Provide education in ethics (Ethical Literacy)

1. "Ethica Salon" on May 6th, 2017 

Ethica Rationalis has introduced a new format called "Ethics Salon", a forum for discussion amongst likeminded people in a casual club-astmosphere. 

Our thoughts are inspired, our minds feel stimulated, our feeling is positively attuned by the encounter with   special people ...
people who are true leaders and who leave traces of appreciation in their surroundings.

As with an afternoon tea with lots of sweet and savory delicacies and a cozy cup of tea, let us take a time out in which we leave the world and all of our worries outside and take care of what really counts in our lives:

compassion, social commitment, tolerance - that is what helps us remain true to our convictions in everyday life. These role models  show how to make a positive impact on their surroundings  and create a micro environment in which all are treated respectfully and amiably. These are the people that we invite to the Ethica Salon so they can present ideas, discuss and answer questions.

In this first Ethics Salon event we focused on politics and ethics. Ethica Rationalis had invited Karl Freller, who impressively described moving experiences from his life as a politician. The deputy chairman of the Bavarian CSU parliamentary party talked about ethical dilemmas in politics. Politics is characterized by pluralistic, conflicting opinions, which makes reaching the 100 perfect agreement between all parties impossible.

Coalitions, compromises and consensus are the recurrent themes for him. And although compromises can be seen as giving up on (parts of) your goals, they are essential for achieving larger goals. But for this (and trained religious teacher) it is important to come out with a pure conscience. Thus, during his political career, he had not always supported individual decisions of his party.

Politics and Ethics - how does that work?

The attitude makes the difference. Because of his high morality, he was highly esteemed as a state secretary, but he very often had to cope with difficult situations . By "always being human," and really practicing that every human being is equally important, his behavior led to formal inconsistency, which resulted in conflicts, despite the great advantages for individuals. Thus, the mediator has made the experience: "Every good deed revenges itself." Instead of resigning, however, he remained idealistic and active. For example, he assumes e.g. Responsible for the past of our country, by acting as director for the concentration camp memorials Dachau and Flossenbürg. Likewise, the support of young people who are committed to politics is very important to him. "Democracy is only preserved when people are committed to good behavior". Otherwise, he sees the danger that the "bad" will get too much power. Thus he appealed - in the context of the elections in France - in any case, because with an electoral participation of less than 50%, the voice of a radical-minded person weighs twice as much. For this reason, he warned: "He who does not choose, leaves the power to radicals."

In the following discussion, differing opinions concerning the degree of interest in politics in the age group 25-  30 and possible lack thereof. But there was a consensus that democracy is not guaranteed and must be defended. While schools have a big responsibility in creating political awareness and interest of youths, but the greatest influence comes from the family home.

Mr. Frelle was was very enthused by the lively discussion, stating how rare it is nowadays that topics are discussed so deeply, often being treated only superficially, and ideas not being thought through. He made a surprising praise: "He was glad that there are such rich and meaningful conversations, where not once did anybody even glance at their mobile phone! ". The speaker ended his lecture with the words: "Politicians should not go to rhetoric seminars, but to learn to listen." With this he spoke to the participants from the heart and the participants were amazed at how "human" politicians can be. All the participants were enthusiastic about his comments and took the message that politics and ethics can very well go together and that one can achieve a lot with political commitment - and if only by voting. 

2. New: ethical dilemmas surveys

Whoever lives, loves and works in this society, will sooner or later face an ethical problem. Perhaps because he observes illicit behavior, or because he is the victim of injustice, or because he wants to defend or protect his fellow human beings from threats. These confrontations can be reduced to a simple formula: it is about rights and duties. So questions like: What rights do I have and how can I defend them? What duties do I have and how do I fulfill  them in everyday life? What happens if rights are violated or duties are not respected?In the many encounters we have had with people who are guided by ethical principles in, we have repeatedly encountered this problem. When asking our speakers, guests or workshop participants, we gained insights into situations they experienced as predicaments. So we developed the idea of collecting case studies for practical ethics. These case studies were either found in books or articles, or they were reported to us by people involved. These examples should be viewed as a way to put oneself in the shoes of the people involved and ask ourselves: How would I behave? Your opinion matters! We have discussed many of these case studies in events such as our regular PhiloBrunch. We would like to know what you think. So we created a survey tool that allows you to choose from multiple options. We will evaluate the results of the survey on each case study and publish a report on our website.

The first case study has been published and we look forward to your active participation!

3. Workshop on Practical Ethics

Together with the ETHIKUM program, we conducted a workshop about Practical Ethics at the University for Applied Sciences Munich on May 20th. The half-day workshop was led by Christian Strobl and was titled "Everyday conflicts and the phenomenon of cognitive dissonance". The participants (students of the ETHIKUM course) discussed the nature and root cause of inner and outer conflicts, typical dilemnas, as well as potential counter-strategies.

Participants were highly engaged and provided excellent feedback on the content and execution of the workshop.

Links:

• Ethica Salon
• Fallstudien - Ethische Dilemata