Ethics

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to philosophy through a number of central issues in moral philosophy.

The course explores the nature of morality by asking a number of questions about claims of right or wrong actions. Students investigate competing answers to these questions and critically engage with them to examine their strengths and weaknesses.

The course starts by questioning what we are doing when we say that an action is wrong. Are we expressing a negative emotional reaction to it, offering our personal opinion, or making an objective claim about the action that it is possible to be mistaken about? In addition, the course asks what makes actions right or wrong. Is it the consequences of the action, or whether or not we have a duty to perform the action, or whether or not good people characteristically perform those actions?

Throughout the course, students consider how different views of the rightness or wrongness of action might give us guidance on a number of contemporary moral issues.

Overall, this course offers an opportunity for students to gain an understanding of ethics and its applications to contemporary moral issues. By examining and critically evaluating competing views of morality, students develop their own informed positions on these issues.