Preliminary —>
I will add files each week below. The slides are given in pdf format. Updated: 19 September 2024
Suggested readings for each week of the course from the book, A Foundation for Living Ethically: download pdf
Topic 1 (17 July)
Slides: download pdf
Topic 2 (24 July)
Two lists of values: download pdf
Slides for Topic 2: download pdf
Topic 3 (31 July)
Glenn’s interview with Richard Barrett:
Slides for Topic 3: download pdf
Topic 4 (07 August)
“Everybody Knows That the Good Guys Lost”, Essay: download pdf
On Ethics and Success (from Human Values & Ethics in the Workplace): download pdf
Slides for Topic 4: download pdf
Topic 5 (14 August)
Articles by Glenn Martin:
Good and bad tension and the power of fairness article: download pdf
Ethics and stress, article: download pdf
Overview of the book: link
Lord Moulton, 1920: Law and “Manners”: download pdf
Slides for Topic 5: download pdf
Topic 6 (21 August)
Slides for Topic 6: download pdf
Topic 7 (28 August)
Article for Topic 7: from The Guardian, on the ethics of having children: link
Chapter 7 from book, Human Values and Ethics in the Workplace: download pdf
Slides for Topic 7: download pdf
Topic 8 (04 September)
Slides from Topic 8: download pdf
Chapter from The Little Book of Ethics: download pdf
Topic 9 (11 September)
Management textbooks: download pdf
Slides from Topic 9: download pdf
Topic 10 (18 September)
Positive psychology: download pdf
Slides from Topic 10: download pdf
Readings from Topic 10: download pdf
Welcome. This U3A course is over ten weeks from Wednesday 17 July 2024, two hours per week.
Since notice went out I have restructured the content slightly.
The new outline is as follows.
Outline
1. Approaches to ethics, and a definition
2. A human values framework, with five core human values
3. Levels of ethics: ethical development
4. Tensions between ethics and success
5. Ethics, stress and happiness
6. Why do people act unethically? Why do people act ethically?
7. Ethical decision making
8. Growth and development in ethics
9. Is ethics different in different spheres?
10. Is this world too hard for ethics?
I have written several ethics books — see the other pages of this website. Most of the ideas in the course are covered in my book, A Foundation for Living Ethically. You do not need to buy it, but I will have copies available.
Pre-reading
I am not assuming any pre-reading for Week 1. There are a couple of short videos which you can watch. See page: https://www.glennmartin.com.au/ethics-and-big-ideas
If you have the book, the sections relevant to Week 1 are Sessions 1, 2, 3 (the chapters in this book are called sessions).
During the course, when there are materials that I wish to make available, I will put them in this web page and you can download them.