Cognitive and Comedic Dissonance Discussion

This week, we’ve read about virtue ethicists Socrates and Hannah Arendt who contend that we achieve moral behavior by reflectively thinking about our beliefs and actions, and not simply conforming with the crowd mentality. We’ve also read about different forms of ethical relativism. Some hold that our values are relative to our culture and there is essentially no objective right and wrong. Cultural ethical relativism describes how society shapes the ethical values and provides the foundation for moral judgments. Cultural ethical relativism explains why ethical viewpoints differ from society to society and that neither is considered correct or incorrect.

Prepare for this discussion by completing your readings and viewings. Then respond to the following:

• • To what extent do you believe that vulgar comedies such as South Park or morally compromised comedians such as Louis CK help encourage a deep reflection on ethics and ultimately encourage virtuous behavior? How might appreciating these art forms create cognitive dissonance? Is it possible or even necessary to separate the ethical message from the delivery or the messenger?
  • Identify any comedian or any form of comic medium that represents your own virtues (be sure to identify them). Please embed a clip (or link to an article) that best illustrates your point.