Global Ethics*

Some of the questions/themes of the course are:

What are the major moral themes evoked by processes and dynamics of the various aspects of globalization?

Globalization to the extent which we all experience it, is a new phenomenon.  How does ethical thought, developed many centuries ago, address globalization?

Religious ethics are grounded in specific religious communities. How does one apply ethical thought developed inside specific communities and in response to specific beliefs and experiences to questions and peoples beyond those communities?  Are religious ethics - Muslim, Christian, Jewish - broad enough to address universal and not simply particular ethical concerns?  Where do they, or might they come up short in the sense that they are too parochial, or in other ways inadequate to deal with the moral questions that face humanity.

What are the themes in specific religions that contribute the most to the conversation?

Authors such at Tariq Ramadan insist that religious people must learn not only from their own tradition and be in conversations with and learn from other religions, but also with the secular world. What do religious people learn from secular ethics, about global moral issues?

In the light of a globalized world, does the whole question of who I have responsibility for, who I think my neighbor is change? 

Course Objectives Include:

The student is able to grasp the subject of globalization conceptually and discern how processes and dynamics of globalization shape our individual lives and the lives of our religious and secular communities, nationally and internationally.

The student will grow in his/her understanding of the ways in which ethical thought is carried out in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, and explore some of the ways these religions learn morally from each other.

The student will learn to think critically about the moral thought of his/her own religious tradition, so that he/she is able to articulate and "see" the strengths, potential limits, and the methods of his/her moral tradition, as well as those of other religious moral traditions.

The student will be able to articulate some of the primary ways in which his/her own religious moral thought and that of others contributes towards the broader human conversation about common moral concerns and dilemmas. In addition, students will develop some knowledge of secular approaches to issues raised by globalization.

Requirements

Each student is expected to do the assigned reading (at least) and to contribute to informed, lively discussions in class.

Three (3) papers, about 5-10 pages each, based on the reading, will be turned in; one on each religious tradition’s thought on globalization and one on secular moral thought and globalization. Many of the papers will be presented in class (students can decide which they want to present – to a point) and will therefore play an important role in class discussions. Please turn them in as hard copy!!

Articles mentioned, and sometimes chapters, will be uploaded onto SONISWEB.

Book List

The following books should be purchased:

• Kwame Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers; W.W. Norton & Co, 2006

The following books will be on reserve in the library; readings will also be on SONISWEB;

• Mohammed Abu-Nimer, Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam: Theory and Practice; University Press of Florida, 2003
• Marc Gopin, To Make the Earth Whole: The Art of Citizen Diplomacy in an Age of Religious Militancy;   Rowman & Littlefield, 2009
• M. Fetullah Gulen, Toward a Global Civilization of Love & Tolerance; The Light, Inc., 2004
• Mehran Kamrava, ed., The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics and Modernity; University of California Press, 2006
• Lewis S. Mudge, The Gift of Responsibility: The Promise of Dialogue Among Christians, Jews and Muslims; The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2008
• Rebecca Todd Peters, In Search of the Good Life: The Ethics of Globalization; The Continuum International Publishing Group, Inc., 2004
• Tariq Ramadan, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation; Oxford University Press, 2009
• Peter Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization, Yale University Press, 2004
• William M. Sullivan and Will Kymlicka, eds, The Globalization of Ethics, Cambridge University Press, 2007
• Martin D. Yaffe, ed., Judaism and Environmental Ethics, Lexington Books, 2001
• Fareed Zakaria, The Post-American World; Release 2.0; W.W. Norton & Company, 2011

Class Schedule

Part I

Written Assignment

Bring to class on the first day a 5 page description of what you think is the greatest moral challenge of globalization, why, and what religious people can do about it.

Dr. Hadsell will introduce the course.

What is ethics?

Who does ethics?

How is ethics related to religion?

What is the relationship between ethics and critical thinking?

What does the term ‘global ethics’ connote? What are some of the major moral issues today that might be included in the term “global ethics”? What makes these issues moral issues?

Some basic building blocks of ethics: including:

The fact/value split and conceptions of ‘is and ought.’

Characteristics of the descriptive and normative tasks:  the ways they differ and the ways that they shade into each other.

Class exercise in learning to notice the intertwining of the descriptive and normative tasks.

The primary sources for doing religious social ethics

Human experience (which human experience?)

Human sciences

Philosophy

Religious tradition, texts, teachings, leaders,

Begin to share and to shape various definitions of Globalization.  Where do they come from? What might be at stake in choosing one definition and not another?

One major driving force in globalization is economic.  One description of current economic dynamics is demonstrated in the film The Corporation. The class will watch this film together.

Please read

Zakaria, The Post-American World; preface- Chapter 3

Part II

This class will consider several descriptions of our global reality and the engines of globalization.

Please read

Peters, In Search of the Good Life; The Ethics of Globalization; chapters 3 & 4

Gulen, Toward a Global Civilization of Love & Tolerance – pp.217-260

Singer, One World: The Ethics of Globalization; chapters 1, 3 & 4

Kamrava, ed., The New Voices of Islam: Rethinking Politics and Modernity; chapter 2

Part III

Topic: Normative descriptions of our globalized reality

What makes these descriptions normative? Where do the norms come from?

Religions as sources of norms

Philosophy as source of norms

Collective common sense as source of norms

Are the normative descriptions accurate? What might be missing?  What might you not agree with? 

Movie “The Corporation”

Written Assignment

How would you make a normative argument based on moral teachings in your own tradition related to some issue in global ethics? Please give it a try in a 5 page piece due next class.

Please read

Gulen – pp. 217-260

Sullivan and Kymlicka, eds, The Globalization of Ethics; chapter 6

Part IV

Topic: Case study of one common moral issue: humanly caused environmental degradation.

Small group presentations of religious and secular moral arguments related to the environment.

Please read

Yaffe, ed., Judaism and Environmental Ethics, chapter 14

Singer, chapter 2

Ramadan, Radical Reform: Islamic Ethics and Liberation, chapter 14

Part V

Topic:  Community and Universality in our moral life

A look at the growing body of efforts towards global ethics charters, guidelines, declarations.  Of what use are these declarations? What role do they play in global ethics?

Please read

Kung – Declaration of the Religions for a Global Ethic

Dialogue Among Civilizations – Khatami hand out

A Common Word – http://www.acommonword.com

The UN Declaration of Human Rights - http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Small group exposition and analysis, each one taking responsibility for one of these documents.

Please read

Sullivan and Kymlicka, eds, The Globalization of Ethics; chapter 3 (Walzer chapter)

Ramadan, chapter 16

Appiah, Cosmopolitanism: Ethics in a World of Strangers – entire book

 Part VI

This session will be student organized and student led.  This is a chance to research ethical issues we have not yet discussed that students really think we must discuss.

Part VII

Topic: Building bridges towards a global future.

Written Assignment – to be turned in two weeks after the end of class

Where might the themes of this course take you in the future, as a religious leader, global citizen, and peace builder, intellectual?

Please read

Abu-Nimer, Nonviolence and Peace Building in Islam: Theory and Practice, chapters 1, 2 & 4

Gopin, To Make the Earth Whole: The Art of Citizen Diplomacy in an Age of Religious Militancy – chapters 1-3, 6-8

Mudge, The Gift of Responsibility: The Promise of Dialogue among Christians, Jews and Muslims – Introduction and Chapter 1