By Aaron Reincheld
Bernard Gert has found a similarity between the fairway and the classroom -- cheating. The Dartmouth College Stone Professor of Intellectual and Moral Philosophy will explain his philosophy connecting the links and academia when he gives the keynote lecture at Ohio University's Third Biennial Student Conference on Applied Ethics at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26.
"Both golf and academic work can be done just for private fun, and then cheating is impossible, but both can be done in a competitive situation, then cheating is possible. It is easy to confuse the two situations," Gert said.
Presenting the similarities between cheating academically and in golf is the best way to discuss the topic with students.
"If everyone agrees that cheating is wrong, how come there's so much of it, and why do students even help other students do it?" he said.
Gert thinks cheating is at about the same level as when he first wrote about it nearly 50 years ago as a college senior.
However, he proposed that talking about cheating and its causes might help increase ethical standards.
"It is always important to raise ethical standards, and a better understanding of morality in general and cheating in particular might help do so," he said.
During his study, he has found that cheating is a result of "participating in a competitive social institution. That means that other people are necessarily disadvantaged if you cheat," he said.
Gert believes it is possible to cheat without either deceiving or breaking a promise. The distinction is an important one to him. "Do not cheat" is one of 10 moral rules the philosopher presents in his book, "Morality: Its Nature and Justification."
The motivation for cheating comes down simply to a desire to get better grades and laziness, Gert said. "It is a lot easier for some people to cheat than to study harder."
The rest of the two-day conference will present papers on ethical issues from students in varied disciplines from philosophy to biology.
"The conference gives students an opportunity to write about these issues and present them in a forum where they can get feedback from other students interested in applied ethics," said Arthur Zucker, director of Ohio University's Institute for Applied and Professional Ethics, the conference's sponsor.
Aaron Reincheld is a graduate student writer with University Communications and Marketing.
