Ethics course applauded

To the editors:

The belief that “ethics cannot be taught” is widely held in our culture and hence not surprising when voiced by MBA students on our campus. Nonetheless, I would like to suggest that it rests on an overly simplified view of the ethical life.

For one thing, it suggests that the moral dimensions of our choices are always apparent, and that the right thing to do is always easy for us to discern. But experience shows us that this is untrue, and courses in ethics can help us identify the types of moral values that are most likely to arise in various contexts, as well as provide us with useful strategies for ensuring that our values are embodied in our choices.

Of course, an agent who knows the right thing to do might still lack the motivation to act on that knowledge, and courses in ethics can, perhaps, do relatively little about that. But the belief that they can do nothing assumes that moral motivation is something over which we have no conscious control, and this too is surely false.

By reminding us of the ways in which adherence to moral values can enrich our own lives without exploiting the lives of others, courses in ethics can and do provide us with reasons for acting that at least provide some competition for our more selfish desires. I, for one, am glad that DCB is asking its students to consider the significance of such reasons.

Sincerely,

Nancy J. Matchett, Ph.DMarsico Lecturer, Arts & Humanities

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Dear Editor,

My name is Nora Kuegemann and I am an RA and junior here at the University of Denver. I was curious as to why the DU Dance Team was not mentioned at all in your “Record Crowd” article.

To my knowledge, the crowd loved the time-out performances by the dance team, and many of the attendees at that game came because they wanted to see the game and the dance team.

I am wondering if there was a primary reason, as the dance team has been performing at DU basketball games for the past three years — even when there was no DU cheerleading squad.

For a team that practices and devotes a minimum of six hours a week to perform at DU games, talent shows and other events on campus in order to help promote school spirit, it seems unjust that the dance team should be ignored.

Thank you for taking the time to read this e-mail and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Nora Kuegemann