Graduate Program (& Advanced Certificate) Status
This course will introduce students to some influential ideas and debates in ethical theory, focusing on normative ethical theorizing. Students will study utilitarian (and more broadly consequentialist) theories, Kantian theories, contractualist theories and virtue ethics. The aim will be to examine and explore these theories, so as to understand these historically important positions. Students will also assess the respects in which they can shed light on questions about how we should act, or who we should aim to become. In the course of doing this students will also consider some broader questions about ethical theory such as what it’s role ought to be and what a good ethical theory should look like
In studying this course, students will:
- Gain a clear understanding of consequentialist, Kantian, contractualist and virtue ethical theories, and be able to apply these approaches to concrete cases
- Critically assess these positions
- Reconstruct and critically analyse arguments from the texts
For 2 year MA students: Assessment will be done via a final exam in the Spring term.
Students will be given possible exam questions in advance. Grades may be adjusted by a third of a letter grade on the basis of participation and performance in the classroom. Students are encouraged to submit a critical analysis of a text mid-way through term to receive feedback.
For one-year MA students: Participation: 15% Critical analysis of a text (up to 800 words): 20% Final paper (up to 2500 words): 65%
