Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Robertson.

I love Ari.

Really, really excited to be teaching you today 'cause I've got a fantastic lesson that's gonna make you really, really think.

It's called "Humanism: Deciding Right From Wrong." And it's another lesson that answers our big inquiry question, "Humanists, how can you lead a happy and meaningful life?" And in this lesson we're gonna be thinking about this big question of right and wrong and how a humanist might try and answer it.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain how humanists make ethical decisions.

As always, we have some key words.

Today we have three key words.

Our key words are thought experiment.

Fantastic.

Ethical, and consequences.

Brilliant.

Those words sound quite complicated, so let's find out what they mean, shall we? So, a thought experiment is a philosophical tool to test ideas in made up scenarios.

Ethical is part of philosophy and it's questions about living a good life and what's right and wrong.

And consequences are the outcome of a choice or action.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to use those words confidently.

So, we have two questions to answer today when we're learning about right and wrong.

And our first question is this.

How do philosophers use thought experiments? So, let's think a little bit more.

Philosophers are people who think deeply about things and ask lots of questions.

I think asking questions is really important.

We should never stop asking questions.

Some questions that philosophers ask are ethical questions.

One ethical question a philosopher might ask is, "Should you eat meat?" And this is an ethical question because we have to consider what is right and wrong.

Some people would say, "Yeah, it's fine to eat meat.

It's no problem at all." Whereas other people might say, "No, I don't think you should eat meat.

I don't think it's the right thing to do." Let's think about some other examples of ethical questions.

So we might ask, "Should you admit it if you accidentally break something at school?" "Is it ever okay to steal?" "Is it okay to let someone else take the blame for something you did?" So, these are ethical questions because they're all about our feelings of what's right and wrong.

And we probably all have an opinion about what you would do in each of those scenarios, and what is the right thing to do in those scenario and what is the wrong thing to do.

But not all questions are ethical questions.

For example, "What's your favourite flavour of ice cream?" Mm, well, actually my favourite flavour is toffee.

But that's about opinions.

It's not about what's right or wrong.

I might like toffee, but it's not the best flavour.

It's just my favourite flavour.

We might ask, "How many legs does a spider have?" Eight.

You're right.

But that's a factual question.

It's not about what's right or wrong.

Spiders have eight legs so we can't be, there's no moral question there at all.

It's a factual question.

I wonder if you can think of any ethical questions of your own.

Let's check our understanding.

Which of these is not an example of an ethical question? A, Is it okay to cheat in a game if nobody finds out? B, Is it better to sit at the front or the back of the classroom? C, Is it right to keep a gift you found, even if it doesn't belong to you? Which of those is not an ethical question? Excellent.

It's B, isn't it? Because that's an opinions question.

You might like to sit at the front because then you are close to the board, you might be able to see better.

Or maybe prefer to sit at the back 'cause you don't like that feeling of lots of people around you.

But they're not ethical questions.

The question's about cheating and keeping a gift.

They're about right or wrong.

Brilliant if you got that correct.

So, let's dig a little deeper then.

How can philosophers think about ethical questions? We know what they are now, but how do you think about them? Well, one way we can do this is using a thought experiment and that's a tool that philosophers use.

And it involves testing ideas in made up scenarios rather than real world scenarios.

Why does that matter? Well, made up scenarios help philosophers because they can focus on the questions and not people's feelings.

If we talk about a real life situation, people might start feeling this is about somebody I know.

So, I don't want to say the wrong thing or upset somebody.

But if we ask a philosophical question with a made up scenario, then we can focus on the actual questions much more 'cause we're not hurting anyone's feelings if we say different things.

Who's correct? Aisha says, "A thought experiment tests ideas using made up scenarios." Lucas says, "A thought experiment tests ideas using real-world scenarios." Who do we think is right? Pause video and have a think.

Excellent.

It's Aisha, isn't it? Because a thought experiment uses made up scenarios, not real world scenarios.

Brilliant, philosophers, if you've got that right.

So, we're gonna have a go about this now.

