Seite - 101 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

CHRIsTIAN (MANUAL) 101 I did not come to class yesterday because the birds were singing happily. I did not come to class yesterday because I did not feel like it. Activity/Exercise: Good and poor reasons Which of the following situations do you think justify buying/purchasing some- thing new? (This exercise can be done as an activity: arrange your students in a line, and tell them take one step to the right if the situation justifies a new purchase, or one step left if not. Then ask some of them to give a reason. After listening to the reasons, students can change their position.) 1. Your trousers are torn. 2. Your bicycle is old and rusty. 3. Your best friend has just got some new trousers. 4. You have seen a notebook in a shop in your neighborhood – it is just like the ones you already use but this one has a nicer cover. 5. Your friends have all bought t-shirts with a really flashy design. You want one but your parents say that you already have enough clothes. 6. There are some cool t-shirts on sale and you want to buy one but your par- ents won’t let you, because they think the t-shirts are very different from the clothes the family normally wears. 7. You tore your shirt while playing and you want to buy a new one. There are some really flashy t-shirts, some classic t-shirts, and some more formal shirts. Which would you buy? Why? What reasons would you use? 8. The family needs a new car for work and you are discussing what car to buy. Your brother wants a sports car because it is fast and cool. 9. The family needs a new car and your parents want an off-road truck because it is tougher, it can go anywhere, and it is bigger. 10. Other situations: ... Bearing in mind your answers, consider these questions: • Are there some reasons that are better than others? Is being useful or func- tional necessarily a better reason than being cool or aesthetically pleasing? • When making a decision, what kind of reasons do you think are more relevant? Episode 4: Getting the pitch Leading Idea 1: Justice: Is violence justifiable? In philosophical novels, the underlying concerns often include issues of justice and fair action. This may be one of the most recurring issues, and there usually are no simple answers. We are going to deal with this in the next two leading ideas: applying it in specific cases (violence and justice) and from a wider point of view than what students might generally understand (touching upon criteria such as fairness, objectivity, need, and merit).