For my Senior Project, I want to compare Eastern and Western moral philosophy by reading texts from each culture. I’ve been thinking of names like Lao Tzu or Confucius from the East and names like Aristotle or Nietzsche from the West. I want to use their writings to answer these essential questions: What does society at large define as moral? How does society prioritize the application of ethics and morality?

I am interested in learning how individuals interpret and apply these morals in their everyday life. I’m curious how different people prioritize different values. I want to know which values are most commonly held. I want to compare East and West in order to see if there are general trends, or on the other hand, large discrepancies. I want to see how morality affects culture and vice versa. I also want a diverse set of authors. I aim to read ancient and classical texts, as well as contemporary ones. I hope to expose myself to as many different perspectives as I can.

In order to investigate these questions, I plan on first reading a group of texts, building a baseline for what questions, and what answers, are essential to moral philosophy. I then want to formulate a series of questions to ask a variety of guests in order to record a round table discussion of these questions to see what a layperson thinks; how do their opinions differ from those of philosophers? 

The main feasibility question I have is who I am going to ask to be a part of the final discussion. I do want a diverse set of perspectives, and so that includes factors like geography, age, religion, etc. I don’t know that I know people that differ from me in those categories. There is also the question of how I’m going to conduct the discussion. I doubt it would be in person, for everyone’s safety, so it would probably be over Zoom, which poses its own hurdles in the form of each individual’s tech savvy. Other than that, this project is largely independent work, and thus is perfectly suited for Senior Project this year, whether COVID-19 restrictions relax or not.