Tag: ethics
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When Resilience Turns Adversarial
We often admire toughness in the face of setbacks. But when resilience hardens into anger or resistance, it can quietly turn adversarial. This piece explores how easily disappointment is misread as hostility — and what real resilience asks of us instead.
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When Rights Aren’t the Answer
I was talking about ethics at The Foundation for Critical Thinking Conference and I made this statement: “Despite a valiant attempt, sociologists have been unable to identify something that is considered universally wrong.” I think it is interesting that the closest the researchers came was that you shouldn’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.…
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Professional Judgement Is Not a Hat
A good friend of mine used to get very annoyed with the phrase “professional judgement”. He argued that you either had judgement or not – it was not a hat you put on when you’re being professional. And in a way, he was right – but incomplete. Judgement isn’t a hat you put on, but…
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Why Good People Stay Silent in Groups
Most ethical failures don’t start with bad people.They start with pressure. A deadline.A budget.A deal that has to close.A meeting where “this isn’t the time” quietly means don’t be the problem. Silence rarely feels unethical in the moment. It feels practical. Sensible. Even responsible. And that’s why good people—competent, conscientious people—stay quiet in groups even…
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Fear, Faith, and the AI Box We Can’t See Into
Inspired by Tim Higgins’ October 18, 2025 WSJ article👉 The Fight Over Whose AI Monster Is Scariest – WSJ I’ll be the first to admit: I am not an AI expert.I use it. I’m curious about how it will evolve.But I couldn’t look into the box and explain how it works—and that doesn’t worry me…
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Choice and Consequence
I’ve been quiet lately. Mostly because there has been too much going on and I didn’t want to add to the noise. A recent conversation with a friend at a picnic table, in the new, intoxicating freedom of stage 3 – made me think that maybe some more noise is necessary. This perfectly nice person…
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Being Right
Right or wrong? It is nice when we get that satisfied feeling that comes from being right. And we don’t understand why anyone would disagree with us. And yet they do. It is actually pretty easy to have an opinion. And it isn’t hard to start to believe that our opinion is the end of…
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When evil comes to town
“The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing”. Often attributed to Edmund Burke, quoted by John F. Kennedy, and traced to Charles F. Aked – it is one of the most popular quotations of the modern world. http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/04/good-men-do/ The origin of the quote is less important than the…
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