LARTS 306 — Introduction to Philosophical Ethics

Prerequisite: LARTS 112 .  In this Ethics course we will try to meaningfully ask and then provide different approaches to answering the question: How can one be “good” or “ethical”? While we will primarily be reading philosophical texts, we will do so in an attempt to both understand and critically interrogate the cannon. To help with the latter we will explore literary, religious, and social-theoretic works which are broadly concerned with the course’s central ethical question. We will also think critically about the meaning of “ethics” by situating historical approaches in light of their own, often problematic, contexts and with an eye to the applicability of their ideas to our contemporary context. Reading and careful thinking will be required for each class, but no background in philosophy is required.