PHIL 102 - Contemporary Moral Issues

• Formulate, clarify and evaluate arguments.
• Analyze and assess views that make ethics a matter of convention, including moral relativism and Divine Command Theory.
• Explain and evaluate substantive ethical theories of right action such as utilitarianism and respect for persons, virtue ethics and the ethics of care.
• Explain how substantive ethical theories including utilitarianism, respect for persons and the ethics of care incorporate the value of cultural diversity. Explain the ethical foundations for sustainability.
• Apply substantive ethical theories including utilitarianism and respect for persons to a range of specific problem areas like the death penalty, physician-assisted suicide, animal rights, poverty, environmental protection, and free speech.
• Write argumentative essays containing clear thesis claims, strong arguments for the theses, reasonable consideration of opposing views, and conforming to the presentation/writing standards set forth in the “BC Philosophy Writing Guidelines.
• Explain and evaluate major theoretical approaches to social justice.
• Apply theories of justice to explain problems of structural injustice such as racism, sexism, colonialism.

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