuc- cessors,Iwasintroducedtologicpuzzles,hexaflexagons,probability paradoxes,theGameofLife,cardmagic,fadandfallaciesinthename ofscience,Newcomb’sparadox,andalife-longfascinationwithrecre- ational mathematics and philosophy. This fascination led me to pur- suephilosophyandmathematicsendingupasalogician. Indeedmy dissertation, the last to be completed under the direction of the great 20th century logician Alonzo Church was on the topic of the logical paradoxes. (Church was also the advisor for Alan Turing’s disserta- tion,Church’sfourthPh.D.studentwhoseanalysisofcomputingwas foundationaltothefieldofcomputerscienceandwhosecryptographic work during World War II cracked the German Enigma code, saving tensofthousandsoflivesandshorteningthewarbyanestimatedtwo years.) Foraquarterofacentury,GardnerthroughhisScientificAmeri- cancolumncreatedasocialnetworkthroughcorrespondenceofmath- ematicians(RogerPenrose,JohnConway),logicians(RaymondSmullyan), magicians and skeptics (Persi Diaconis, James Randi), philosophers (RobertNozick),writers(IsaacAsimov,ArthurC.Clarke,artists(M. TheGathering4Gardner(G4G) C. Escher, Salvador Dali), computer scientists (Donald Knuth, Dou- Foundationpreservesthelegacyof glas Hofstader), among others. In the introduction to his book, MartinGardner. Gardner wrote the following words, which have inspired the way I teachandthewayinwhichthisbookiswritten: [C]reativemathematiciansareseldomashamedoftheirinterestinrecreational topics. TopologyhasitsorigininEuler’sanalysisofapuzzleaboutcross- thinking matters – module iii: ethics & advocacy iii ingbridges.Leibnizdevotedconsiderabletimetothestudyofpeg-jumping ...DavidHilbert,thegreatGermanmathematician,provedoneofthebasic WARNING:MartinGardnerhasturned theorems in the field of dissection puzzles. The late Alan M. Turing, a dozensofinnocentyoungstersinto pioneerinmoderncomputertheory,discussed...the15puzzle[youmight mathprofessorsandthousandsofmath rememberthoseslidingsquaresona4x4fieldinwhichyoutrytogetthe professorsintoinnocentyoungsters. numbers1through15inorder]inanarticleonsolvableandunsolvableprob- PersiDiaconis lems...[A]sectionofEinstein’sbookshelfwasstockedwithmathematical gamesandpuzzles. Theinterestofthesegreatmindsinmathematicalplay isnothardtounderstand,forthecreativethoughtbestowedonsuchtrivial topicsisofapiecewiththetypeofthinkingwhichleadstomathematical andscientificdiscovery. The idea of this book is not to intimidate you but to instill in youahealthyconfidenceinyourongoingprocessofcriticalthinking. It is not meant to confuse you with a lot of jargon, nor to give you specialized tricks for passing standardized tests. Instead this book is designedtotrytoequipyouwiththinkingtoolswhichyoucanusefor almostanythingfortherestofyourlife. Sotrytorelaxandenjoyit. Rememberthatinabookthatistry- ing to teach you to think, the effort of trying to think logically and criticallycountsforfarmorethangettingthe‘rightanswer’. Inalot ofcases,youmayfindthatthe‘rightanswer’isnotrightafterall—or thatperhapsyouwillfindabetteronethantheonewefound!Sodon’t beafraidtouseyourhead. Ifyoucanfigureouthowyouareusingit andseehowtouseitbetter,thenthisbookwillhaveaccomplishedits goal. Our universe of thought emerges out of problems encountered in our everyday life just as our dreams emerge out of the events of the day. Ifwehaveasenseofwonder,theworldmayserveasaclue—a pointofdeparture—suggestingquestionsthatchallengeustoconsider ways of solving problems of a quite abstract and theoretical nature. Today our intellectual universe is so vast that in order to have some ideaofitsnatureandextent,itisusefultodivideitintosmallercon- stellations. This procedure is useful provided that we keep in mind that these constellations are not separated by clear-cut barriers. This bookisonlyasmallmapofmanyexcursionsthatarepossible,anditis basedonthecollectedexcursionsofmanypioneerswhohaveexplored beforeus. Itisourhopethatthroughreadingandthinkingyourway throughthisbookyouwillcometoappreciateyourthinkingmatters. iv gary mar To Teachers... Let’s be honest. Critical thinking is hard to teach. It can be both extremelychallengingandextremelyrewarding. Asecrettoteaching a successful course is to use both your strengths and your insatiable curiosity as a critical thinker. Design your courses to that you teach topicswithwhichyou’rethoroughlyacquaintedbutalsoalwaysbein- novatingwithnewtopicsthatcanbecomecoursesintheirownright. Thinking Matters is designed in modules so that you can easily vary yourcoursestructureaccordingtoyourgoalsandinterests. The first module on problem solving, which can be read and un- derstood by the students without additional lecture material, is de- Ifachildistokeepalivehisinborn signedtoarousethestudents’curiositiesandenticethemintoasense senseofwonder,heneedsthecompan- ofintellectualplay.Theproblemsolvingmodelsusedtosolvepuzzles ionshipofatleastoneadultwhocan shareit,rediscoveringwithhimthejoy, are developed later in subsequent units. More importantly, the mod- excitement,andmysteryoftheworldwe ule is designed to restore in them a healthy confidence in their own livein. RachelCarson abilities to solve problems by their own means. This module can be used as additional background reading for problem solving activities designedtohelpthestudentstogettoknowoneanotherandtoestab- lish a classroom community of learners. The path you take depends on your strengths and the interests and needs of the students in your class. The various modules of the course are related to one another, but actuallytherelationshipsaremorereflectiveandrefractive—thecon- nectionsnotsomuchlinearasfractalinform. Materialfromeachof the modules is reflected within each of the other modules, extending yourpreviousunderstandinginnewways. Soyoucanthinkofadiagramofthecourseasbeingfractal: Today,relevancetocontemporarylifeisoftendemandedinlogical thinking matters – module iii: ethics & advocacy v studies. Wehaveneverthelessfoundthathistoricalandtheoreticalas- pectsoflogicprovideanintriguingandindispensablebackground.We havechosennottoshuntheoreticaltopicsinourdesiretobepractical. ThetheoreticalaspectsoflogicareminimizedinModuleTwo,butde- veloped more extensively in the latter chapters of Modules Four and Five.Thosewishingtoeschewsymbolismcanstilldesignafullcourse withoutthosechapters. Theepilogue“LogicinRetrospect”isaphilo- sophical review of the material in the style of Lewis Carroll’s Alice inWonderland. ThemoduleTheArtoftheAlgorithmandComputa- tionalThinkingisone,thoughnottypicallycoveredincriticalthinking courses,isonethatimpartsasetofskillscriticallyimportantinthein- formation age. Algorithmic thinking is a powerful problem solving tool and computer simulations are is increasingly used as models in science. Theimpactofalgorithmsonhumansocietyandthepolitical consequencesofprofilingandcreatingwedgeissuestodivideandma- nipulatefactionsinademocraticsocietyraiseimportantmoralissues. Thetexthasseveralpedagogicalfeatures.Eachchapterbeginswith a story or puzzle to illustrate and introduce the subject that follows. Eachsectiondevelopsaclusterofbasicconceptsandsetsforthvari- ousformalorinformaltechniques. Thechaptersendwithasummary of the new concepts, and exercises are provided at the end of each section. The exercises are typically arranged into three groups. The firstgroupconsistsofstraight-forwardexercisesdesignedtohelpthe studentdiscoverwhetherheorshehasunderstoodthebasicconcepts of the section. The second group of exercises further develops and reinforcestheconceptsintroducedinthechapter,andthethirdgroup consistsofopen-endedexercisesdesignedtostimulatefurtherinterest in the subject. Inevitably as a teacher, what you ultimately impart to your students —and what they will remember most about the course —iswhatyoumodelinclass. Manyofthevaluesofcriticalthinking arethesortthatmustbe‘caught’asyoutryyourbesttopracticewhat youteach. Goodluck!