PHIL 163.002 – Practical Ethics

Instructor: David Faraci. This course meets TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. in PE 216.

The purpose of this course is to prepare students to think critically about the ethical choices they will inevitably face, both as individuals and as citizens. Towards this end, we will focus on a selection of ethical questions about our obligations to others. We will begin with some prominent issues about whether our obligations extend beyond other adult humans. Specifically, we will ask whether we have obligations to fetuses, to non-human animals, or even  to things other than individuals, such as the environment. We will then turn to a group of puzzles surrounding our obligations to those less fortunate–specifically, puzzles about exploitation.