Learning Moral Lessons from Stories, Chapter 2

1. Learning Moral Lessons from Stories, Chapter 2

2. Where do we learn moral lessons? • From our personal experiences • Caught doing something we weren’t supposed to do or when we weren’t caught? • Rosenstand argues the most powerful lessons we carry with us are lessons we learn from the stories we have read or were read to us. • What are some of the important stories that you read or were read to you as a child? • Examples

3. Stories that teach a moral lesson are called didactic stories • The little boy that cried Wolf • Cinderella • Three little pigs • The little train that could

4. Listening to the voices of our parents—what are some of their favorite adages or sayings?

5. Listening to the voices of our parents—what are some of their favorite adages or sayings? • Even a blind squirrel will get an acorn once in awhile. • An idle mind is the devil’s workshop • Early to bed, early to rise makes a person healthy, wealthy and wise. • The early bird gets the worm • Birds of feathers flock together • A fool and his money is soon parted • Worthless as tits on a boar • Fools rush in where angels fear to tread • It is easy for someone who has never faced adversity to be brave • You can’t make an omelet without breaking some eggs • Let sleeping dogs lie • They’re all hat and no saddle • Even a stopped clock is right twice a day

6. Adages, sayings, axioms, maxims—what are they telling us? • Inter-generation transmission of values, beliefs, wisdom • Lessons about morals and ethics • Understanding the difference between intelligence and wisdom • Lessons across generations and time

7. Interest in stories in professions • Bibliotherapy—reading stories to children to facilitate communication, explore difficult topics, emotions • Criminal justice intervention/prevention—learning through watching mistakes of others • Psychotherapy—use of stories to help people think through their situations • Cross-cultural or multicultural understanding • Philosophy—stories to explain difficult theories, explore the richness in literature and films

8. The importance of Stories • Why are stories relevant for moral philosophy? All cultures have narratives, and often facts are combined with fiction in the story. • What is the narrative of American Culture? • Often narrative are passed down through oral traditions. But also through art, music and literature. Oral vs literate culture • So what are the major themes of American culture?

10. Robert Fulghum (1988) wrote …All I really Need to Know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain but there in the sandpile at Sunday school. These are the things I learned…page 4.

11. Share everything. • Play fair. • Don’t hit people. • Put things back where you found them. • Clean up your own mess. • Don’t take things that aren’t yours. • Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody. • Wash your hands before you eat. • Flush

12. Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you. • Live a balance life—learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some. • Take a nap every afternoon • When you go out into the world, watch for the traffic, hold hands and stick together • Beware of wonder • LOOK.

13. Importance of Stories • Feel good • Group bonding • Stories knit the group together by illustrating rules and boundaries that define the group • Stories pass on legacies, identities and values • Stories are often intertwined in religious teaching, the creation story, birth of important leaders, miracles performed, etc.

14. Fact, Fiction or Both • Stories that are historically true • Stories that never took place but have a special truth to them—a poetic truth example Little Red Riding Hood. • Lesson—Don’t talk to strangers, beware of wolves • Interest in stories and the lives of public figures…what accounts for this? • Princess Diana • Elvis • Titanic • Bill Clinton’s personal life

15. Types of Stories • Myths- Never actually occurred but serve to remind us of proper conduct/behavior • Fairy tales • Source of lessons • Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs • Parables—an allegory story for adults; it is supposed to understood as a story about ourselves and what we ought to do. • Good Samaritan, prodigal son, • Abraham and Isaac

16. Stories with Role Models • Fictional characters—sometime they’re role models—display qualities we can identify with or would like to emulate—Superman, Batman, Robin Hood, John Wayne, Harry Potter • Visualization—even in pre-literate cultures—murals or stained glass told stories or displayed role models.

17. Tales for adults • Archetypes – stories that return over and over • Bargain—someone bargaining with fate • The Good Twin and the Bad Twin • Two personalities • Or Two people who are closely related but are quite different • The Quest • Moby Dick or Jaws, DaVinci Code, Raiders of the Lost Ark Wartime Stories- (question of duty) How young men were initiated into manhood through armed conflict The Longest Day, Bridge too Far, Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down Westerns (Deals with hard choices) 1865-1885 Evolution of westerns—interesting patterns of lessons or themes

18. Tales for adults (continued) • Science Fiction: What future do we want? (desirable vs undesirable futures) • Two types • End of civilization • Good times are emerging… • Mystery and Crime: The Fight Against Evil (questions of good and evil, and what do with evil)

19. Stories: Purpose vs Intent/harmful vs beneficial Ancient stories often dealt with tragedies—family passions, speculations on the nature of fate, blood shed, violence Modern day version—video games and television—violence, sex, drugs, language, Does viewing these videos incite some to become deviants? • Plato—believed in censorship—he didn’t trust people to know what was good or bad • Aristotle saw benefits to overall mind for to experience tension, emotions, etc associated with violence Whether one agree with Plato or Aristotle, the important point is that stories affect us, and often differently

20. What one movie/video that deeply impacted you? • Why is it important to you? • What was the central message of the movie? • What ethical lessons were embedded in the movie?

21. In your group presentations consider: • Using stories, video clips, music, and other resources to highlight, supplement or provide understanding of the readings. • A picture is worth a thousand words • Relevance • Interest • What are the key points….