Statement of the Competency: to think critically about ethical issues. Students who successfully complete the APPLIED ETHICS course in Humanities should be able to:
The APPLIED ETHICS course is designed to provide students with the basic ideas and skills of moral reasoning so that they can identify and analyze various issues, including program related ones, from an ethical perspective. Students become acquainted with a number of ethical theories and learn how to analyze and evaluate ethical arguments.
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Applied Ethics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The Applied Ethics course is designed to provide students with the basic ideas and skills of moral reasoning so that they can identify and analyze various issues, including program related ones, from an ethical perspective. Students become acquainted with a number of ethical theories and learn how to analyze and evaluate ethical arguments. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Applied Ethics: Contemporary Issues |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Applied ethics is a branch of moral philosophy that uses ethical theory to resolve moral conflict at the level of the individual (should I use plastic straws?) and at the level of society as a whole (should we institute a ban on plastic straws?). By the end of this course, students will be able to define and apply the theories of ethical egoism, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and deontology (rights discourse) in relation to contemporary environmental problems. Students will also consider concepts such as fairness, justice, respect for rights, human flourishing and the flourishing of nonhuman entities. Students will also learn to conduct ethical analysis and will be able to distinguish between anthropocentric, zoo centric, biocentric and ecocentric systems of ethical thought. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Applied Ethics: On Having Hard Conversations (with New School) |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this New School applied ethics course, we engage with concepts, theories, and models from a variety of disciplines to help us explore a pressing question: What are ethical considerations and approaches that can support our choices for engaging in difficult dialogue? Instead of looking for what is best/right/perfect in our disagreements, let’s explore conditions and methods for having hard conversations that are generative, creative, challenging, and nurturing of growth. New School’s critical humanistic education approach is grounded in three values: the facilitation of learning (rather than teaching), self-to-subject (drawing on the wisdom in the diversity of experience in the learning community), and emerging curriculum (providing a responsive structure with flexibility of content with students as co-designers and collaborators of learning). |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Buddhist Ethics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Approximately 2500 years ago, Siddhartha Gautama Shakyamuni developed teaching centered on understanding and ending suffering. This teaching served as the foundation of Buddhism, one of the most influential religious and philosophical traditions in world history. In this class, we will examine the foundations of Buddhist ethics; explore multiple lines of Buddhist thought; and compare Buddhist moral philosophy with "Western" approaches such as Kantianism and Utilitarianism. The course also surveys recent movements in "engaged Buddhism," examining how the tradition has been applied to issues such as environmental justice, anti-racism, and conflict resolution. We will also study instances where Buddhists have not always lived up to their teachings' lofty goals, considering how ideals and actualities sometimes clash. Finally, we will engage in meditation inspired by Buddhist practice--but open to those of all world views—to help understand how ethics may be supported by mindfulness. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Contemporary Ethical Issues |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course, students will learn and examine many of the most important ethical theories. Through case studies and analysis, we'll explore the strengths and weaknesses of these ethical theories. In the second half of the semester, students will apply the ethical theories to contemporary ethical dilemmas, including technological surveillance and an ethical dilemma relating to their program of study. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Dante and Milton |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This paired Humanities course and English course will introduce students to two of history's most influential poets: Dante Alighieri and John Milton. The Humanities course will begin by comparing and contrasting one of the most influential modern ethical theories, utilitarianism, with a much older ethical theory, virtue ethics. Students will then explore the ethical views put forward in Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece, The Divine Comedy. The majority of the Humanities course will be devoted to a close study of this work, which gives a vivid, detailed, and influential presentation of virtue ethics. Students will read all of the Inferno section of The Divine Comedy, along with excerpts from the other two sections, Purgatory and Paradise. Throughout the semester, connections will be made between the Humanities and English portions of the paired course. Dante’s views will also be compared and contrasted with the modern ethical views espoused by utilitarians. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethical Issues |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course introduces students to some of the most influential ethical theories and concepts. It relates these general theories and concepts to specific ethical issues and debates, and it familiarizes students with key controversies in the history of ethics. By the end of the term, students will be able to identify and compare some of the central beliefs and concepts in the history of ethics. They will be able to relate these beliefs and concepts to many current debates surrounding moral issues. They will also be able to analyze various influential arguments and texts in the history of ethics. Students who complete this course successfully will also improve their reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethical Issues in Third World Development |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course deals with the ethical issues of development in the Third World. In the West, development has been perceived as the panacea for such problems. Do the rich nations in the developed world have a moral duty to promote development in the Third World? Is development assistance an obstacle to the process of development in developing countries? This course will examine the leading issues of development, of “underdevelopment,” explore the causes and effects of the problems facing the Third World nations, and suggest remedial actions to overcome them. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethics and Media |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethics in Documentary Film |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethics with the New School |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
“On Having Hard Conversations”: In this New School applied ethics course, we engage with concepts, theories, and models from a variety of disciplines to help us explore a pressing question: What are ethical considerations and approaches that can support our choices for engaging in difficult dialogue? Instead of looking for what is best/right/perfect in our disagreements, let’s explore conditions and methods for having hard conversations that are generative, creative, challenging and nurturing of growth. New School’s critical humanistic education approach is grounded in three values: the facilitation of learning (rather than teaching), self-to-subject (drawing on the wisdom in the diversity of experience in the learning community), and emerging curriculum (providing a responsive structure with flexibility of content with students as co-designers and collaborators of learning). |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethics: Approaches to Contemporary Issues |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Ethics: Theory, History and Issues |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is an introduction to the theories, issues and history of ethics. We will study the classic ethical theories and their applications to practical issues. In order to put the investigation of theories and issues into context, we will also explore both the western and eastern history of ethics. Through this course, students may acquire knowledge and skills that help their ethical decision-making in both personal and professional life. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
From Cruelty to Forgiveness |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course addresses two extremes of human behavior by examining our responses, both individual and collective, to human brutality – our desire for vengeance and punishment, our search for acknowledgment and justice, and the possibility for remorse, forgiveness and reconciliation. Students will be asked to consider their ethical responsibilities towards both victims and perpetrators, to righting old wrongs, and to reflect on how a concern with human suffering is relevant to their own field of study. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Happily Ever After |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course will critically evaluate ethical theories and theories of happiness. Students will combine their abilities from their knowledge and world views courses and gain the ability to reason well and get themselves through ethical problems they might encounter. The course will investigate happiness. It will follow two parallel tracks through ethical theories and theories of happiness. The ethical theories dealt with will be Consequentialism, Deontology and the Categorical Imperative. Happiness will be viewed as pleasure, reward and finally, the contemplative life. Students will read classics in philosophy and literature in order to gain an understanding of these theories. Students will end the course by applying what they have learned to their area of study. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
How Can That Be Legal? |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course encourages students to explore the connection between law and ethics as expressed in legal theories. Students will study legal theory and legal reasoning as a way to analyze ethical issues from within a field of professional knowledge. The goal is to understand legal reasoning as one among many possible ways to ask questions and argue about moral issues. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
How To Listen |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Listen up. Talk, talk, talk—that’s all people wanna do these days. Free speech, yada yada. But what’s the point of everyone broadcasting their lives and screaming their opinions all over social media if no one knows how to listen? Democracy—if it’s going to survive—may depend upon your ears. Your actual real-life ears. What if you could transform the world by listening more deeply to it? What if you could transform others by listening—truly listening—to them? And what if, most of all, you could transform yourself by learning how to listen? Our course will investigate an embodied ethics of listening. We’ll do some weird stuff: improvisational, experiential exercises, both inside and outside of the classroom, that explore listening in different contexts. We’ll meditate on the sounds of our own breath, we’ll listen to the silence of the Montreal snowfall, and we’ll listen to each other. And behind it all, we’ll ask whether we really even know how to listen to ourselves. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Introduction to Ethics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course aims to explore three interrelated questions: (i) What is ethics? (ii) What ethical theories are available to us for distinguishing good from bad, and right from wrong? (iii) How can ethical theories help us to examine and resolve debated ethical issues in our society and everyday moral dilemmas in our own lives? We will begin by considering the nature of ethics itself, defining the language and basic concepts of ethics as they apply to our everyday lives and the society we live in. We will then explore four major ethical theories in the history of ethics: (i) divine command ethics; (ii) virtue ethics; (iii) deontological ethics; and (iv) utilitarianism. In the final part of the course, we will apply these ethical theories to reflections on current ethical issues such as: abortion, euthanasia, the acceptable limits of scientific research, animal rights, feminism, moral relativism, and environmental issues. