Written by What's Good on TV?: Understanding Ethics Through Television
Read by Vince Bailey
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

What's Good on TV?: Understanding Ethics Through Television

Written by: Jamie Carlin Watson, Robert Arp
Narrated by: Vince Bailey
Length: 14 hrs and 6 mins
Format: Unabridged
Release Date:04-15-13
Publisher: Audible Studios
Program Type: Audiobook

Publisher's Summary


What's Good on TV? Understanding Ethics Through Television presents an introduction to the basic theories and concepts of moral philosophy using concrete examples from classic and contemporary television shows. Utilizes clear examples from popular contemporary and classic television shows, such as The Office, Law and Order, Star Trek and Family Guy, to illustrate complex philosophical concepts.

Designed to be used as a stand-alone or supplementary introductory ethics text.

Features case studies, study questions, and suggested readings.

Episodes mentioned are from a wide variety of television shows, and are easily accessible.

Offers a balanced treatment of a number of controversial ethical issues including environmental ethics, animal welfare, abortion, homosexuality, capital punishment, assisted suicide, censorship and the erosion of values.

©2011 Jamie Carlin Watson and Robert Arp (P)2013 Audible Ltd


_____________


Contents:

Preface

The Pilot Episode: Ethics and Popular Culture
What is Ethics?
How Do We Make Progress in Ethics?
What Does Pop Culture Have to Do with Ethics?

Series I. Is Anything "Good" on Television? The Nature of Moral Value

Episode 1: Truth and Nihilism in Ethics
Introduction
The case for nihilism
J. L. Mackie, “The Argument from Queerness,” from Ethics: Inventing Right and Wrong
The case for realism
C. S. Lewis, from Mere Christianity
Case study: The Office (UK), “Work Experience,” series 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 2: Normativity - Social, Legal, and Moral
Introduction
You promised to play by the rules!
John Rawls, “Legal Obligation and the Duty of Fair Play”
What does my neighbor have to do with my goodness?
John Stuart Mill, “Of the Limits to the Authority of Society over the Individual” from On Liberty
Case study: The Sopranos, “College,” season 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 3: God and Ethics
Introduction
What has Athens to do with Jerusalem? Plato, Euthyphro
Does God make the law or does he just let us in on it?
C. S. Lewis, from The Problem of Pain
Case study: Law & Order, “God Bless the Child,” season 2
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Series II. What's Right and Wrong? Ethical Theory

Episode 4: Moral Relativism
Introduction
Are we merely products of our culture?
Ruth Benedict, “A Defense of Ethical Relativism”
Relativism is unjustified
James Rachels, “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism”
Case study 1: Deadwood, “Childish Things,” season 2
Case study 2: South Park, “Death Camp of Tolerance,” season 6
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 5: Deontology
Introduction
Kant’s theory of moral duty
Immanuel Kant, from Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals
Case study 1: Arrested Development, “Not without
My Daughter,” season 1
Contemporary Deontology
Case study 2: Friends, “The One Where Phoebe
Hates PBS,” season 5
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 6: Consequentialism
Introduction
Mill’s theory of utility
John Stuart Mill, from Utilitarianism
Case study 1: Battlestar Galactica, “You Can’t Go
Home Again,” season 1
Case study 2: The Twilight Zone (Newer), “Cradle
of Darkness,” season 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 7: Virtue Ethics
Introduction
Aristotle’s theory of virtue
Aristotle, from Nicomachean Ethics
Case study 1: Foyle’s War, “Enemy Fire,” set 3
Case study 2: Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Hide and Q,” season 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Series III. But What's Right When ... ? Practical Ethics

Episode 8: Environmental Ethics
Introduction
Two Approaches to Environmental Ethics
Silly environmentalists, nature is for people
William Baxter, “People or Penguins”
Case study 1: Northern Exposure, “Zarya,” season 6
Case study 2: Family Guy, “It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One,” season 5
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 9: Animal Welfare
Introduction
Two Dead Ends
Three Approaches to Animal Welfare
Animals are morally valuable, but not as valuable as adult humans
Mary Anne Warren, Difficulties with the Strong Rights Position”
Case study 1: Bones, “Finger in the Nest,” season 4
Case study 2: House, M.D., “Babies and Bathwater,” season 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 10: Abortion
Introduction
One Common Assumption
Six Fallacies to Avoid
Judith Jarvis Thomson and the Violinist Argument
Mary Anne Warren and the Space Explorer
Abortion is wrong for the same reason that killing adults is wrong
Don Marquis, “Why Abortion is Immoral”
Case study 1: Law & Order, “Dignity,” season 20
Case study 2: Maude, “Maude’s Dilemma – Parts 1 and 2,” season 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 11: Homosexuality
Introduction
Arguments Against the Permissibility of Homosexuality
Arguments for the Permissibility of Homosexuality
Additional Concerns
New natural law theory and the morality of homosexuality
Stephen Macedo, “Homosexuality and the Conservative Mind”; Robert George and Bradley Gerard, “Marriage and the Liberal Imagination”
Case study 1: Law & Order, “Manhood,” season 3
Case study 2: Family Guy, “You May Now Kiss the ...
Uh ... Guy Who Receives,” season 4
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 12: Punishment and Capital Punishment
Introduction
Theories of Punishment
Arguments For and Against Capital Punishment
Capital punishment is unjustified
Jeffrey Reiman, “The Justice of the Death Penalty in an Unjust World”
Case study 1: Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Hunted,” season 3
Case study 2: Oz, “Capital P,” season 1
Study questions
Alternative case studies

Episode 13: Assisted Suicide
Introduction
A Few Terms
Three Moral Arguments Against the Permissibility of Assisted Suicide
Moral and Practical Arguments for the Permissibility of Assisted Suicide
The good of society depends on assisted suicide
Daniel Callahan, “Aging and the Ends of Medicine”
Case study 1: Picket Fences, “Abominable Snowman,” season 2
Case study 2: Scrubs, “My Jiggly Ball,” season 5
Study questions
Alternative case studies

The Epilogue: Does TV Erode Our Values?
The Moral Influence of Television
The Debate Over Censorship
A Kantian Reason not to Censor
Case study 1: Family Guy, “PTV,” season 4
Utilitarian Reasons not to Censor
Moral Reasons to Censor
Exploitation, Objectification, and TV
Case study 2: Toddlers & Tiaras (any episode)
Reality TV and Psychological Harm
That’s All Folks!
Study questions