Ethics and Inquiry in the Public Sphere

This experience was a lecture course that I took in the Fall of 2024. We focused on how to bring ethics and philosophy to audiences outside of colleges. My professors ensured that the class was very discussion based, and all of the readings encouraged us to think about our thoughts on different biases that we might hold, then we would bring our thoughts to class and discuss our questions and bounce ideas off of each other. I found that the class encouraged me to question ideals that I had held since childhood and caused me to think outside of the box when I was making analysis which I am grateful for as it has made me a more conscious conversationalist now. Over the course of the semester, we spent time with local communities, teaching them either philosophy or ethics in some capacity. I spent time working with the Ethics Center and their Ethics and Dragons program that brings Dungeons and Dragons to local libraries around the city. We run games for the children that have ethical dilemmas baked in, forcing them to think through challenging situations without them even realizing it. For my final project for class I wrote a one of these games for the children to play. The dilemma considered a power-hungry king that was not treating his people well and a man of the people, or rebel leader, who did not want the position he was elected to. The kids were given the task to sort out the unrest and resolve some peace in the end. What I found interesting is that most groups had mildly differing resolutions, the intended goal was some form of democratic solution, but I had some groups overthrow the king and instill the rebel leader in charge, I also had a group establish an oligarchy. My favorite part of this experience was watching the children absolutely derail the games with their ideas that somehow worked out in the end, they are so creative when they are encouraged to think outside of the box. 
Below I have attached my final project for class, and I look forward to working with the Ethcs Center again this spring.