Applied Ethics

Course content

The course will begin with consideration of various arguments encountered in everyday life of ethical or moral issues: Is the death penalty a morally acceptable type of punishment? Is the censorship of pornography ethically justified? What are our moral obligations with respect to the environment and what is the appropriate moral foundation for those obligations?. After developing some skill in identifying ethical and moral arguments and disagreement on such issues, major ethical theories such as utilitarianism, Kantianism, egoism, etc., will be applied to these moral problems. In order to fulfill this aim, several concrete and pressing moral problems will be chosen. The student will be encouraged to write and think clearly about these problems, weighing alternative solutions and criticising those which are weak and untenable. The main focus will be to give the student the skill necessary to identify a moral problem and to introduce her to critical thinking over moral issues.