PHIL 210
Applied Ethics
Please note: this is archived course information from 2017 for PHIL 210.
Description
In this course we explore a range of real world ethical issues, and in 2017, we will be focusing on ethical issues concerning death, sex, food and life.
For each of the four sections of the course, we will look at what is happening in the world and in New Zealand in relation to this issue, survey and evaluate a selection of relevant ethical arguments and look at some deeper conceptual and ethical issues that underlie the topic.
Death: Advances in medicine enable us to stay alive much longer than was possible in the past, but for some this is not a matter for celebration, but for fear. Should people who are terminally ill and suffering have a “right to die” if they wish to? Could it ever be justifiable to choose euthanasia for someone unable to make their own decisions? What alternatives are there to active euthanasia, and are they more morally acceptable? This is a topic of continuing personal and political significance for many New Zealanders.
Sex: Sex work is now legal in New Zealand, but the ethical issues persist. Is sex just another exchange in a market driven economy? Is making sex work safer all that a government is obliged to do? Are there ethical objections to commercial sex that should inform our attitudes to this practice? Should sex work be “normalised” in our society? And do the arguments addressing these questions apply to other ways in which sex is sold – thorough pornography and advertising?
Food: Every day we make decisions about what to eat, and—whether we consciously deliberate them or not—these decisions have ethical implications. A key set of questions here is: Is it morally acceptable to eat non-human animals? If not, why not? If so, which animals and under which circumstances? We will examine the ethical arguments against eating animals, as well as alternative positions (eg, “humane meat”). The leading arguments against eating animals rest on beliefs about animals having certain cognitive abilities, for example, the abilities to feel pain or suffer. We will also examine the scientific underpinnings of these beliefs, informing our ethical discussions with evidence from recent biological studies of animal cognition.
Life: Biotechnologies are rapidly advancing. New innovations in the Twenty-first Century include the ability to create new forms of life in the laboratory, and technology allowing scientists to edit the very genes that make us who we are. These sorts of innovations have the potential to have a profound impact on our society and our future, and raise deep ethical questions. We will examine these questions in tandem with underlying conceptual questions, for example: Do our genes really make us who we are? And what is life, anyway?
The course will be presented in three hours per week of mixed lecture and discussion.
Availability 2017
Semester 1
Lecturer(s)
Coordinator(s) Dr Vanya Kovach
Dr Emily Parke
Assessment
Coursework only: two essays and two short assignments.
Points
PHIL 210: 15 points
Prerequisites
PHIL 102 or PSYCHIAT 102 or HLTHPSYC 102 or 30 points in Philosophy, or 30 points at Stage I in Social Science for Public Health
Restrictions
PHIL 313
