Prospectus

nl en

Ethics

Course
2016-2017

Tags

Elective

Admissions requirements

N/A

Description

How are we to live? What would make a good life? The question cannot be avoided, as each of us will have to make decisions, shaping the kind of life we lead. Which profession do I pursue? Should I marry? Is there anything more important than my freedom? The riddle of good and evil lies at the very heart of our lives, and refusing to solve it is but another way of making a guess at it.

In this course, students will be introduced to moral philosophy through four texts representing fundamental positions in the western debate: Aristotle’s Eudemian Ethics, Thomas Aquinas’ Disputed Questions on Virtue, Hume’s Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, and Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals. Students thus familiarize themselves with notions of virtue, duty, moral sentiment, and practical reason. Students may read the core texts in an English translation. No secondary literature will be required.

Course objectives

Through this course, students learn to

  • read and understand difficult texts;

  • describe and explain core concepts of moral theory, specifically virtue, duty, moral sentiment, and practical reason;

  • describe and explain divergent fundamental perspectives in moral theory;

  • discuss problems of moral philosophy in a clear, coherent and civil manner, both in speech and writing.

Timetable

Once available, timetables will be published here.

Mode of instruction

This is not a lecture course. All classes will be conducted as structured conversations between the instructor and the students, proceeding more or less like a Socratic dialogue with the week’s reading as the subject matter. Students thus improve both their critical thinking skills and their ability to clearly express difficult positions.

This means it is essential all students are properly prepared before coming to class, which will be ensured by requiring all students to write a coherent one page journal on their reading beforehand. A journal serves as an entrance ticket to a seminar.

This teaching style also means the texts and their authors take center stage; Aristotle, Thomas, Hume, and Kant are the true instructors. The classroom instructor is to be regarded as merely a more advanced student, helping along the other students in their attempt to understand the core texts.

The course will conclude with a 2000 word final essay, to be submitted one week after the final seminar.

Class will meet for two hours twice a week

Assessment

  • Participation 20%

  • Journals 40%

  • Final essay 40%

Blackboard

There will be a Blackboard site available for this course. Students will be enrolled at least one week before the start of classes.

Reading list

Aristotle, Eudemian Ethics, Cambridge University Press

Thomas Aquinas, Disputed Questions on Virtue, St Augustine Press

David Hume, Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals, Oxford University Press

Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, Cambridge University Press

Registration

This course is open to LUC students and LUC exchange students. Registration is coordinated by the Curriculum Coordinator. Interested non-LUC students should contact course.administration@luc.leidenuniv.nl.

Contact

g.h.a.versluis@law.leidenuniv.nl

Remarks