Admission requirements
Admission to this course is restricted to students Philosophy who either take this course as part of their pre-master’s package or take this course as a resit.
None.
Description
Ethics is the sub-discipline of philosophy that seeks to provide understanding of questions such as ‘how to live?’, ‘what ought I do?’, and ‘what is good?’. These questions come back in various forms in various traditions of thought. In this course we will look at the role that concepts such as values, rights, duties, virtues, and obligations play in the questions, and in the possible answers to those questions. We will focus on things like character, rationality, happiness, suffering, and, indeed, the meaning of life, to try to analyze, understand and critically appraise the most influential traditions in modern philosophical ethics and the ways that they justify their answers to the central questions in ethics.
One critical question about these justifications we will investigate in more detail. This is the question whether, and if so, how justifications to the various ethical answers are at all possible. Are there appropriate and plausible answers to the questions of ethics, or is morality simply a matter of subjective feeling?
Course objectives
This course aims to make students familiar with elementary concepts and theories of philosophical ethics. The aim is to educate students to such a level that they can understand ethical theories, recognize these, and use elements of these in valid argumentation.
Students who successfully complete the course will have a good understanding of:
the following concepts and distinctions: value, duty, virtue, consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, realism, anti-realism, cognitivism, non-cognitivism, naturalism, relativism.
the ethical theories of central authors in the Western tradition: Aristotle, Kant, and Mill;
the arguments and the main claims of the supplied study materials.
Students who successfully complete the course will be able to:
connect these concepts, distinctions, and theories and apply these in simple philosophical argument within ethics;
independently study and comprehend simple texts in ethics.
Timetable
The timetables are available through MyTimetable.
Mode of instruction
- Lectures
Assessment method
Assessment
Digital on campus midterm exam (2-hours) consisting of both multiple choice and open questions (30%)
Digital on campus final exam (2-hours) consisting of both multiple choice and open questions (70%)
Weighing
The final mark for the course is established by determining the weighted average. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher.
Resit
There is one resit for this course. It consists of a digital exam over all the material covered. This exam replaces any partial result.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Reader Ethics (2025-2026). This reader can be purchased through Readeronline.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about course and exam enrolment is available on the website.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Huizinga
Remarks
This course for 5 EC is for students Philosophy who take this as an elective, part of their pre-master’s or who have to take a resit. First year students Philosophy take this course for 10 EC.