The content of this meetup is based on the Moral Maze episode Should Morality Be Enforced? (57 mns), broadcast on Radio 4 on 18 December 2024. The programme covers areas where morally acceptable behaviour is expected but is not always present and whether it should be encouraged or enforced and how.
The focus of our discussion will not be the programme in itself and whether the participants do a good job supporting their positions. Instead we will focus on a number of issues raised in the programme which I chose to examine in the questions below.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00261gg
1. Do you consider yourself a moral person? What makes you moral?
Only very brief answers please to get us into the spirit of the discussion.
2. Is there a point in warning people about their behaviour at an office party while giving them a drug (alcohol) at the same time? Is there a contradiction there? How common do you think contradictions are in our lives?
3. What does groping someone at a party or a crowded train say about the groper?
4. Is there a difference between behaviour at a private party and that at a public/office party? Should there be?
5. The word inappropriate seems to be out of favour. Is this justified?
6. How is trust related to moral behaviour?
7. Is sexual misconduct, like groping or making sexual advances, on the same level as criminal conduct, like stealing or lying in court, for example?
8. What's the difference between having a sign on a train or bus saying Don't Stare and one saying Don't Put Your Feet on the Seat?
9. Is virtue enough to ensure a better world? What's virtue?
10. Can racism be quelled with a pill?
11. Is it better to have moral automatons or immoral humans?
12. Is morality police in Iran better or worse than a morality pill?
13. What do you think has brought us to the point where we may need to enforce morality? Is enforcing morality something new?
14. Should we do away with the word morality and replace it with another word? Which word?