We're gonna put this into action.

Aisha and Lucas are gonna try a thought experiment.

And they start by thinking about an ethical question they would like to consider.

Aisha says, "I'd like to consider what would happen if humans never lied? Could we create a thought experiment for this, Lucas?" Lucas says, "Yeah, that would work for a thought experiment because it allows us to think about the ethical question.

'Is lying always wrong?'" So, that's the ethical question we're going to test and we're going to design a thought experiment to have a think about it.

Aisha and Lucas have written their thought experiment about a girl called Sofia.

It asks the ethical question, "Is lying always wrong?" For each scenario, they're going to explore different choices and discuss what the consequences might be if Sofia always told the truth.

Sofia loves philosophy.

Her dad and her spent a lot of time at home discussing big questions and having debates.

One question she discussed with her dad was about lying.

"I think it's important to always tell the truth," she said.

Okay, so that, but what would the consequences of that be?" Like a good philosopher Sofia thought she would try it out for a day.

The next day she went to school.

Her first lesson was art.

During the lesson, everyone sketched some flowers that were in the middle of the classroom.

Sofia's friend turned to her and said, "What do you think of my drawing?" Sofia thought it wasn't very good.

The flowers looked wrong and there was no shading.

"I don't think it's your best work," says Sofia.

"I think you could do a lot better." What might be the consequences of Sofia telling the truth? What do you think the consequences would be? Aisha says, "Her friend might be really upset.

They spent time on the drawing." Lucas says, "Her friend might not care that much and find it funny." Maybe you thought of some consequences yourself.

I wonder whether not lying is the right thing to do in this scenario.

Was it okay that Sofia told the truth that she didn't like the drawing? Or would she have been better to say, "It's nice.

I can see you've tried really hard." I wonder what you think was the right thing to do there.

Let's continue with Sofia's day.

After break, Sofia's teacher went around the classroom gathering in their homework from the weekend.

Sofia had been distracted by her plan to tell the truth, so she'd totally forgotten her homework.

Usually she told her teacher she'd left it at home, which meant she could do it when she got back.

Naughty girl, this Sofia, isn't she? This time she took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry, Miss," she said.

"I just didn't feel like doing it this week." What might be the consequences of Sofia telling the truth? What do you think will happen? Aisha and Lucas have been thinking about this too.

Aisha says, "She might get in trouble for not doing her homework." Lucas says, "Maybe her teacher will respect that she told the truth." She has owned up this time, hasn't she? And that's always a good thing to do.

I wonder whether not lying is the right thing to do in this scenario.

Is it better that she told the truth? Let's think of our final scenario.

Sofia went to the back of the lunch queue for a second cookie.

Sofia was starving.

She was so fixated on her philosophical problem she'd forgotten to eat breakfast.

She got in her lunch at the queue and sat back and ate ravenously.

After she finished eating, she realised she was still hungry.

What could she do? She saw there were still some of her favourite chocolate cookies left.

She joined the back of the queue.

When she got to the front, the cook was about to hand over the cookie when she looked at her with narrowed eyes.

"Sofia," she asked.

"Have I given you a cookie already?" Sofia was so hungry and the cook would not necessarily recall whether she'd served her or not, but she remembered her experiment.

"Sorry," she admitted.

"I was just so hungry." What might be the consequences of her telling the truth to the cook? She'd already had a cookie.

What should she do? Aisha says, "Telling the truth means there might be more for other people." That's a good point, isn't it? Because really, she didn't deserve it.

Lucas says, "Sofia might get a cookie because the cook respects her for telling the truth." Maybe there were more cookies left, and so she might get that one for owning up.

I wonder whether not lying is the right thing to do in this scenario.

I wonder what you thought was the right thing to do in this scenario.

Aisha and Lucas reflect on that thought experiment about the question of, "Is lying always wrong?" Aisha says, "It was right that Sofia had told the truth to her teacher and the cook.

If she'd taken a cookie, she could have left another child hungry.

Not doing her homework is bad for her." Lucas says, "So, we might say that usually lying is wrong.

