Reflections on an "Applied Ethics" reading: Passive Morality

In my Applied Ethics course, taught by the illustrious Prof. Karla Pierce, we recently read two short pieces, an essay by Alice Walker entitled "Am I Blue?" and an excerpt from Ted Kerasote's Bloodties. Both stories dealt with the issues of animal rights and welfare, with Walker's piece describing her relationship with a neighbor's horse and how its life paralleled that of the enslaved, and Kerasote's discussing the experience of hunting, and how he turned to it as an alternative to "supermarket vegetarianism" due to the vast numbers of animals killed as a byproduct of our industrialized farming techniques. While the pieces served to lead our class into a discussion of the Moral Community and who or what is and should be a part of it, it led me to ponder once more the issue of our passive morality...

Every action we take has consequences.

Let me clarify that: every action we take has moral consequences.

What we eat, what we wear, how we travel, how we are entertained, where we live, how we decorate, where we work, what we buy and where we buy it; the list could go on for pages. We are a social species, and today the influence of our actions – particularly for those of us living in first world nations – extends globally. If our goal is to live the best life possible, the most fulfilling and morally just life, then we cannot ignore these things. We must consider them. But finding, and more importantly doing, the right thing is no simple task.

            These are not the great, blatant issues of active morality. This is not the case of whether or not to get an abortion, to react violently to some offense, whether or not to stop at a wrecked car or rush to save a child from a runaway vehicle; these are not issues wherein the results of our action or inaction are clear. These are issues of passive morality, where the deep running consequences of our day to day actions must be studied and pondered if we are to understand them.

            Let’s just take one’s diet for example. One of the most common changes people make to their passive lives in the interest of greater ethical living is becoming vegetarian. Recognizing that the sanctity of life extends to the rest of the animal kingdom, appreciating that even animals have feelings and emotions and desires, many choose to stop eating meat entirely; and it’s not as difficult as some might think. Nearly every restaurant today has some meatless alternative other than salad, and most every supermarket has a variety of tofu, tempeh, and other healthy alternatives to meats.

            But wait: what about the thousands of animals – rabbits, mice, baby birds, snakes – caught up and slaughtered in the massive combines of industrial farms; the road kill littering highways upon which the trucks transport crops; the exhaust of those trucks; the insecticide and fertilizer pouring into our waterways; the indentured servant farmers of poor countries where many crops are imported from. Okay, maybe you could buy only locally produced organic food… but that can be ridiculously expensive, require a lot of time researching and shopping, and may not even be a possibility depending on where you live! And what about eating out? What then?

            This is just in regards to whether or not to eat animals. When we return to the above list of passive moral decisions we can quickly see everything gets more and more complicated and difficult with further consideration.  For someone to perform every passive action of his life to the highest degree of morality, he would have to begin independently wealthy and then devote his life to researching and studying where things come from and how everything is affected. And even then, even then, what good would he be truly doing for the world? What talents would he share, what causes could he fight for, if he had to spend so much time working to do everything else justly?

            The implications are daunting. The impossibility of it all is enough to drive us to throwing our hands in the air and walking away, claiming that we might as well just forget about it and get on with our lives. Problem is, we can’t. Ignorance can’t be restored, and once we recognize that our every action has a moral consequence, to do nothing will slowly but surely eat away at us from the inside.

            So the solution? Do something. Maybe you don’t always eat vegetarian, or buy organic or locally produced food, but sometimes you do. Maybe you don’t always take where your clothes come from into account when shopping, but sometimes you do. Maybe you don’t always walk, ride a bike, or use public transportation instead of driving, but sometimes you do. If we expect ourselves to do everything, we will always fail. But if we do something, anything, to adjust our lives then we will know that we have not given up.

            I know I’ve said all of this before, but I’m saying it again because it truly is important.

            No, doing some things sometimes won’t make any big difference in the world. And yes, if everyone did some things sometimes it would. But that’s not the point.

            The point is to live the best possible life you can live, and part of that is making the decision to do right. And doing right isn’t about being perfect. It’s about being aware. It’s not about making a difference in the world. It’s about making a difference in your world. It’s about not giving up.

