Philosophical Ethics

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How to behave in a fast-changing world? How can philosophy help to shed light on contemporary ethical issues? What is ethics really about? What moral decisions do we make? The importance of ethical deliberations is strongly growing. Nowadays, talk about ethics is everywhere, in the bar, in the boardroom, on the shop floor, on television, and in the papers. In the first part of this course, we will study the grand narratives in ethics, examining Aristotelian, Stoic, Christian, Kantian, utilitarian, and postmodern approaches to ethics. We will discuss different questions: What is the nature, role, and foundation of ethics? Is ethics about ‘the right thing to do’, ‘the good life’, ‘the good man’, or all three together? Is there a universal moral framework, or can we only speak about a plurality of approaches? What is the relation between ethics and religion? In the second part of this course, we will study some key disciplinary approaches in ethics. We will discuss environmental ethics, business ethics, and ethics of international justice. Especially, we will pay attention to the application of the grand narratives in ethics to major problems in our society. We will analyze professional practices to identify different ethical aspects.