But telling the truth to her friend might have hurt them more than a white lie.

So, maybe it's about the consequences of the lie." So, what Lucas is saying is there is right and wrong, but we need to think about the consequences as well.

If she'd told the truth to her friend, then actually she might have upset her friend more than if she'd just been kind to her friend instead.

But on the other hand, telling the truth to the cook meant that she wasn't taking a cookie away from another child, and that would've been a much worse thing to do.

So, she definitely needed to tell the truth there.

Okay, I'd like you to have a go at this for yourself.

We've got an ethical question for you here.

Is it right to keep a gift you found, even if it doesn't belong to you? I'd like you to create a thought experiment about this.

So, I'd like you to make up your own scenario about somebody finding a gift, even if it doesn't belong to them.

Maybe you're walking on the street and on the floor there is a beautiful necklace, and you don't see anyone around.

Are you allowed to keep it? But I'd like you to think of your own idea here as well.

And I'd like you to think about the consequences about what would happen if you did that.

What would happen if you kept it? And what would happen if you didn't keep it? And think about the two consequences.

You might think of more than that.

And then think about what that might teach us about this idea of keeping something that doesn't belong to you.

Does that help us decide whether it's right or wrong? Because the consequences are gonna be really helpful.

Okay, I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Oh, some amazing philosophical questions here.

Okay, here was my idea at a thought experiment.

So I said, "Sofia found a present under a bench at school.

The name tag had come away, so she decided to keep it." So, what consequences might there be? Well, one consequence is that Sofia might feel guilty later because she's picked up something that doesn't belong to her.

Another consequence might be that the person who lost the gift might feel really sad or worried.

Maybe it was their birthday and they brought it in, but they put it under the bench and forgot about it.

And they might be really worried about what will happen to the person who bought it.

Will they be upset? And they'll also be sad because they've lost a present themselves.

And third consequence might be that Sofia's friends might also think it's okay to keep a gift that doesn't belong to them.

So, by Sofia doing something bad and keeping something she shouldn't have done, she might be showing other people around that that's okay.

I wonder what you came up with as your idea.

And I wonder what consequences you came up with too.

What we are really doing here is learning to think like philosophers.

So, the most important thing you can do is think of a thought experiment and think about its consequences.

They don't have to be the same as this.

The whole point is it's a made up scenario.

So, we're not saying we would really do any of these things, but what we're doing is we're testing out what would happen if they did work like that.

If you've managed to do that.

Brilliant philosophical thinking.

The next part of this lesson is," How do humanists make ethical decisions?" Aisha and Lucas would like to understand how humanists make ethical decisions.

Aisha says, "From the thought experiment, I understood that people can approach ethical questions in different ways.

I wonder how being humanist can affect this?" Lucas says, "Let's see if a humanist can help us answer that question." Great idea, Lucas.

Lucas meets Neil.

Lucas says, "How do humanists approach ethical questions and make ethical decisions?" Neil says, "As a humanist, empathy would help me decide how to act.

Showing empathy is really important 'cause it helps us to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person." Neil says, "If I was faced with a difficult ethical question, I would use empathy to ask the following questions.

'How might it make the other person feel?' 'How can I make sure that another person is treated in the same way as I would like to be treated?'" So Neil's saying, "If I want to find out if something's right or wrong, I need to think about the other person and I need to think about how would I want to be treated and is that the way I'm gonna treat them the same?" Let's just check our understanding so far.

I'd like you to think of the missing word.

A humanist would use to help make ethical decisions.

Pause the video, philosophers, and have a think.

Brilliant.

The word is empathy, isn't it? A humanist would use empathy to help make ethical decisions.

Brilliant if you've got that right.

Lucas continues his conversation.

He says, "If a humanist uses empathy to make an ethical decision, does that mean all humanists would reach the same conclusion?" What a great question, Lucas.

Neil says, "No, humanists can still come to different conclusions.

This is because people feel empathy in different ways.

For example, one person might feel more empathy for the person being hurt, while another might also worry about the person causing harm." Let's just check here who's correct.

