PHL 110H - Introduction to Ethics: Problems of Good and Evil

Credit(s): 3

This course is an examination of moral decision making and behavior, primarily within the western tradition. Students will critically examine various theories of both personal and societal ethics from the classical period until present day. Readings from Plato, Aristotle, St. Augustine, Kant, and Mill, as well as from numerous contemporary philosophers on such issues as good and evil, free will and determinism, ethical relativism, and egoism; courage, wisdom, compassion, and self-respect; hypocrisy, self-deception, jealousy and lying; birth control, abortion, euthanasia, racism and sexism. (Spring Semester)

Course Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of the course, students will be able to

Apply foundational ethics concepts (Nicomachean Ethics, Metaphysics of Morals, Utilitarianism, virtue ethics, deontology) to contemporary moral problems and/or theme.
Explain the fundamental concepts that underlie each of the three traditions in normative ethics, which includes the form of reasoning in which each tradition engages.
Explain the limitations of each of the three traditions.
Justify his or her own moral positions, both in terms of the general normative framework to which he or she adheres (which includes making sense of the limitations of that framework) and his or her positions on concrete moral issues.
Examine the nature of human experience and/or artistic expression.