​Welcome to SEE's Reasoning with Ethics page.  The following case (scroll down) and linked pages (right margin)  are provided to help support class discussions or essay assignments with a focus on ethical reasoning.  SEE will respond to your free subscription with a weekly email that includes a current events case and guided questions to support ethical discussions during the school year.  ​SEE encourages the strategy describe here to be applied beyond current events to included analysis of relevant cases in history, literature and life.
This ethics blog is designed to encourage student application of ethical core values in a larger process of ethical functioning.
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Ethical functioning is defined here to include:​​
  1. recognize when an ethical issue exists through analysis with a lens of core ethical values,
  2. apply core values to determine what an ethical person would do while specifically resisting rationalizations,
  3. cultivate a commitment to ethical action and recognize the skills (moral and performance) required to support ethical action. 
​The Teacher Resources link offers professional development files to use the weekly cases to strengthen student ethical functioning.  Additional consulting services are also available to support the use of these cases.
​Teacher Resources

Archived Cases

Reasoning Quotes

​Regional Ethics Bowl
​Cases can be used as:
• Class discussion starters,
• Lessons for deeper reading,
• Prompts for student essays, and 
• Analysis in health, ethics, social studies or literature classes.

Current Case 

4/16/18
The Core Values of Conflict

We face the potential for small and large conflicts almost every day. How we handle them can be regulated by our core values. In a recent story, two black men were arrested by Philadelphia police for refusing to leave a Starbucks.  We question if there were multiple points in this case where core values could have guided the conflict in a different direction. 

The facts as learned from CBS News seem clear enough. Two black men were waiting for a business appointment at a Starbucks but had not purchased any Starbucks products. During their wait, one of the men ask to use the restroom and was turned down and then both were  

requested to leave as no product was purchased.  The men refused to leave, police were called, they continued to refuse to leave and arrests were made and caught on video.  The resulting protests have attracted national attention and an apology from the Starbucks CEO.

Students are asked to consider what core values could have led anyone in this case to de-escalate the situation?  In light of the racial factors cited in this case, are there core values that one would identify that required an escalation (nonviolent resistance) in this conflict?  
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    Comment on the Case


​​"Ethics in action creates character."