Ethics Courses

In this course, we will explore some of the fundamental issues in political and social philosophy, including the role of government, law and litigation, punishment, rights, the social and economic value of work, and equality.

Course Attributes:

• D1: Social Sciences
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities
• Social Justice

PHIL 383 – Ethics in Medicine

The objective of this course is two-fold: 1) to explore your thoughts about living and 2) to examine your decisions about ethical dilemmas as they relate to living. When you think about the fullness of life, what comes to mind? Physical health, well-being, disability, pregnancy, Alzheimer’s, or mental health? Irrespective of which aspect you choose, it is inextricable to the scope of medicine. However, this course is not just about medicine, or what it can do for us, or the ways medicine disappoints us. It is about you as a patient. You as a caregiver. You as a support system. You as a healthcare professional. You as a scientist. In sum, you as a human being. Our conversations will be geared towards exploring your thoughts about living, dignity, dying and death.

Course Attributes:

• E1 LLD Pre-Fall 2019
• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
• Social Justice

PHIL 395 – Ethical Issues: Science & Technology

Ethical issues arising from or intrinsic to the process of scientific research and development or from the implementation or commercialization of new technologies.

Course Attributes:

• UD-B: Physical Life Science
• Social Justice

PHIL 470 – Environmental Ethics

Environmental Ethics provides an introduction to the ethical questions that arise when thinking about climate change, other environmental problems and the relationship between humans and the earth. In this class, we will explore a host of questions such as: 1) what are our obligations with regard to the environment; 2) how should we grasp the value of nature?; 3) what is the moral status of non-human animals?; 4) should we consider their wellbeing?; 5) what should we do about climate change?; 6) what role should technology play in tackling climate change?; 7) what do we really mean by sustainability?; and 8) do we have a duty to future generations, and if yes, what is it and why? Our discussions will be geared towards understanding our unique relationship to each other, to non-human animals and the world. This course will be steeped in controversial and complex questions which will demand a high level of receptivity.

Course Attributes:

• Environmental Sustainability
• Social Justice
• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities

PHIL 436 – Islamic Political Philosophy

What is Islamic Political Philosophy? What is “Political Islam”? Is “Political Islam” an ideology? What is the relationship between “Political Islam” and Islam as a religion? Is there a distinction between these two concepts? The aim of this course is to examine these questions historically by situating them in the present discourse of social and political philosophy.

Course Attributes:

• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
• Global Perspectives
• Social Justice

PHIL 450 – Ethics

This course will focus on the study of philosophy in its ancient meaning of the term, as a love of wisdom. That is to say, as a way of life, as a path for searching to understand the meaning of the cosmos and human life. One of the fundamental elements of human life revolves around the question of ethics: how are we meant to live, how are we meant to behave and act towards ourselves, other people and other life? In this course we will be exploring this fundamental question while also broadening the question to involve our responsibility to our own Self (care for the soul), our responsibility towards the animal world and our responsibility to our planet Earth. Here we will explore the relationship between one’s personal obligations to access a higher reality intrinsic to the universe and one’s own psyche, along with the obligation of expressing the good in life.

In order to explore the question of ethics, we must also look at other fundamental metaphysical, Psychological and epistemological ideas. These ideas will help and support the question of Ethics, for, as we shall see, no idea exists alone. We cannot begin understanding how to act without also understanding what the nature of reality is, how the structure of the human psyche operates, what is the process of receiving real knowledge, or what is the purpose of human life on Earth.

In doing so, we will be looking at different philosophers along with different spiritual traditions that contain varying metaphysical and ethical principles. Here we will be examining rational philosophical thought along with ethical systems that guide human life, and also knowledge as being transformative. That is to say, looking at philosophy as the practical process to transform one’s inner life, and consequently, what that entails for one’s own personal being and also for ethical living with other humans, the animal kingdom and planet Earth.

Course Attributes:

• Social Justice
• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities

PHIL 451 – Feminist Moral Issues

This course explores a number of ethical and political issues of contemporary concern to feminists. We will begin by studying how scholars have theorized feminism, oppression, and intersectionality. Next, we will analyze how epistemic injustice drives misogyny, and learn how misogynist attitudes and policies further the oppression of women. In an effort to widen the scope of our examination beyond the West, students will also be exposed to ways in which women have adversely experienced sexism from a transnational perspective.

Course Attributes:

• Social Justice
• UD-C: Arts and/or Humanities
• Global Perspectives
• Am. Ethnic & Racial Minorities

PHIL 890 [02]: Seminar in Current Issues in Philosophy

TOPIC: Issues in Political and Social Philosophy
Wednesday 4 – 6:45 p.m. in-person
Dr. Jamie Lindsay

“Sex, Gender, Sexuality & the Claim of Nonviolence”

In this seminar, we will consider questions in the philosophy of sex, gender & sexuality concerning both violence and the value of nonviolence. Specific topics will include: the philosophy of pornography, specifically in relation to gendered violence (Mari Mikkola); prison abolitionist approaches, including queer and trans critical theory (Angela Y. Davis; Dean Spade); philosophical analyses of sexual violation and strategies for resistance (Linda Martín Alcoff); the constitutive violence of processes of subjectivation in relation to the claim of nonviolence, in the context of resistance (Judith Butler); and the sorts of virtue it might be appropriate to expect of oppressed persons in the context of liberatory struggles, including consideration of the value of anger (Lisa Tessman; Myisha Cherry). We will also consider debates between the advocates of reformism and those who insist on transformative justice approaches.

PHIL 890 [01]: Seminar in Current Issues in Philosophy

TOPIC: Philosophy of Moral Psychology 
Thursday 12:30 – 3:15 p.m. synchronous
Dr. Macy Salzberger

This seminar will focus on moral attitudes towards oneself and others in interpersonal relations of various kinds. How can we identify the morally admirable attitudes and distinguish them from related morally vicious or defective attitudes? Why should we cultivate and encourage these good attitudes and avoid various contrasting attitudes? We may discuss, for example, blame and anger, forgiveness and grace, faith and hope, shame and regret, and grief and despair. The contexts in which we may consider these attitudes are, for example, friendships, teacher-student relations, political debates, philosophical discussions, and responses to wrongdoers. Authors whose work we may discuss include Joseph Butler, Susan Wolf, Myisha Cherry, P.F. Strawson, Cheshire Calhoun, Sandra Bartky, Katie Stockdale, Bernard Williams, Ryan Preston-Roedder, and Vida Yao. The aim of the seminar is not primarily to master a given set of readings but to prompt further exploratory thinking about the attitudes in question. Emphasis will be on well-focused discussion and seminar papers. This seminar and its accompanying description are adapted from a course offered by Thomas E. Hill Jr., “Advanced Studies in Moral Theory.”