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)