I can’t do everything, but goddamit you better bet your ass I’m gonna do something. 

I can only hope you'll join me.

The Education of Human Emotions

The following is an essay I wrote for my Humanities Forum (Philosophy in Television Series) class. It is in response to Dr. Carl Colavito's prompt, "How can emotions be educated or governed?"

Human feelings and emotions, in and of themselves, are natural and can neither be learned nor taught. Even our fundamental expression of these emotions are ubiquitous across vastly different cultures, as has been proven through various experiments in which individuals across the world recognize the emotion corresponding with facial expressions likewise gathered from a variety of cultures. Most probably, emotions are a product of our human evolution, originally and in many cases still serving to aid our survival as a species. Fear and anger aid our defense against that which may cause us harm, such as precarious ledges or natural enemies; happiness and joy encourage us to partake in those things which aid our survival, such as food and intercourse; and compassion, empathy, and love allow us to form bonds with others, aiding our develop into a supportive community in which people come to the aid of others. Over time, however, as we have created a great many stimuli unrelated to our direct survival we have exhibited an emotional reaction to such things, independent of our own survival needs. These types of triggers, as well as which emotion is consequentially felt, its intensity, and how it is expressed, are most certainly both learned and taught.

            The greatest educator of all is experience. The ways in which others react to our actions, achievements, and failures – particularly doing our youth – have a pivotal effect upon our learned emotional response to future such replications of behavior. The child who receives praise and support from his or her parents, teachers and/or peers upon receipt of a good grade on a school assignment will most likely develop a positive emotional reaction to future such grades. Conversely, a child who is in someway ridiculed for achieving high marks in school, perhaps by teasing from friends or family, will most likely develop a negative emotional reaction to achieving high grades. In other words, one child may feel proud and happy from an “A” grade, while another child upon receipt of the same grade may feel scared, ashamed, or embarrassed. This emotional reaction is not the product of evolution but rather the product of environmental education.

            In addition to emotional reactions, we are also taught throughout life the intensity and means by which we express our emotions. These elements, combined with our degree of empathy for others, comprise what psychologists Peter Salovey and John Mayer called emotional intelligence. After their development of the theory of emotional intelligence, and its subsequent popularization via the New York Times, a debate arose regarding whether or not emotional intelligence should be taught in schools. It’s important to note that the debate was not whether or not emotional intelligence could be formally taught, but rather whether or not it should be.

            Regardless of the aspect of emotional intelligence being examined, a conscious education of it would prove difficult to effectively achieve by others. The best way to “educate” an individual’s emotions would be through conditioning, as earlier described. By triggering or rewarding desired emotional expression one could attempt to teach certain emotional behavior. Individuals, however, cannot simply experience an emotion at will. It must be triggered, which means the educator of emotions would need to be always present so that the proper conditioning could occur at every applicable moment. In addition, the means of conditioning itself could prove counterproductive, as individuals may have already learned to have a negative emotional reaction to praise or some other form of reward.

            Can our emotions be trained or governed by others? Absolutely. The best way to achieve an enhanced emotional intelligence, however, is by self education. By examining when and how our emotions are triggered as well as the intensity of those emotions and in what ways we express them, and comparing these things to that which we most desire or the ways we believe we ought to be, we can begin to make adjustments to our emotional behavior. In addition, by becoming aware of the ways in which our emotions are trained - by the conditioning from other people in our lives and from the messages present in media and popular culture - we can choose which “lessons” of emotion we embrace, and which we reject. Only by becoming aware of these subconscious stimuli can we engage in the act of true emotional self education. It is due to this that when it comes to the education of others, the most effective means is not through active conditioning, but rather the encouragement of such reflection combined with the examination of what emotional behaviors and reactions are the best possible ones to exhibit.  

"Rally High" -- SE YOU Summer Connections 2008

The following was the first true speaking engagement I ever had. It was at a week long Youth of Unity (the teen program within my church) retreat where I served as a guest sponsor and speaker.



Watch "Rally High" @ SE Y.O.U. Summer Connections 2008 in Faith & Lifestyle  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Special thanks to Bob Briscoe and the Panama City Chapter!

Rally High by Garrett McLain is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.