PHIL 3310: Moral Philosophy
Course Description: Ethics is frequently divided into three branches: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. In this course on theoretical ethics, we will study the first two branches. We will begin by studying two traditional challenges to morality: cultural relativism and amoralism. Next, we will study some issues in meta-ethics, especially focusing on the meaning of moral claims. For the latter half of the course, we will discuss the three most dominant moral theories: utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. For each of these theories, we will consider classical formulations, as well as the associative criticisms.
Course Syllabus (Spring 2006)