The End

This project started as an attempt to document the ethics of everyday life. It would find the little dilemmas of every day life and analyze them with respect to various existent philosophies and literature in the field of classic and applied ethics. This project did not intend to pass judgment on the behaviors observed, but instead bring them to the forefront of consciousness. I think about the ethical implications of everyday actions a fair amount, and hoped to raise awareness in others. If I managed to raise a single question in a single person's mind, then the project was a success at some level. If it managed to make questions in several people's minds, all the better.

Over the course of the project, I did learn several things myself, some of which had to do with ethics and some of which did not. From an ethics standpoint, it is difficult to analyze a behavior without making a judgment about it. When writing about cheating, I found it incredibly difficult to keep my opinions to myself. I've been raised with an honor code from the youngest years of my education; it has been engrained in me that cheating is always wrong. Thus, when trying to be objective about cheating, it was tempting to only present that cheating is wrong. Personal beliefs were not meant to have a place in this project, but in retrospect, there are places where they become obvious.

In the course of writing and observing, I found many more topics to write about than I could possibly include in my deliverable. Had I chosen to write about a new topic every day, I likely would not have run out. Where is the article I wanted to write about promiscuity? What about the points I was hoping to make vegetarianism? Is it ethical to keep secrets? There are so many topics in the ethics field that choosing a tiny subset proved a challenge. Even within the chosen topics, it seemed like there could be more depth. There should be a post about governmental lies, or maybe lying in a religious context. Choosing topics was an almost agonizing task for all the topics that had to be left out.

Outside of ethics, a lot was learned about the nature of self directed projects and motivation. I suppose the largest lesson would be to choose a project you are certain you are passionate about.

Altogether, the project was worthwhile. Given more time I would love to write about all the topics I never got the chance to consider. I would love to have daily observations about ethics, musing on the ethically questionable behavior of the day. I would love to read more applied ethicists, spreading their teachings to the masses in a more manageable format.

I would love to continue this project, but it's probably time to move on.