PHIL 261.001 – Ethics in Practice

This course provides students with a unique opportunity to practice applying the moral theories and argumentation principles that they learn in their ethics classes in an interactive format of the Ethics Bowl.   The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl (IEB) combines the excitement and fun of a competitive tournament with a valuable educational experience. We will receive 15 case studies around Sept. 15th with ethical issues in a number of practical contexts, including engineering, law, medicine, personal relationships, school and politics, both nationally and internationally. During the course the students will prepare these cases. Questions may concern ethical problems on wide ranging topics, such as the classroom (e.g. cheating or plagiarism), personal relationships (e.g. dating or friendship), professional ethics (e.g. engineering, law, medicine), or social and political ethics (e.g. free speech, gun control, etc.) or global issues (e.g. the impact of globalization, global warming, the environment). Preparing responses to these questions involves a great deal of research, writing, understanding ethical theories, and oral presentation. The day hours of the class serve as preparation. The team sent to the Ethics Bowl competition will be selected from those registered in the course. During recitations students will give presentations in mock Ethics Bowl competitions.

This course satisfies: PH- Philosophical and Moral Reasoning; CI- Communication Intensive; E6- Mentored Research

Prerequisite: 1 PHIL ethics course.