Reflective Journal3

Module 3; MORALITY BEYOND CULTURAL RESOURCES: BIOLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CRITICAL POWER OF THOUGHT

Here are the concepts that were discussed in this lesson. Review each word and, in your own words, explain what it means.

• Morality
• Self-interest
• The Prisoner’s Dilemma
• Evolution
• Empathy
• Hannah Arendt’s concept of “thinking”

What I mean is very simple. This is an opportunity for you to think carefully and slowly about what we are studying in a given week. We often ask you as students to problem solve, strategize, or think “critically” by identifying problems or issues, but we rarely ask you to step back and let your mind wander over a topic that has caught your imagination, or that may be made you uneasy because of its implications.

What I want to see you do is engage in an older, more personal sense of thinking than what we often do today. As Hannah Arendt, one of our authors in this course would say: thinking can involve entering into a dialogue with yourself, asking questions about what it is that has caught or bothered you, and exploring those questions on your own, interacting with your own thoughts away from group activities and discussion boards.

Assessment criteria and submission requirements

You will be graded on the quality of your effort as it shows up in your entries, not the outcome of what you produce. If you show that you have genuinely engaged with the readings and key course themes, then you will be doing well. No research is required, but you must do the following:

you must submit a minimum of 2 entries of at least 750 words each (though there is no maximum length).

• Your top 2 entries will be counted in your final grade totaling 10%