Aisha says, "Using empathy means all humanists will reach the same conclusion about moral questions." Lucas says, "Using empathy may result in humanists reaching different conclusions about moral questions." Who's right, we think? Pause the video and have a think.

Excellent.

Lucas is correct, isn't he? Because we all use empathy in different ways.

So, humanists might have different conclusions about a question.

They're not necessarily all going to think the same thing.

Lucas continues his conversation.

He says, "I know that empathy is important in making ethical decisions, but what else might you take into account?" Neil says, "As well as using empathy, I'd also try to think really deeply about the consequences of my decisions.

I focus on how I can promote happiness and reduce suffering." So, what Neil is saying is when he does something, he wants to make sure that whatever happens as a result makes people as happy as possible and suffer as little as possible.

Neil says, "Let's consider the ethical question.

'Should you let someone join your group of friends?'" That's a good question.

"As a humanist, I would look at the consequences of what might happen in both situations.

This means thinking about what might happen if I did let them join my friends, and what happens if I didn't." What consequences can you think of in this question? So, someone is new in the class and they want to join your group of friends.

How would you think about the consequences of this? What would happen if you did? And what would happen if you didn't? You might want to pause the video and think about that with each other.

Neil says, "For example.

If I don't let them join, they might feel lonely.

If I do let them join, they might feel happier and more confident.

In this case, I would want to promote happiness and would decide to let them join.

Thinking about the consequences of our choices or actions can help a humanist to make ethical decisions." Let's check our understanding again.

I'd like you to complete this sentence for me.

"The outcome of a choice or action is the? What's that important word? Pause the video and have a think.

Yes.

It's the consequence, isn't it? As Neil said, humanists are really interested in the consequences of their action.

If I decide to do something, what impact will that have? How will that affect somebody? That's really, really important for humanists.

Okay, I've got a task for you to do here.

I'd like you to explain how a humanist might try to make an ethical decision.

Think about what Neil has told us about all the different things that he thinks about when he wants to make a decision.

I'd like you to use these words if you can.

Can you use the word empathy? That feeling of putting yourself in someone else's shoes and thinking about how they're feeling.

Could you use the word consequences? I.

e.

, what's gonna happen if I do something? Can you use the word happiness? Remember Neil talked about humanist wanting to promote happiness to make people as happy as possible.

And can you use the word suffering? So, remember Neil talked about reducing suffering.

Making sure people don't have bad things or feel sad or lonely.

If you want to, you could think of your own example of an ethical decision and show how a humanist might put that into practise, or you could just write or say this however you like.

Can't wait to see what you've come up with.

Oh, amazing thinking.

Okay, so you've probably done it in lots of different ways.

But here's an idea of something you might have done.

So you might have said, "When a humanist makes an ethical decision, they try to use empathy to support their thinking.

They try to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person.

A humanist would also think deeply about the consequences of their actions, considering how they can promote happiness and reduce suffering with any moral decision they make." You might have thought of a particular decision that someone might try and make.

A bit like we had the idea of letting someone join your friends.

And you might have tried to think that through about how they can use empathy, how a humanist might think about the consequences, and how they might try to promote happiness and reduce suffering.

But if you've managed to do this in some way, then that's brilliant 'cause you've really thought philosophically about how we'd make decisions about right or wrong.

Let's summarise what we've learned today.

So, we've been thinking all about deciding right from wrong, from a humanist perspective.

We've learned that philosophers use thought experiments to test ideas in made up scenarios.

We've learned that ethical questions can be explored through thought experiments.

We've learned that humanists use empathy to help make decisions, as well as considering the consequences of their actions and choices.

And we've learned that a humanist aims to promote happiness and reduce suffering when reaching decisions.

I hope you've enjoyed that today.

I hope you've enjoyed thinking through those thought experiments, designing your own, and thinking about this big idea of right and wrong.

And maybe some of these ideas might be useful for you when you make decisions about right or wrong and what to do.

I look forward to seeing you in another lesson soon.