Philosophy 2

An introduction to ethics, which is the attempt to provide a systematic and general answer to the question: how should we behave? The focus will be on moral theory–that is, on the theory of what we are morally obligated or permitted to do (or refrain from doing) and why–but we will also explore how the demands that morality makes on us interact with other reasons for action.

We will address various concrete moral issues, including the morality of capital punishment, abortion, war, affirmative action, and taxation. We will also take up more abstract questions: do moral statements purport to represent objective moral facts, or are they instead expressions of the feelings of the person making the statement? If they try to represent objective moral facts, do they succeed? If there are objective moral facts, are they relative to time, the culture of the agent, etc.; or are they independent of these frameworks?