Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An advanced investigation of central issues and theories in moral philosophy. In any given term, the course may focus on a general theory or concept or concern, for example meta-ethics, utilitarianism, or theories of rights. Sometimes it will focus on a particular problem or problems, such as medical ethics, moral personhood, or free will and moral responsibility. May be repeated for credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

Ethics and Capitalism

This course aims to develop your ability to analyze and evaluate ethically complex problems arising in the global capitalist market economy. You will learn to identify the underlying structure of ethical arguments and critically assess them. We will examine the positive and negative impacts of capitalist ideology on society and consider the future of the free market from an ethical point of view. In doing so, we will look at moral benefits and drawbacks of competing economic systems such as Marxist economics and Buddhist economics. We will examine the concepts of justice and fairness in the distribution of wealth and opportunity, as well as the impact of commodification and consumerism on the welfare of humanity. We will also analyze practical moral issues in the contemporary workplace such as freedom of expression and discrimination in hiring. We will examine ethical issues arising from AI and automation, advertising and marketing, as well as the impact of business and consumer activities on the environment. We will end the term by looking at business and culture, examining issues in international business.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

PHIL 321 may be applied towards the Certificate in Ethics: Theory and Application (see our website for more details).

General aim of this course: 
1. Recognizing key concepts, articulating their meaning and placing them in their appropriate context 
2. Identifying key arguments placing them in their appropriate context with respect to authorship
3. Presenting formally, the relevant arguments that we consider in class in premise to conclusion format 
4. Articulating the key themes found within the class in a well structured essay 
5. Critically analyzing and criticizing various arguments for soundness and validity 
6. Critically comparing various theories showing their strengths and weaknesses and critically extending arguments to novel cases and problems not found within the text

This course is excellent preparation for: law school, graduate school in philosophy, public policy degrees, business school, or for anyone wishing to participate in public deliberation with their fellow citizens.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: