Nov 23, 2024  
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2019-2020 Undergraduate Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Ethics Minor


The minor in ethics provides students with opportunities both to explore questions of value, justice, responsibility and the moral life, and to explore philosophical treatments of ethics that are foundational for the critical discussion of ethical issues in other fields. Students can choose from courses in ethical and political theory, courses in applied and practical ethics, and courses on specialized topics such as liberty, neuroethics and philosophy of law. The minor is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in ethics, along with skills in reasoning, analysis and the critical evaluation of ethical and philosophical issues, positions and arguments.

The minor in ethics may be easily combined with majors or minors in other disciplines (such as Economics, Environmental Studies, Human Rights, Political Science, Public Policy, and Women’s and Gender Studies), as some courses may be counted toward multiple majors or minors.

Requirements for the Minor


The minor in ethics requires at least 15 credit hours of coursework, including at least four courses (12 hours) in philosophical ethics. Three of the required courses in philosophical ethics (9 hours) must come from the department’s advanced sequence in ethics (PHIL 3370–PHIL 3389), and the fourth (3 hours) must come from that same sequence or from the department’s introductory sequence in ethics (PHIL 1316–PHIL 1325). Upon petition to the chair of the department, other philosophy courses — including PHIL 3310  and PHIL 4393  — may fulfill the foregoing requirements provided their topics and contents are suitable. The remaining course (3 hours) must come from the department’s ethics courses, the department’s non-ethics courses, or a list of approved courses offered by other departments.

It is recommended that each student minoring in ethics take one course from the department’s introductory sequence in ethics (PHIL 1316–1325), along with at least one course in ethical theory (PHIL 1316 , PHIL 3371 , PHIL 3372 PHIL 3380 ).