Chris Cuomo, philosophy professor photo/Lisa Ventre

Picking up a newspaper can be a scary way to start the morning: terrorist bombings, guns in classrooms, Terri Schiavo, Enron, politicians lying to constituents and journalists misleading us all. Our gut reaction is to fling open a window and scream, “I'm not going to take it anymore.”

We want it to end. We want people to blame.

“Society's decline of moral values” seems to sum it all up, but the tag offers no hints for resolution. We're desperate for stronger families and for civility in treating each other the way we want to be treated.

Yet amid our fevered search for answers, we notice a curious thing -- that nearly everyone is struggling over the same concerns. Doesn't that imply that we once had common values to begin with? And probably still do?

Then why does everything that we, as a society, hold dear appear to be vaporizing with each rising sun?

“Human beings are complicated critters,” philosophy professor Larry Jost says. “Lots of people with good moral values fail. To be human is to be vulnerable to all kinds of weakness -- from drinking or diets to having affairs. Some people are stronger and can face temptation, but it's a hard thing to be moral, day in and day out.”

Being selfish is far easier. History proves the point: the near annihilation of American Indians, the Salem witch trials, slavery, Japanese internment camps and McCarthy Era blacklists -- all marring the reputation of a country that calls itself the “land of the free” and all within a short span of a few hundred years. Based upon that historical view, Jost says, “I'd argue society is getting better.” The tone of his voice, however, indicates the answer is far from simple. “Every culture and era have had important questions,” he says. “The questions we face are different in their complexity, but not more difficult.”

“I think the perception of a moral decline comes from an increased awareness of the complexity of society,” says Chris Cuomo, professor of philosophy. “A diverse, democratic society will always have good and bad things going on at the same time, but our lives are so confusing now that we don't know what to do about it.”

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." -- C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963

The complexity of life does make drawing a line between good and evil difficult. When does life begin and end? What about stem-cell research, cloning, performance-enhancing drugs, Internet strategies?

“One reason ethics is so hard,” Jost says, “is that the situations we face are constantly changing. We now have life-and-death decisions we never faced before. Knowing someone might have a genetic marker for a terrible disease, for instance -- what happens if insurance companies get that information?”

“Even though threats to civil liberties and threats from terrorism are hardly unique to our day and age, so many options today have such an important impact on what's at the heart of ethics,” says assistant professor of philosophy Julian Wuerth. “Biotechnology, for example, opens a staggering range of ethical dilemmas.”

Although the medical, biological and genetic implications are overwhelming, technology has raised other moral concerns, as well: Internet porn, e-mail scams, computer viruses and hackers stealing vital information. Furthermore, technology has not only presented people with more opportunities to get into trouble, but with more time to do so.

“Overcoming obstacles to survive was often an all-consuming challenge 140 yeas ago,” Wuerth continues. “With the ease of making ends meet comes a new slew of temptations and a greater ease to succumb to inclinations. Spare time is the workshop of the devil, as they say.”