PHI 210 Ethical Theory

3 hours 

This course asks how ethical choices and judgments should be made. It investigates whether ethics should be guided by abstract unchanging principles; by social costs and benefits; by the standards and values of particular cultures; or through the cultivation of individual virtue. The course may include readings from the ancient Greek tradition, the European Enlightenment, feminist ethics, Buddhism, animal rights advocacy, and/or environmental ethics. The course calls into question some of the key assumptions of ethical systems, such as who counts as a morally relevant being and the moral relevance of race, gender and other identities to ethical considerations.