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Investigating Story Values |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Individuals and groups across cultures and throughout history have long recognized that storytelling is a form of power. But what gives stories their power? Who gets to tell them? Who is impacted by them? And how are new technologies, such as social media and Artificial Intelligence, affecting the flow of stories of all kinds in our society? This paired course will explore the territories of both personal and public discourse across the disciplines and will consider the moral implications of the stories we tell. Students will discover how these territories are marked by good-faith discussion, argument and research as well as by censorship, propaganda and “fake news”, and how so much of our discourse is organized by a common device as old as the human species itself: story. Completion of the Investigating Story Value(s) paired course fulfills the foundational knowledge component of the SPACE: Arts and Sciences Certificate. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Issues in Bioethics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines the social and ethical dimension of medical and biological research, practice and technology. This includes controversial issues such as health care, abortion, euthanasia, reproductive technology, surrogacy, “test tube babies”, genetic testing and genetic manipulation of plants and animals, including human beings. Through the examination of a number of bioethical issues, this course helps students acquire the knowledge and sensitivity necessary for ethical deliberation and action in the public sphere and in personal life. This course introduces students to the basic vocabulary used in bioethical discourse, and situates various bioethical issues in their historical and philosophical contexts, underlining both their local and global importance while helping students articulate their own personal ethical outlook. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Mechs, Morals, and the Meaning of Life: Ethics and the Ghost in the Shell |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The Ghost in the Shell is a 1980s manga that led to a series of movies and television programs. Predating the internet, Ghost in the Shell presents a 2030 CE world connected by an internet; cybernetics has been perfected such that the human body can be replaced; and artificial intelligence is common, often indistinguishable from people. Thus, people connected directly to the Net by neural implants can be hacked in order to access secret information, commit crimes, etc. The protagonists of Ghost in the Shell are a police unit fighting cyber-hacking of humans after, or even before, crimes are committed. Some of what it foretold – both good and bad – has transpired. This course will explore ethics using “The Ghost in the Shell” as a starting point. We will apply these ethics to present-day issues such as rights, surveillance, government secrecy, and identity; plus emergent ones including artificial intelligence and the ethical implications for other intelligent life. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Modern Mythology |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Societies throughout history have established, questioned and expressed their values and identities through various disciplines, especially mythology. Much as the epic tales of mythical champions served to examine what a virtuous life should look like, so do the superhuman stories of modern heroes. This course will examine different models of the virtuous life and ethics through the contemporary mythology of the superhero genre. Students will learn to appreciate classical moral ethics theories through a popular and contemporary vehicle: learning about the philosophy of Aristotle, Plato, Kant, and Bentham through the actions of familiar heroes such as Batman, Wonder Woman, and the Watchmen. The students will adopt a critical approach to studying ethical theories. Using comparison, students will witness ethics in action through the narratives of the superhero characters. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Moral Choices in Literature |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This Ethics course examines the Christian revolution in understanding the world and modern man's place in it. That revolution may be said to have begun with Dante Alighieri and his monumental poem The Divine Comedy (1321). This one encyclopedic text, which represents the finest flowering of the medieval age in Europe, was conceived by Dante as "the new epic of Christendom," a journey through Hell and Purgatory and Paradise that was designed to bring readers from a state of misery to one of happiness. By acquainting themselves with substantial selections from "history's greatest poem," students will acquire a direct understanding of Dante's medieval view of ethics, as well as some still older moral foundations as defined by Aristotle. Students will also be exposed to some contemporary commentaries on Dante's continued relevance to modern life. Students will thus learn to appreciate the medieval world of ideas and values in relation to their own knowledge and experience of modernity. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Moral Issues in Law |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course encourages students to explore the connection between law and ethics as expressed in legal theories. We will relate these theories to elements of the world views which gave rise to them. Students will study legal reasoning as a way to analyze ethical issues from within a field of professional knowledge. The goal is to understand legal reasoning as one among many possible ways to ask questions and argue about moral issues. In this course, we will: 1. Critically examine the relationship between law and morality. 2. Identify ethical issues in the making and application of law. 3. Defend an opinion on an ethical issue using legal reasoning – and explain the limits of that reasoning. 4. Situate legal concepts such as individual rights and the rule of law in world views and fields of knowledge. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
