PHIL 160.001 – Introduction to Ethics
Instructor: Chris Blake-Turner. This course meets MTWRF 1:15 – 2:45 p.m. in HM 150.
How should we live? We’ll explore some of the major moral theories that have sought to guide us in navigating the contours of our lives: Kantianism, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and the ethics of care. We’ll also examine whether these theories really address the motivating question. Even if—and it’s a big if—some theory tells us how to be moral, does that mean it tells us how to live? In other words, why be moral at all? At the end of the course, we’ll bring what we’ve learned to bear on applied matters. We’ll come up with the exact topics together, but candidates include: abortion; animals; business ethics; charitable giving; immigration; race; sex.