Ethics, Responsibility, and Justice (PHIL 562.001)

Ethics explores our obligations to act in the interest of others as well as ourselves. What do we owe others and what do we owe ourselves? What principles govern our relationships with other people and how ought we behave? Justice explores the various ways in which people should organize and govern themselves. Basically how should we treat other people?

This course will address these questions through critical and philosophical thinking. Thinking philosophically and acting effectively are not luxuries; they are essential to create the kind of world in which we all want to live. Thinking philosophically examines questions that affect us all, enlarges our conception of what is possible, enriches our intellectual imagination, and diminishes the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind. We may not, and probably will not, be able to resolve the issues, but we should at least gain a greater understanding of them, how they affect all people, and how we can best approach them with for resolutions that show respect for persons, their differences and similarities.

This course is open to undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.