PHIL 160H.001 – Honors: Virtue, Value, and Happiness: An Introduction to Moral Theory

Instructor: Rosalind Chaplin. This course meets TR 11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. in CW 103.

Suppose you make it your aim to live a happy, fulfilling, and meaningful life. Will pursuing a life that is good in this sense also lead you to be a morally good person? In this introduction to moral theory, we will explore these and other classic questions about what it is to be moral, what it is to live a happy life, and how being moral and living a happy life relate to one another. We will study both historical and contemporary texts, and our readings will span both western and non-western philosophical traditions. In our studies of being moral, we will explore consequentialist, deontological, and virtue ethical approaches to right action. In our explorations of happiness and the good life, we will cover subjectivist and objectivist approaches, questions about the role of authenticity in living a good life, and questions about how a theory of the good life should accommodate an account of disability. Additional topics may be covered.

Honors course enrollment and wait list procedures are located here. Please direct all registration questions to Jenn Marshburn (jenn.marshburn@unc.edu), Enrolled Student Services Coordinator for Honors Carolina.