Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to:
- students enrolled in the BA programme Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives
- pre-master’s students for whom this course has been specified on their admission statement
Description
Ethics is the sub-discipline of philosophy that seeks to provide understanding of questions such as ‘how to live?’, ‘what ought I do?’, ‘what do I owe others?’, ‘what is good and why?’. These questions come back in various forms in various traditions of thought. In this course we will look at the role that concepts such as values, rights, duties and obligations have to do with these questions and possible answers tot hem. In addition, we will look at things like character, happiness, suffering, and, indeed, the meaning of life. We will investigate whether, and if so, how we can justify the various answers to these questions. Are there appropriate and plausible answers to these question, or is morality simply a matter of subjective feeling.
Course objectives
This course aims to make students familiar with elementary knowledge of philosophical ethics. The aim is to educate students to such a level that they can understand ethical theories, recognize these, and use elements of these in valid argumentation.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the following concepts and distinctions: value, duty, virtue, consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, virtue, realism, anti-realism, cognitivism, non-cognitivism, naturalis, relativism.
the ethical theories of central authors in the Western tradition: Aristotle, Kant, and Mill;
the ethical argumentation of the main ethical points of the supplied study materials, including those from the so-called non-Western tradition.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
connect these concepts, distinctions, and theories and apply these in simple philosophical argument within ethics;
independently study and comprehend simple texts in ethics.
Timetable
See: BA Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives
- Philosophy: Global and Comparative Perspectives - BA1
Mode of instruction
Lectures (2 hours per week)
Tutorials (2 hours per week)
Class attendance is required for both lectures and tutorials.
Course Load
Total course load: 5 EC x 28 hours = 140 hrs.
Attending lectures and tutorials: 14 × 4 hrs = 56 hrs
Midterm and final exam: 2 × 3 hrs = 6 hrs
Preparation to lectures and tutorials 14 × 4 hrs = 56 hrs
Preparation midterm exam: 11 hrs
Preparations final exam: 11 hrs
Assessment method
Assessment
Midterm written exam consisting of open questions (50%)
Final written exam consisting of open questions (50%)
Practical assignments in tutorials. These are mandatory for taking the exam.
Attendance of tutorials. This is mandatory for taking the exam.
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average of the two subtests.
Resit
There is one resit for this course. It consists of a written exam of open questions over all the material covered. No separate resits will be offered for mid-term or final tests. The mark for the resit replaces any partial result.
Satisfactory completion of practical assignments is a prerequisite for taking the resit.
Exam review
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Blackboard
Blackboard will be used to make available:
all literature
study materials
assignments
Reading list
- All study materials will be made available through Blackboard.
Registration
Enrolment through uSis is mandatory.
General information about uSis is available on the website
Students are strongly advised to register in uSis through the activity number which can be found in the timetables for courses and exams.
Registration Studeren à la carte and Contractonderwijs
Not applicable.
Contact
Remarks
Not applicable.