Normative Ethics

Code

PHIL2007

School

Philosophy

Level

2

Credits

20

Semesters

Autumn UK

Summary

Normative Ethics is the branch of moral philosophy that attempts to systematize everyday judgements about the rightness and wrongness of actions. This module will focus on a representative sample of these attempts. The systems considered may include:  consequentialism, which holds that the rightness or wrongness of actions is wholly determined by their goodness; deontology, which holds that there are moral constraints on acting such that it can sometimes be wrong to act in a way that brings about the best results; virtue ethics, which emphasises the relationship between right action and good and bad character; contractualism, which holds that the rightness and wrongness of acts depends on principles no one could reasonably reject. The module will consider both contemporary and historical representatives of these traditions and consider issues such as: the so-called 'paradox of deontology'; whether consequentialism is consistent with friendship and other partial values; the distinctiveness and usefulness of virtue ethics; the idea of eudaimonia; exemplarist and feminist approaches to normative theory; anti-theory and particularism.
 
 
 

Target Students

Second year single honours and joint honours Philosophy students and exchange students. Also available to second year Liberal Arts students who have either done PHIL1012 or PHIL1013; or are doing PHIL1012 or PHIL1013 (co-requisite). Also available to single honours Philosophy and joint honours Music and Philosophy students in their final year taking 20 credits of Level 2 modules.

Co-requisites

Modules you must take in the same academic year, or have taken in a previous year, to enrol in this module:

• Reasoning, Argument, and Logic (PHIL1012)
• Mind, Knowledge, and Ethics (PHIL1013)

Classes

• One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
• One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks

Total contact time 34 hours (plus activities in Directed Study week)

Assessment

• 50% Coursework: 2,000 word essay
• 50% Take home exam (24-hour)

Assessed by end of autumn semester

Educational Aims

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge

• Students should have a critical appreciation of contractualism, consequentialism, deontology, and character ethics, and some of their variants.

• Students should have a critical appreciation of the aims and methodologies of normative ethics.

Skills

• Students should be able to reason, philosophically, to a well thought-out position on various topics in ethics.

• Students should be able to develop their own views, systematically, drawing upon the sources on which the module focuses.

• Students should be able to express themselves clearly and precisely in writing.

Understanding

• Students should have a critical understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different moral theories.

Conveners

• Dr Benedict Rumbold
• Dr Zachary Hoskins