WCAT Radio The Open Door (August 28, 2020)

This week on The Open Door we will discuss core ethical considerations. Our special guest, in absentia, is the late and decidedly great Mortimer Adler, who is represented by Elaine Weissman of the Center of the Great Ideas. Adler's short, and perhaps surprising, sermon on The Golden Rule is the context of our discussion. Adler delivered it in 1991 at Christ Church in Aspen, Colorado. We plan on addressing the following questions. Please don’t hesitate to add your own!

1. Just what is The Golden Rule?

2. How does The Golden Rule compare with Immanuel Kant’s Categorical Imperative?

3. Mortimer Adler argues that The Golden Rule does not adequately capture what ethics involves. Why does he claim that, despite its welcome universal scope, it does not have real content?

4. At the heart of ethical reasoning we find two pairs of concepts: right and wrong along with good and evil. Which pair is primary and why?

5. Is there an inescapable conflict between egoism (selfishness) and altruism? How does Plato’s Parable of the Ring of Gyges highlight this conflict?

6. How can an understanding of the cardinal virtues (prudence, temperance, courage, and justice) help us analyze this supposed conflict?

7. Is there a unity of the cardinal virtues? If so, what is its source? If not, how are we to decide which virtue is most important in a given situation?

8. Are specific acts, on careful consideration, unique and so never to be repeated?

9. When all is said and done, is happiness the universal end of human action?

10. What are some political implications of our discussion to this point?