The areas you will cover in this course are:
1. Rules, truths and theories: an introduction to ethical reasoning
· Moral dilemmas
· The role of rules
· Reading academic philosophy
· Theorising about ethics
· Right and wrong and knowledge of right and wrong
· Moral truth
· Absolute and relative truth
2. Freedom, knowledge and society: the preconditions of ethical reasoning
· Freedom, knowledge and responsibility
· Freedom and intention
· Freewill and determinism
· Moral knowledge
· The moral law and the law of the land
· The state of nature
· Justified rebellion
· Contractarianism
· Moral and political obedience
3. Virtue ethics: virtue, values and character
· What is virtue ethics?
· The function of human kind
· Eudaimonia
· The virtues
· The nature of the virtues
· The virtuous act versus the virtuous agent
· Character and the virtues
· The metaphysics of virtue ethics
· The epistemology of virtue ethics
4. Humean ethics: Non-cognitivism, the passions and moral motivation
· What is Humean ethics?
· Why should we adopt Humean ethics?
· Reason and passion
· Reason cannot motivate action
· Moral judgements as expressions of passion not reason
· Error theory
· A stable and general perspective
· The metaphysics of Humean ethics
5. Deontology: Kant, duty and the moral law
· What is deontology?
· Why should we adopt deontology?
· Kant versus Hume
· Hypothetical imperatives
· Categorical imperatives
· The moral law
· The formula of universal law
· The formula of the end in itself
· Hume versus Kant
· Happiness and the moral law
6. Utilitarianism: Mill and the utility calculus
· Why should we be utilitarians?
· Consequentialism
· Interpreting utilitarianism
· Happiness: quantity and quality
· Act and rule utilitarianism
· The collapse of RU into AU
· Resisting the collapse
· The epistemology and metaphysics of utilitarianism
7. Ethics in the news
· Applying what you have learned in the first six units to two ethical problems that are currently (or have recently been) under public discussion.
8. Practical ethics: animal rights
· A deontological view of animal rights
· Rights and responsibilities
· Sentience and interests
· Utilitarianism and speciesism
· The utilitarian calculus
· Animal sentience
· Non-cognitivism: a stable and general perspective
· Non-cognitivism and animal rights
· Virtue ethics and animal rights
· The regulation of animal research in the UK
9. Practical ethics: euthanasia
· Thou shalt not kill
· The doctrine of double effect
· Acts and omissions
· Utilitarianism and euthanasia
· Euthanasia and intentions
· Euthanasia and regulation
· Quality of life decisions
· Euthanasia and moral theory
10. Making up your mind
· Points to consider
· The original position
· Poll on moral truth and falsehood
We strongly recommend that you try to find a little time each week to engage in the online conversations (at times that are convenient to you) as the forums are an integral, and very rewarding, part of the course and the online learning experience.