Rotary Presentation -- June 13, Gerry McBeath
Along with being a long-time member of our club, Gerry McBeath is a well-knows polictical analyst and university professor. One of the classes that he teaches is 'Ethics in Politics'. It is an especially timely issue, and one he knows quite thoroughly.
Gerry defined the term ethics essentially as "that what should be done". He discussed the subject as it relates to our world today, and why it is important to think about this subject matter. The study of ethics is not a theoretical, semantic discussion, but rather it is about how we establish rules and codes of conduct for ourselves and our fellow citizens.
Gerry spoke both about the past and the present. In particular, he emphasized that there were many different schools of thought on what priorities should be when presented with important decisions. Kant, Hobbes, Ayn Rand, John Stuart Mill, Aristotle, and other famous thinkers were included in his presentation. The objective was not to rank or categorize them each, but rather to show the significant differences between different schools of thought on the subjects. Some ethical philosophies emphasize the individual, while other emphasize the group. Some ethical philosophies emphasize long-term effects of a decision, while others focus on immediate consequences.
Gerry made the subject not just intellectually interesting, but firmly rooted to the causes and consequences of what we see happening in the world around us now.