Positive and Negative Duties
The heat wave neighbor case This investigation asks whether people merely have duties not to harm others or also have duties to help when a vulnerable person faces severe danger and assistance would require a limited sacrifice. Level Estimated time Textbook connection Intermediate 60 to 80 minutes Chapter 4 pp. 75 to 77 and Chapter […]
AI Literacy and Human Agency
The Doing Is the Thinking Generative AI can produce a polished answer before a learner has developed the ability to produce, evaluate, or defend it. This investigation asks when AI assistance extends human agency and when it transfers the appearance of capability from the system to the user. Level Estimated time Textbook connection Intermediate 75 […]
Cultural Relativism and the Target Family
Observation socialization and developing agency This constructed case asks when an observer may criticize a gender-asymmetric family practice without confusing unfamiliarity, inference, and evidence. The case does not describe an identified family or establish facts about Muslim families generally. Level Estimated time Textbook connection Introductory to intermediate 75 to 95 minutes Chapter 7 pp. 179 […]
Competitive Fairness and Special Treatment
Political influence and procedural justice in sport This investigation uses a 2026 FIFA World Cup controversy to examine whether a person who receives an advantage through an extraordinary procedure has a moral responsibility to decline it. The case concerns institutional process and personal responsibility, not support for or opposition to any political figure. Level Estimated […]
Commission Omission and Safeguarding
The Thirlwall Inquiry and institutional responsibility This investigation compares direct wrongdoing with failures to investigate, escalate, and protect. It asks how moral responsibility should be allocated when one person causes harm and other people or institutions fail to respond to credible danger. Level Estimated time Textbook connection Advanced 60 to 80 minutes Chapter 4 pp. […]
Is AI Infrastructure the New Redlining? Inside Bessemer’s $14.5 Billion Data Center Dilemma?
This learning module explores the intersection of AI infrastructure governance & environmental justice through a deep dive into “Project Marvel”- a proposed $14.5 billion hyperscale data center in Bessemer, Alabama.
By moving beyond simple “legal vs. illegal” framing, the guide provides a rigorous Critical Moral Reasoning framework to evaluate the ethical implications of large-scale technology projects on local communities.
Inside the Module
Defining Digital Redlining: Learn how the siting of resource-intensive data centers can mirror historic patterns of systemic exclusion and environmental burden in marginalized communities.
The “Project Marvel” Case Study: Analyze the specific impacts of an 18-building, 700+ acre campus on residents, local ecology (including Rock Mountain Lake), and city zoning.
Competing Ethical Lenses:
Rawlsian Justice: Use the “Veil of Ignorance” to design fair principles for participation and the distribution of burdens.
Libertarian Ethics: Apply principles of self-ownership and property rights to evaluate government overreach and negative duties.
Evidence-Based Reasoning: Move past “facts/values confusion” by separating empirical data from moral justification to build a disciplined ethical argument.
Learning Outcomes
You will learn to construct a formal moral argument—bridging the gap between technical infrastructure and human rights—while identifying the specific evidence needed to prove or refute claims of structural inequity.