Experiments in Ethics

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Today NPR's Talk of the Nation featured Kwame Anthony Appiah who wrote the book Experiments in Ethics. He talked about how we make ethical decisions. Interesting given the number of discussions about what the right and wrong is on this board. You can listen to it here. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18952113

Long and Short of it sometimes whether we do the "right thing" depends on what mood we're in.

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I thought it was very interesting. I think he was saying (among other things) that it is easier not to do the right thing when we are in a bad mood. Therefore, when we are in a bad mood, we should watch ourselves more in order to do the right thing despite the bad mood. It does make sense. When I'm frustrated at something and my kids come up and want attention it is much easier for me to say - "Go away kids, you bother me," than to take the time to figure out what they need. :o I don't always do this :p, but it certainly is the easy thing to do.;)

[TRILLIUM]

This NPR conversation caught my attention because I had been follow several thread on WTM that have dealt with what actions are right of wrong. He suggest that although people are good at making moral decisions when sitting in front of the computer and considering the situation that in the real world we react differently. We tend to get distracted from our moral desision center. I particularly liked the story of the divinity students who were on their way to a sermon and were presented with a good Samaritan challenge. We all know that on an exam everyone would say you stop and help someone in need. Thats what the control group did. But there was a second group that was told they were late and must hurry. This group did not stop. Something kept them from weighing the relative importance of lending aid to someone in need and making it to their sermon. :confused: Reminds me that I need to be careful when making judgements about other actions.