Philosophical Ethics
Module Code: 406PPE Credits: 10 Contact Hours: 30 Level: 4 Lecturer:
Syllabus
This module seeks to introduce students to the importance of Ethics. It will be stressed that it is important to locate morality in experience and the implications of this will be explored.
The module will investigate the sources of western moral philosophy-Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Bentham, and Mill. Modern developments will also be discussed: Intuitionism, Emotivism, (Stevenson); Emotivism (Ethical non-naturalism- A.J.Ayer),Situation Ethics, Mc Intyres ‘Virtue Ethics’. It will then examine some threats to the intelligibility of Ethics: amoralism, determinism, subjectivism, cultural relativism.
Aims
- to create an awareness of the importance of ethical reflection
- to facilitate an understanding of the issues which need to be addressed in making moral judgements
- to enable students to make critical judgements on practical moral issues
- to introduce students to the major ethical theories and their proposers
Assessment
This essay will be assessed through a 2,000 word essay
Knowledge and Understanding
By the end of this module students should be able to
- clarify the meaning of the terms ‘ethical’ and ‘moral’
- analyse and assess philosophical terms such as: amoralism, determinism, mutuality, subjectivism, relativism
- identify problems in the history of ethics and focus upon questions for investigation
- synthesise the knowledge into a formulation of a structure for moral judgement.
Transferable Skills
By the end of this module students will be able to
- form independent opinions and demonstrate an ability to use evidence appropriately to support conclusions
- display an ability to distinguish between fact and opinion in moral argument and be able to make appropriate choices from primary/secondary sources
- convey objectively the module content to various groups e.g. parish groups, members of their own religious community.
- contribute confidently to class/groups discussions on the material being studied
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