PHI 3050 Course Outline


PHI 3050: ETHICS (MORAL PHILOSOPHY)

Lecturers:               
Mr. Dominic Liche (Room 107)   
Dr. Anthony Musonda (Room 108), Department of Philosophy and Applied Ethics - Education Building 

Meeting Times:
Monday:  14:00 - 15:00 Room G3
Thursday: 14:00 - 15:00 Room G3
Friday:     14:00 - 15:00 Room G7

Tutorial:
Monday:  13:00 - 14:00 (subject to confirmation)

AIM AND OBJECTIVE
The aim of this course is to give students a clear understanding of the nature of ethical discourse with reference to metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics.

By the end of this course, students are expected to understand the basic concepts and theories which are central to metaethics, normative ethics and applied ethics. It is hoped that this will help students to have a firm basis for deciding what is right or wrong, help them to deal effectively with moral issues and problems and generally apply ethics to their fields of study and eventually their professions.

COURSE CONTENT

1. Introduction to moral philosophy – Looking at what is, and what is not, ethics.
·         The structure of human knowing, willing and acting; the moral dimension of human consciousness; self-consciousness and moral conscience; the problem of free will and determinism; truth and goodness; and affections and desires in moral decision-making.

2. Metaethics – Looking at how we understand, know about, and what we mean when we talk about what is right and what is wrong.
·         Topics to be covered include objectivism and relativism, psychological egoism and altruism, emotion and reason, a consideration of whether males and females differ morally speaking.

3. Normative Ethical Theories – Looking at the study of what makes actions right or wrong, what makes situations or events good or bad and what makes people virtuous or vicious
·         Topics include Axiology (hedonism, desire satisfaction), ethical egoism, consequestialist ethical theories, theories of duty (deontology), and virtue theories.

4. Morality and religion
·         Does morality depend on religion? What can we learn about morality from religion?

5. Applied Ethics - Attempt to answer difficult moral questions actual people face in their lives in terms of what would be the morally right or wrong decision to make.

Required Reading: 
Popkin, R.H. & Stroll, A., 1989. Philosophy Made Simple. London, Heinemann (Made Simple Books).
 
Recommended Reading: 
Warburton, N., 1995. Philosophy: Basic Readings. London, Routledge.
Pojman, L.P., 2009. Ethics: Discovering Right & Wrong. 7th Ed. Oxford, Wadsworth. 

Internet Sources: 
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://www.iep.utm.edu/
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/
JSTOR (for journal articles on UNZA network only): http://www.jstor.org/
 
For more information, Contact the Course Coordinator Mr. Dominic Liche, Department of Philosophy and Applied Ethics, Room 107 or via email on dominic.liche@unza.zm.