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jpfeiffer's picture

Haidt and Homelessness

The ethical dilemma that my group and I are working on for the final assignment is that of homelessness. We plan to explore homelessness both as an idea, and the reactions of others to homelessness. For example, how would you go about helping a homeless person, if at all helping them? We plan on discussing the numerous ways in which an individual can go about helping someone that is homeless. A section of the reading from this week that caught my attention and I feel is relevant to the topic of the final assigment is on page 4, Kohlberg's idea that, "children start as egoists, judging actions by the good or bad consequences they bring to the self. But as children's cognitive abilities expand, they develop the ability to "role-take", or see a situation from other people's perspectives". This reminds me of when I was younger, I would pass a homeless person on the street, yet sometimes I would only compare them to my parents, both of which work very hard to provide for my family. I would automatically assume that the homeless people were not working hard enough, and I would not cater to the idea that maybe they were working as hard as they possibly could, yet despite their efforts, they still could not make ends meet. However, as I matured, I became able to see the idea of homelessness from the perspective of a homeless person. I thought that maybe they were really making desperate attempts to try to find employment, or maybe they were seeking a means to provide for their family, yet their attempts did not prove to be successful. After volunteering at a soup kitchen, this idea was confirmed, as I realized that many of the "costumers" of the soup kitchen were no different than my parents with the excpetion that they found themselves homeless because of one circumstance or another.

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