Scene Week a la Shark Week

 I'm teaching Ethics this Spring. 

And here, for your moral pleasure, Scene Week from my syllabus:

SCENE WEEK

DO: Watch the scenes and think about the questions posed below. That’s all.

Crimes and Misdemeanors

The Seder Scene from Woody Allen’s Crimes and Misdemeanors

Judah is having a flashback/memory from his childhood. At this point in the movie, he has had his lover killed. As you watch the clip ask:

Did the Nazis get away with it?

Does might make right?

Are human impulses basically decent?

Is anything “handed down in stone?” Is anything objectively (categorically) good or bad/right or wrong?

“That which originates from a black deed will blossom in a foul manner?” Agree or disagree? Why?

Is history written by the winners?

What is the importance of history when thinking about ethics/morality?

Groundhog Day

The I Am A God Scene from Groundhog Day

(Warning – depictions of self-harm)

Nihilism is the lack of values. This relates to Ethics because values are a necessary condition for ethics. One can’t have ethics without values.

The scene in the movie plays on the interconnection between time, both finite and eternal, (“I am an immortal.”) and values and ethics. Because Phil is immortal (though he is “trapped” in the same day) he becomes nihilistic. He kills himself, uses people, and “isn’t going to live by their rules anymore!”

The What If There Were No Tomorrow Scene from Groundhog Day

What happens to ethics/morality if time doesn’t press/demarcate on our lives (if we are eternal)?

Do concepts like duty, compassion, or justice still hold meaning if there is no future to consider?

Sophie’s Choice or Beloved (No scene available for Beloved)

(Warning: While there is no depicted violence, the scene is incredibly sad.)

The Choice Scene in Sophie’s Choice

For those of you with sensitive constitutions (full disclosure, I had trouble finishing the scene), here is a summary:

On the night Sophie arrives at Auschwitz, a Nazi makes her choose which of her two children will die immediately by gassing and which will continue to live.

Which moral calculus can be used to make the choice?

Can Kant’s Categorical Imperative help? Consequentialism? To what duty is Sophie beholden in this situation? What is the greatest good for the greatest number in this situation?

 

In Beloved by Toni Morrison, Sethe must choose between killing her children or allowing them to be taken back into slavery.

Which moral calculus can be used to make the choice?

Can Kant’s Categorical Imperative help? Consequentialism? To what duty is Sethe beholden in this situation? What is the greatest good for the greatest number in this situation?