PHIL 1110 - Introduction to Ethics

1. Identify different fields of ethics (e.g. metaethics, normative ethics, applied ethics, social vs. individual morality, etc.), and infer the connections between them and one another.
2. Use relevant central terms in the formal study of ethics (e.g. moral agency, character, consequentialism, deontology, omission vs. commission, etc.).
3. Explain arguments put forth in normative ethics by specific philosophers. Critique at least one normative ethical theory, demonstrating a thoughtful and studied position regarding strengths and challenges of the theory.
4. Explain arguments put forth by applied ethicists on specific topics.
5. Critique at least one applied ethical theory in response to a moral dilemma, demonstrating a thoughtful and studied position regarding strengths and challenges of the theory in response to the complexities of the moral dilemma/issue.
6. Compare similarities and differences between arguments put forth by ethicists in both theoretical and applied ethics, noting wherein the arguments respond to one another.
7. Summarize and analyze at least one ethical theory pertaining specifically to social morality or political philosophy.
8. Use ethical arguments in order to identify and critique systemic injustice against racial groups and other vulnerable populations.

1. Introduction to the field of Ethics as a form of philosophical argument
2. Identification of a “moral dilemma”
3. Distinctions and connections between normative ethics, metaethics, and applied ethics
4. Distinction between questions of individual and social morality; consideration of ethical theories which connect them
5. Distinction between claims that express empirical fact and claims that express ethical principle/value (recognition of how such claims distinctly impact moral reasoning)
6. At least one third of the course will be spent introducing the following ethical theories:
   • Moral Relativism, including its strengths and challenges
   • Ethics in relation to religion (e.g. strengths and challenges found in Divine Command Theory, Moral Theology, etc.)
   • Utilitarianism (both Bentham and Mills), including its strengths and challenges
   • Deontology (Kant’s respect for persons), including its strengths and challenges
   • Virtue Ethics (the role of character), including its strengths and challenges
   • At least one ethical theory that places high value on emotion as a central tenant to its foundation (e.g., Care Ethics, Emotivism, Expressivism, forms of feminism)
   • At least one ethical theory inspired by Asia, Africa, Indigenous or the Middle East
7. Application of ethical theories above, in comparison to one another, to at least one contemporary moral issue/dilemma (i.e. euthanasia, abortion, systemic racism, environmental ethics case study, etc.)
8. Introduction to the arguments put forth by at least two applied ethicists today who represent different positions on the same moral issue
9. Introduction to systemic injustice against racial and other vulnerable groups and the application of ethical argument as a form of critique