By JOANNE BUTTERFIEL
Webster’s New World Dictionary defines ethics as “a system of moral principles one develops.” BYU students learn to develop these moral principles through ethics courses, required religion credits and by being encouraged to live a lifestyle of moral principles based on the beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Richard Tolman, chair of the Zoology Department, said it is good for students to take ethics courses because they need to take off their blinders and look at all sides of issues. He said they need to realize there are more viewpoints than their own. Tolman teaches an ethics class on campus.
Tolman said the class covers a range of topics including war, crime and punishment, aids and resource allocation, racism and sexism, reproduction technology, abortion and fetal rights, and various environmental topics. He said the course begins with “personhood, paternalism, and asking ‘what is truth?'”
Tolman said there are several ethics courses offered on campus. The course he teaches is required for all human biology, nursing and biology teaching majors, Tolman said.
Gordon Whiting, a professor in the Communications Department, said the ethics course he teaches tries to introduce students to major approaches in discovering what is right and what is wrong in mass communication professions.
Whiting said the course talks about difficult cases and tries to improve students’ reasoning. He said the course uses case studies to teach these concepts and look at major dilemmas.
A dilemma is not just a choice, but a situation which requires a choice, and that choice is a difficult one, Whiting said.
Whiting said one issue covered in this course is lying. “Lies tear the fabric of trust, even if they seem justifiable,” Whiting said
Marcus Alley, a senior from Spokane, Wash., majoring in broadcast communications, said it is worthwhile to take an ethics class, but it is a really hard subject to be definitive about because it tends to be so abstract.
“A lot of questions are raised and there are lots of discussions,” Alley said. But students still leave with no final answers, he said.
Aimee Strickland, a junior from Cincinnati, Ohio, majoring in biochemistry, said students learn ethics in many different places at BYU.
“Students learn good moral principles in religion classes, at church, from the Honor Code, from required courses and association with the professors and other faculty around campus,” Strickland said.
Strickland said she has looked at issues from different viewpoints and has learned to take other ideas into consideration. She said she has learned to respect others viewpoints.
