Lesson 20: Ethics and Morality — Dilemmas
Practice your English on the topic of ethical and moral dilemmas, with a focus on nuanced expression, idioms, passive voice, and reported speech.
About this lesson
In this lesson, you will develop the language skills needed to discuss abstract topics such as ethics and moral dilemmas. You will practise the passive voice and reported speech to accurately retell opinions and news events. You will acquire key idioms and collocations that add nuance and persuasiveness to debates. The lesson prepares you to argue a position confidently and to recognise bias in other people's arguments.
40 minutes
What you'll learn
- Distinguishing nuances in expression when discussing ethical topics
- Using the passive voice for formal statements and news reporting
- Reporting opinions and statements using reported speech
- Applying idioms and collocations in argumentation
- Arguing a position using vocabulary appropriate to ethics and morality
Lesson vocabulary
- integrity He always tries to play by the rules — his integrity is unquestioned.
- empathy Empathy allows us to understand the consequences of our actions for others.
- bias Decisions are often influenced by hidden biases.
- transparency She stated that transparency was crucial for building trust.
- consent The decision was made without proper consent.
- autonomy Respecting individual autonomy is a core principle of ethical behaviour.
- exploitation They argued that the exploitation of resources was unethical.
- accountability He asked if the company had addressed the issue of accountability.
- fairness Fairness must be considered when evaluating any ethical dilemma.
- whistleblowing Whistleblowing is often seen as a courageous act.
- hypocrisy Turning a blind eye to injustice is a form of hypocrisy.
- virtue Virtue ethics focuses on character rather than rules or consequences.
- duty You ought to report any instances of exploitation — it is your duty.
- consequence He might have acted with good intentions, but the consequence was negative.
- utilitarianism From a utilitarianism standpoint, the harm can be minimized but not avoided.