Introduction To Ethics

This course is an introduction to normative ethics. More specifically, we will focus on questions about what to do and how to live from a moral point of view. We will spend a large portion of the course discussing specific moral questions?e.g. it ever permissible to kill someone? How much of our income should we donate to charity? What are our obligations to animals? Is affirmative action permissible? What bearing does implicit bias have on ethical hiring practices? Should governments such as the United States pay reparations? But we will also look at proposals to give unified answers to all moral questions. Inevitably, we will pause to reflect on the moral questions themselves: What are we asking for when we ask whether something is morally wrong? Is it reasonable to expect a fully general answer to those questions? What makes for a `correct? answer to moral questions? We will not focus on giving particular answers to specific moral questions, but rather on learning how to give reasons for or against such answers. In addition to introducing you to the major moral theories and giving you some tools to answer specific moral questions, our goal will thus be to sharpen your ability to analyze, evaluate, and craft your own philosophical arguments. (Gen. Ed. SB, DU)