| Unit name | Ethics |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHIL20011 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Dr. Pyle |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
PHIL10005 Introduction to Philosophy A, PHIL10006 Introduction to Philosophy B. |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Philosophy |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
The course provides an introduction to the main topics discussed in systematic moral theory over the last thirty years. It focuses on whether the main structural features of commonsense morality are defensible, or whether, as many have argued, ordinary moral thinking is seriously mistaken. It also examines a moral theory called utilitarianism, which says, very roughly, that the right act is the one that will best promote people's interests. Many of the challenges to commonsense morality have their sources in utilitarian thinking, and utilitarians have argued that commonsense morality is seriously mistaken. But utilitarianism itself has been the subject of an enormous amount of criticism, and the course will examine these criticisms and ask whether they can be used to generate a defense of commonsense morality.
Students are introduced to the three-cornered debate in modern ethical theory between consequentialists, deontologists, and virtue-theorists. For each of these three rival schools or traditions, there are three lectures, dealing respectively with the basic idea, central arguments for and against, and practical applications (eg in medicine). Students should gain a firm grasp both of the structure of modern debates in normative ethics and of their centrality to questions concerning not just how we should treat one another but how we should treat future generations and the environment.
1 lecture + 1 seminar per week.
3 Hour unseen examination
Baron , Pettit, and Slote, Three Methods of Ethics (Blackwell, Oxford, 1997)
