Discussion: Ethical Values Reflection

One of the gateway goals is the consideration of ethical values. Ethics Philosopher, Sisela Bok, has said that the best way to learn about, develop, and understand one's ethical engagement with the world is through literature. In literature, the reader is able to put his/herself within the perspective of another person/character, encounter moments in time different from his/her own, and act out circumstances he/she may never encounter in life. In these first EW assignments, you were asked to put yourself into narratives from Sudden Fiction International. In the process, you were able to inhabit moments, people, and times that may be very different from your own. In this reflection (150-250 words), explain how inhabiting one of these different perspectives taught you something about your own ethical engagement (your beliefs/values) with the world OR made you understand other ethical positions. To support this reflection, choose evidence from your work on the EW assignments or from class discussion.

Assignment: Measuring Well-being.

Using basic Google (or other search engine) search techniques, find country tables for the following:

1. GDP per capita (or average income in dollars)
2. Gini Coefficient
3. Human Development Index (HDI)

Align these three by country as best you can.

Then answer and submit the following:

1. Do the three indexes appear to be highly correlated?
2. Do you see anything in the tables that surprises you? For example, a country with a very high income per capita and a very low HDI rank?
3. Does what you found confirm your prior assumptions about well-being?
4. Search for and identify one more alternative index of economic and/or social well-being (there are a lot!). How is this index constructed? Do you find it useful?