The Ethics of Everyday Life: What's the right thing to do? with Tayo Basquiat

The Ethics of Everyday Life: What's the right thing to do? with Tayo Basquiat

• This is a 6-meeting virtual class using the Zoom platform
• Tuesdays, Feb 4, 11, 18, 25, March 4, 11
• 1-2:30pm CT
• Our classes are taught asynchronously, which means you can watch a recording of the class later if you miss the live session

If you watched the series The Good Place, you’ll remember the philosopher who couldn’t make a decision about the right action because he could justify every option. Been there? Morality isn’t as clearcut as we’d like it to be, leading to paralysis (can’t decide, can’t act), relativism (“right” is a moving target, changeable), or acting in spite of the lack of certainty but not necessarily feeling good about what we are doing. In this class I want to talk about the various moral theories in the context of common everyday life situations, how they are used in moral deliberation, and how they can facilitate connection between people of different moral convictions, even absent agreement on the ultimate answer to the question, “what’s the right thing to do?”

INSTRUCTOR BIO

Tayo Basquiat writes to pay attention and teaches to pay the bills. He lives with a passel of creatures off-grid in the high desert of New Mexico.

HND VALUE STATEMENT

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program, do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for the Humanities or Humanities North Dakota. However, in an increasingly polarized world, we at Humanities North Dakota believe that being open-minded is necessary to thinking critically and rationally. Therefore, our programs and classes reflect our own open-mindedness in the inquiry, seeking, and acquiring of scholars to speak at our events and teach classes for our Public University. To that end, we encourage our participants to join us in stepping outside our comfort zones and considering other perspectives and ideas by being open-minded while attending HND events featuring scholars who hold a variety of opinions, some being opposite of our own held beliefs.

Humanities North Dakota classes and events are funded in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities