PROJECT THEORIA -- Interactive Video Media for Ethical Reasoning

<p>Learning the art of ethical reasoning, like the art of surgery, requires at the very least an operating theater; like the art of scientific inquiry, a laboratory. Our project is to develop interactive video media to provide analogues of these facilities and 'hands on' experience in the relevant skills.</p> <p>Our focus will not be on theory, but on its crux: hypothesis testing — and all that this down-to-earth activity ordinarily entails: acute, analytical observation; attention to reality; a good dose of imaginative experimentation; and a respect for the human sensorium, its rich and problematic data (which, in ethics, includes the perplexing deliverances of our feelings).</p> <p>We will develop an interactive videodisc on the topic of euthanasia</p> <ol> <li>To simulate the multiple perspectives, sensations, perceptions, and feelings that must inform our reflective moral experience (whatever the topic) and</li> <li>To stimulate the cognitive and affective skills required for reflective reasoning, weighing and balancing evidence, principled decision-making, and competent moral judgment in realistic problem settings, under realistic duress.</li> </ol> <p>Students using our videodisc will be cast in the role of a hospital ethics committee member who must deliberate whether to allow a severe burn victim to die, as he wishes. The Level III program will allow Socratically guided exploratory tours of rich case material, both documentary and dramatized. A Notebook facillity will allow the student to make notes or draft material for associated paper assignments.</p> <p>For classroom use, the videodisc will include a Level O linear presentation of "Dax's Case," the case upon which our simulated material will be based, and a Level I program allowing selected tours through the case material from the perspectives of different principals (on the Roshomon model).</p> <p>We will also produce a textbook. Values, Facts, and Feelings: A Pragmatic Guide to Ethical Inquiry, a companion Study Guide, and an Instructor's Manual.</p>