2371.17 - General ethics

2371.17

General ethics

5

Bachelor degree or equivalent. It is a precondition that a student has not taken the course “Ethics” at the bachelor level, or the 10 ECTS course in “Ethics” in Law.

The course aims first at making the students aware of ethical issues and how these are treated from the perspective of moral philosophy. Secondly the aim is to get the students to develop their analytical skills so as to be able to understand and identify the philosophical presuppositions and indications in the contemporary society.

The course aims to describe how ethical issues are treated from a moral philosophical perspective. It will be described what ethical argumentation is, on which assumptions it is based, and how ethical argumentation can be used to deal with ethical questions in contemporary society. Basic ethical positions will be discussed, as deontology, consequentialism, virtue ethics and proximity ethics, and advantages and disadvantages will be highlighted. The course will in addition cover bioethics, environmental- and animal ethics, technoethics, research ethics and corporate ethics. Related to the home assignment, the student must demonstrate that he or she is able to, on basis of the above mentioned, analyse a problem or topic in the contemporary society.

Lectures, discussions, and active participation from the students.

The goal is that the students shall be able to: • Independently explain the main points in the the ethical theories they have studied during the course. • Understand what ethical argumentation is about and what presuppositions and assumptions it is based upon. • Independently reflect over and analyse key ethical questions. • independently identify and analyse key ethical questions and concerns in the contemporary society. • Self-consciously and independently assess, reflect over, and make a reasoned evaluation of ethical problems.

Written home assignment, max 5.000 words.

7-

Reading materials, around 800 pages.

Gestur Hovgaard