My Own Worst Enemy |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Why do we do things we know we shouldn’t do? What drives us to act against our own interests or betray our own ideals? How can a person be at war with themselves? These ethical questions have puzzled and tormented human beings for centuries. In this course, we will study the answers offered by three thinkers from different times and places: Aristotle (Ancient Greece), Immanuel Kant (Early Modern Europe), and John Russon (Contemporary Canada). |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
On Having Hard Conversations |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Science Fiction and Ethics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
By studying science fiction and other speculative fiction genres, this course surveys a range of modern ethical dilemmas. Technology, the media, artificial intelligence, gender and sexuality, race, politics, climate change, war, late capitalism, colonialism, and bioethics are some of the many issues we will explore. The course materials include examples of global science fiction and short readings in ethics, philosophy, and the social sciences. Students will be given the option to submit creative writing as part of their final project. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Society and the Other |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course examines how we relate to others and how we ought to relate to others. The distinction between ethos (world views) and ta ethika (fields and problems of knowledge) proves central to the inquiry into what it means to not only feel the weight of socially determined notions of what is good but to also feel the weight of universal obligations. Thus the course begins with sociological descriptions of self and other and it turns to traditional ethical theories about justice and the good, theories such as utilitarianism, Kant’s categorical imperative and the ethics of care. These ethical theories in mind students present and debate various ethical issues, including euthanasia, capital punishment, abortion, pornography, poverty, animal rights, global warming and others. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Ethics of Joy |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Ethics of the Past: Archaeology, Heritage and the Antiquities Trade |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Ethics of What I Buy |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
This course is an introduction to major ethical theories and how they apply to our shopping habits. Ethics deals with morality by representing a set of rules that are formulated for "acceptance'. In studying morality, we will look at different companies that have unethical practices and analyze how they breach moral behaviour. Additionally, we will study and propose alternate practices that satisfy ethical and moral norms. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Ethics of What You Buy |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Individual and State |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
In this course we will examine both the ethics of how individual human beings should act towards one another, and what sort of rules and behaviour citizens of a state (in this case, Canada) should agree to follow and impose on each other. We will begin by examining different ethical theories, including but not limited to the Divine Command Theory, the Social Contract Theory, the Categorical Imperative, Utilitarianism and Relativism. After studying, understanding and critiquing these different approaches to ethics, we will apply our knowledge to an issue of perpetual importance: the balance between individual liberties and group security. This part of the course will include readings and discussions of issues such as online surveillance and data collection, torture and the imposition of the War Measures Act during the October Crisis of 1970. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The New Entity: The Second Coming |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Sorcerer’s Feast |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The description for this course is not available at this time.
Please check with the Program Coordinator. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
The Universe on Your Plate |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
Many of us do not consider that we are making an ethical choice at every meal. We do not often realize that our food decisions have enormous consequences for the environment, the people who grow and process our food, and our health. All of these factors are important to consider if we want to determine the most ethical way to eat. This course is designed to give you a basis for making ethical choices at your dinner (and lunch, and breakfast) table. During the first part of the course, we will examine several ethical theories, including utilitarianism, deontology, and Buddhist ethics. We will also consider whether our understanding of the universe, specifically that the atoms in our food and our bodies were forged in the bellies of exploding stars, could inform our ethical choices. In the second part of the course, we will go over many of the facts about the industrial food system, and apply the ethical theories we’ve learned. |
|
| 345-BXH-DW |
Theories in Normative and Applied Ethics |
3 - 0 - 3 |
45 |
|
| Description for Course: |
The course entitled "Theories in Normative and Applied Ethics" is designed to equip students with the necessary tools for the normative analysis of different controversial ethical issues in contemporary society. During the first half of the term, students will be introduced to the fields of meta-ethics and normative ethics. They will become acquainted with at least two of the dominant approaches in normative ethics: consequentialism and deontology. During the second half of the course, students will be introduced to a few of the topics studied in the field of applied ethics, including meat production in North America. Students will learn to critically analyse, from the main ethical perspectives, some of the most pressing ethical issues of our time. Students will acquire the knowledge and skills needed in order to construct well-informed and sound arguments with regard to these ethical issues. Students will be required to communicate their positions clearly and effectively. |
|
|
|
