This unit aims to provide students with a basic understanding of ethical theory, as a foundation for their studies in bioethics. The unit outlines three main perspectives in normative ethics - Kantianism, Utilitarianism, and Virtue Ethics - and examines several key problems for each of these approaches. The unit also considers certain issues in meta-ethics, such as the question of whether moral judgements must be relative to individuals or cultures, or whether they can be objective, and the implications of research in social and moral psychology for accounts of moral motivation. -- Course Website
Instructor: Assoc. Prof. Justin Oakley (semester one); Dr Catherine Mills (semester two)