Introduction to Ethics
The teacher:
Emma Grace Frost is a bitch and a half, but she's a good teacher - condescending at times, but calm, expecting students to speak for themselves, more patient than might be expected, more inclined to make students reason their way to answers than to supply them. She also expects the best possible effort from her pupils, a willingness to speak up in class and an ability to articulate one's thoughts clearly and concisely. She will say something if you hedge, hem, haw and talk in circles.
General:
Ethics deals with right and wrong, good and bad, how we should act, happiness, obligation, and moral values. Students will read what others have said about these issues and examine the process by which each of us arrives at our own personal system of values.
Objectives:
Students will be able to discuss, interpret and apply the concepts and arguments associated with the major issues in ethics. The course will examine issues which arise when dealing with cultural relativism, subjectivism and the role of religion in morality, beginning with a general look at different theoretical approaches and eventually moving into a more specific look at a variety of ethical issues (truth telling, euthanasia, civil disobedience, capital punishment, parents and children, drugs, advertising, humane treatment of animals, ecology, food, friendship, treatment of the elderly, hate and revenge, endangering oneself, honesty and cheating, inciting others, modesty, parental responsibility to children and vice versa, peer pressure, prejudice, privacy and community, returning lost objects, self defense, sex, gossip, triage (priority in allocating scarce resources), altruism, charity, etc.). They will be able to apply, explain and evaluate the appropriateness of several paradigms for making ethical choices and values decisions. They will learn to think reflectively and critically about ethical issues.
Coursework:
Since grades mean little enough on the island, while there will be the occasional short essay or exam, the bulk of coursework will be focused on reading various texts and participating in class discussions on a variety of related topics.
Course Outline:
Unit 1. The Individual:
Expectations and Received Opinions; Freedom vs. Determinism; Selfishness
Unit 2. The Society:
Cultural Relativism vs. Ethical Absolutism; Social Freedoms
Unit 3. The Good Life:
Responsibility; Virtue; Power
Materials:
Reading will include both critical texts discussing these works and works by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Bentham, Kant and Mill, beginning with The Republic. Emma will have copies of the necessary texts for students to take home.
Emma Grace Frost is a bitch and a half, but she's a good teacher - condescending at times, but calm, expecting students to speak for themselves, more patient than might be expected, more inclined to make students reason their way to answers than to supply them. She also expects the best possible effort from her pupils, a willingness to speak up in class and an ability to articulate one's thoughts clearly and concisely. She will say something if you hedge, hem, haw and talk in circles.
General:
Ethics deals with right and wrong, good and bad, how we should act, happiness, obligation, and moral values. Students will read what others have said about these issues and examine the process by which each of us arrives at our own personal system of values.
Objectives:
Students will be able to discuss, interpret and apply the concepts and arguments associated with the major issues in ethics. The course will examine issues which arise when dealing with cultural relativism, subjectivism and the role of religion in morality, beginning with a general look at different theoretical approaches and eventually moving into a more specific look at a variety of ethical issues (truth telling, euthanasia, civil disobedience, capital punishment, parents and children, drugs, advertising, humane treatment of animals, ecology, food, friendship, treatment of the elderly, hate and revenge, endangering oneself, honesty and cheating, inciting others, modesty, parental responsibility to children and vice versa, peer pressure, prejudice, privacy and community, returning lost objects, self defense, sex, gossip, triage (priority in allocating scarce resources), altruism, charity, etc.). They will be able to apply, explain and evaluate the appropriateness of several paradigms for making ethical choices and values decisions. They will learn to think reflectively and critically about ethical issues.
Coursework:
Since grades mean little enough on the island, while there will be the occasional short essay or exam, the bulk of coursework will be focused on reading various texts and participating in class discussions on a variety of related topics.
Course Outline:
Unit 1. The Individual:
Expectations and Received Opinions; Freedom vs. Determinism; Selfishness
Unit 2. The Society:
Cultural Relativism vs. Ethical Absolutism; Social Freedoms
Unit 3. The Good Life:
Responsibility; Virtue; Power
Materials:
Reading will include both critical texts discussing these works and works by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Hume, Bentham, Kant and Mill, beginning with The Republic. Emma will have copies of the necessary texts for students to take home.