This quarter I enrolled in a class titled “Ethics in Society.” I figured this would be a highly interesting class as it was only this past year that I really found myself involved in the world of politics, especially due to the election, and ethics and politics seem to be related in more ways than not. Let me explain: a certain set of beliefs a person holds, otherwise known as their morals, effects their actions in every situation, upon which ethical decisions must be made based on these underlying principles. Morals shape what is defined as ethical and what is not according to an individual and even society, though this is where things often get messy. What may be considered ethical to you may not be considered ethical to me.
The book for this course is Ethics in the Real World by Peter Singer, and consists of 82 brief essays each describing a different ethical dilemma. I was assigned to present on one of these essays titled, “The Real Abortion Tragedy.” Great. What a simple and non-controversial topic that I have the honor of presenting my views on in front of my entire class.
The only way I can think about going about this as to not offend anyone is to see both sides of it equally, that is, until I feel like offending someone because NEWS FLASH no one gets a say in what a woman wants to do with her body because IT’S HER BODY. Shocking right? So I’m not going about representing both sides of the argument equally because one side is wrong. Yeah, I’m biased and I’ll be sure to make it very clear to my audience.
Anyways…in having to show both sides of the argument, I am reminded of this class and the use of the naysayer from fall quarter. More recently though, I am reminded of a blurb I read in Lynèe Lewis Gaillet’s article, Archival Survival: Navigating Historical Research in which she claims, “the relationship between the researcher and subject is often problematic and needs to be addressed. The researcher’s interests, prejudices, selection of subject matter, research questions, and biases inform and guide the research, and the researcher should inform readers of these factors up front” (36).
This helps me in guiding not only my research but my presentation as it is important to inform my audience of where I stand as to not confuse them, which also gives me credibility as the presenter. I need to be upfront about my bias and (ultimately right) beliefs as that is my role as the researcher.
-FH