Ethics
Overview
This unit teaches an appreciation of the historical roots of different ethical doctrines, showing how these are related to ideas about the good life, freeing people to identify, understand and choose between traditions of ethical thought. It helps students to develop an understanding of the relationship between ethics, communities, institutions, society and the environment required to enable people to make judgements about how to act and how to live if the conditions for communities are to be sustained. It also helps students understand the limitations and defects of prevailing ethical thought and enables students to identify, criticise and provide alternatives to the assumptions of social, economic and political programs that are undermining our global eco-systems.
Requisites
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Identify and demonstrate a level of understanding of the relationships between ethics, communities, institutions, society and the environment necessary to enable them to evaluate how to act and how to live in the context of these communities, institutions, societies and ecosystems
- Identify and critically examine the historical roots of different ethical doctrines and demonstrate how these are related to ideas about the good life and nature
- Critically engage with work by leading ethical theorists to reveal the limitations and defects of dominant ethical theory, reveal the source of these defective doctrines and demonstrate knowledge of what is required to develop more adequate ways of thinking about ethics and life
- Identify, criticise and provide alternatives to the ethical assumptions of social, economic and political programmes that are undermining democracy and the ecosystems of which we are part
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Face to Face Contact (Phasing out) Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| Face to Face Contact (Phasing out) Tutorial | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Specified Learning Activities (Phasing out) Various | 3.00 | 12 weeks | 36 |
| Unspecified Learning Activities (Phasing out) Individual Study | 6.50 | 12 weeks | 78 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Individual | 50% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Journal | Individual | 30% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Tutorial Presentation | Individual | 20% | 1,2,3,4 |
Content
- How to make judgements, how to act and how to live in a way that augments rather than undermines the social and ecological conditions of human existence
- Modern and classical philosophies of ethics, their achievements and limitations, and recent efforts to revive and further develop classical philosophies, all within their historical contexts
- How ethics cannot be abstracted from understanding one’s roles in multiple communities
- How to cultivate the virtues required to sustain these communities and the forms of life they facilitate
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.