Using Cases in Class
or “A Method of Discovery” for Ethics
across the Curriculum

(summarized and adapted from B. Henderson, Charles Stuart University)

Background: Cases that are pertinent to a particular field can bridge the gap between theory and practice, between theory and the targeted profession, between theory and life. Cases give students the opportunity to confront an unknown situation that demands a sense of ethics, to reflect on the situation, to determine their course of action, and to evaluate the soundness of their decisions.
Students need “to develop their ability to act as morally autonomous agents,” to develop judgments that are “consistent, impartial, rational, comprehensive, and justifiable.”

Four Steps in Using a Case (following Schopenhauer’s On the Fourfold Root of Sufficient Reason):

Step One: Encourage students to use their own judgment on the case, using an intuitive response. Such a response in important in “developing reflective thinking.” Then, list all the issues in the case which are morally relevant.  Be sure that students differentiate among actions, agents, consequences, and facts.

Step Two: Considering their judgment at this point, students can then gather evidence to support their judgment. (Students will, no doubt, differ in their judgments.) Students need to learn to back up and explain reasonably their position to each other.

Step Three: Faculty enter the discussion at this point, aiding students to understand the problem fully, to analyze arguments, “to reason through the moral matters which the evidence points to.” Faculty here are not trying to dismantle the students’ judgment, but to assist and guide, to point to some ethical theory/theories that may apply, to recognize that even some applicable theories may conflict with each other. The idea here is to guide students through an experience that may be similar to one that that they will encounter in their profession.

Step Four: Students are asked to express the basis (or bases) for judgment which has served as the basis for the moral theory or theories in play. This step increases students’ ability to think systematically and logically. It also gives that necessary practice in applying abstract principles to concrete situations and makes the process practical and (almost!) natural.

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