Ethical Theory and Practice (PHIL90004)

This subject offers an introduction to philosophical ethics. Ethics spans the distance from intimately personal contexts and encounters, to the domains of social and political engagement and the forming and re-forming of public policy. Units in ‘applied ethics’ are usually fitted specifically to those latter contexts. This subject has a broader aim: to explore the important links across the gap between the many ethical concerns and issues of public and professional life, and the more personal and intimate dimensions of ethics.

While we will engage with some key philosophical figures in the history of ethics – including Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill and Peter Singer – no previous grounding in philosophical ethics will be assumed. The distinction between ethical theory and practice is not at all sharp. We will be moving continually between broader philosophical reflection on ethics, and reflection on particular ethical issues/aspects both of personal life, and also of social and professional activity, and public policy. In this way the subject aims to situate ethical dimensions of social, political and public policy activity in relation to the personal and interpersonal dimension of ethics.