Asking Good Questions: Case Studies in Ethics and Critical Thinking

Asking Good Questions moves beyond a traditional discussion of ethical theory, focusing on how educators can use these important frameworks to facilitate critical thinking about real-life ethical dilemmas. In this way, authors Nancy Stanlick and Michael Strawser offer students a theoretical tool kit for creatively addressing issues that influence their own environments. This text begins with a discussion of key ethical theorists and then guides the reader through a series of original case studies and follow-up activities that facilitate critical thinking, emphasize asking thought provoking questions, and teach the student to address the complexity of ethical dilemmas while incorporating the viewpoints of their peers.
 
Additionally, Stanlick and Strawser include an extensive preface, a mind-mapping technique for analyzing and formulating arguments, and a six step process for approaching complex real-life moral issues. Each chapter incorporates suggested assignments, discussion questions, and references for further reading, and a guide for instructors offering a sample course schedule and suggestions on how to use this book effectively is also available. This text is designed to help educators engage students in a meaningful discussion of how historical theories apply to their own lives, providing rich and unique resources to learn about these critical issues.

Nancy Stanlick is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Assistant Dean in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida. Her teaching experience in ethics and critical thinking at the university level spans over three decades. Her primary philosophical interests and research areas are in Theoretical and Applied Ethics and the History of Modern and American Philosophy with emphasis on Thomas Hobbes and American Revolutionary thinkers.
 
Michael Strawser is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Central Florida. His teaching experience in ethics at the university level spans over two decades. His primary philosophical interests and research areas are in Ethics and the History of Modern and Contemporary Philosophy with emphasis on Baruch Spinoza, Søren Kierkegaard, and the Continental tradition.