what is ethics course in college

by Tracey Schinner 4 min read

A course in ethics gives students an opportunity to look at some of the most important rationalizations, in order to examine them under the cold, dispassionate light of logic.

This course introduces theories about the nature and foundations of moral judgments and applications to contemporary moral issues. Emphasis is placed on moral theories such as consequentialism, deontology, and virtue ethics.

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What is the value of ethics courses?

What is the value of ethics courses? 09/02/2012 R. Horton New students in my ethics classes are often either pleasantly surprised or disappointed to learn that I will not be teaching them which behaviors are ethical and which are unethical.

What's the point of ethics course?

Ethics is not the study of what is legal or socially accepted or tolerated; it is the study of what is right and wrong -- in the sense of trying to discover reasonable general principles that will help us decide what we ought to do and what we ought not to do in all cases.

What are ethics courses?

  • Financial Modeling and Valuation Analyst (FMVA)®
  • Certified Banking and Credit Analyst (CBCA)®
  • Capital Markets and Securities Analyst (CMSA)®

What are philosophy courses like in college?

  • metaphysics and epistemology
  • value theory
  • science, logic, and mathematics
  • history of philosophy
  • philosophical tradition

What does an ethics course teach you?

Central to ethics education is teaching kids the skills to make sound decisions: to search for and evaluate their assumptions, to excavate the reasons behind those assumptions, to examine without prejudice another's opinion and to make a thoughtful decision with confidence.

What is ethics subject all about?

Ethics is based on well-founded standards of right and wrong that prescribe what humans ought to do, usually in terms of rights, obligations, benefits to society, fairness, or specific virtues.

Why is it important to study ethics?

The study of ethics helps a person to look at his own life critically and to evaluate his actions/choices/decisions.It assists a person in knowing what he/she really is and what is best for him/her and what he/she has to do in order to attain it. study of moral philosophy can help us to think better about morality.

Why is ethics important in studies?

It is important to be ethical in my studies because ethics promote the aims of the studies, such as knowledge, truth, and avoidance of error and it also serves as a guide to moral daily living and helps us judge whether our behavior can be justified.

Course Description

We often find ourselves in situations where we wonder what the right thing to do is.

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How to teach ethics?

In E&C courses, students do one or more of the following: 1 Analyze the foundations and ramifications of diverse modes of ethical inquiry and practice. 2 Situate ideas about ethics and civic engagement in their historical, cultural, and social contexts. 3 Explore real-world ethical questions, ranging from problems in individual lives to the challenges of meeting civic responsibility at local, national, and global levels.

What is ethics and civics?

Ethics & Civics courses examine the dilemmas that individuals, communities, and societies face as they explore questions of virtue, justice, equity, inclusion, and the greater good.

What is aesthetics and culture?

Aesthetics & Culture courses foster critical engagement with diverse artistic and creative endeavors and traditions across history and geographical locations, helping students situate themselves and others as participants in and products of art and culture.

What is the purpose of aesthetic objects, practices, and texts?

Engage directly with aesthetic objects, practices, and texts, broadly conceived, to develop students’ skills of close reading, listening, and observation and to support analysis of the production and reception of these objects in their cultural contexts.

Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics

An introduction to the study of bioethics and the application of legal and ethical reasoning.

The Path to Happiness: What Chinese Philosophy Teaches Us about the Good Life

Why should we care about Confucius? Explore ancient Chinese philosophy, ethics, and political theory to challenge your...

Justice

This introduction to moral and political philosophy is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College.

Justice

This introduction to moral and political philosophy is one of the most popular courses taught at Harvard College.

Why is ethics important in a classroom?

An ethics course can also give students a chance to enunciate their own values in a constructive way. A student who finds herself repeatedly speaking, from the heart, in a safe classroom setting, about the importance of treating people fairly may come to realize that that’s an important part of who she is.

How does ethics affect students?

Second, a course in ethics can quite simply give students the opportunity to talk, at length, about ethics, something they likely wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to do. This can have several different positive effects. First, it can make students more comfortable talking about topics that might otherwise be too awkward to raise. How can you talk in a constructive way about Conflict of Interest, for example, if you’ve never even uttered the words before? A chance to talk at length about ethics in a classroom setting can also reveal to students that not everyone shares their views on ethics, and that they shouldn’t be so cocky. The student who thinks it “obvious” that the bottom line is all that matters can find out that — lo and behold! — not everyone thinks that way. An ethics course can also give students a chance to enunciate their own values in a constructive way. A student who finds herself repeatedly speaking, from the heart, in a safe classroom setting, about the importance of treating people fairly may come to realize that that’s an important part of who she is. She may then find it easier to speak up when she observes injustice in the workplace.

Why do we need ethics?

First, as Magee suggests, a course in ethics can help students understand the dangers of rationalization. A lot of bad behaviour goes on because good people tell themselves that such behaviour is not, in fact, bad. In the vast majority of cases, such rationalizations are rooted in very poor reasoning — reasoning which, if made explicit, would be clearly and transparently untenable. A course in ethics gives students an opportunity to look at some of the most important rationalizations, in order to examine them under the cold, dispassionate light of logic.

Should business schools pay more attention to ethics?

The only thing nearly as common as the view that business schools should pay greater attention to ethics are heartfelt expressions of the view that doing so is in fact useless. Typically, skepticism about ethics education is rooted in a mistaken view of what the goals of such education are. If you think that giving students a course in ethics is ...

Can ethics professors turn bad people into good ones?

An ethics professor can’t turn bad people into good ones, any more than she can turn water into wine. Luckily, that’s really not what’s needed, and so doing so it’s not the aim of any sane ethics course. The most recent volley in this ongoing debate is a short blog entry on Forbes, written by MBA student Lachlan Magee.

Why do you take ethics courses in medical school?

Taking a medical ethics course early in your journey will give you a chance to appreciate such issues and tackle them more effectively as you begin taking part in patient care during medical school and after graduation.

Why do you need to take a medical ethics course?

A medical ethics course is also a good opportunity to understand the pros and cons of contested issues such as abortion and eu thanasia. If you are for abortion or against euthanasia, such a course can help you gain a greater appreciation for why others may hold opposing views.

Why is it important to learn about medical ethics?

Learning about medical ethics will help students better understand how justice applies to health care delivery and the equitable distribution of medical care. (Getty Images)

Why is respect important in medical school?

A respect for views that are different than yours is important in medical school and enables greater engagement in discussions with peers who have opposing views.

What is moral theory?

That is for a general ethics course , also known as moral theory. For applied ethics courses the approach is very different. Usually there is a brief overview of moral theory, then lots of discussion about the issues specific to that field. It depends on the level of class you’re taking.

Can you embrace an ethical paradigm?

During the time you will discover, that it is possible to embrace some ethical paradigm, but you have to fulfill one of two conditions: either you have to became absolutist who is blinded and refusing to the idea of its cost, OR you have to accept the fact that morality requires sacrifices.

Is ethics hostile to religious beliefs?

You may withstand it as general, ethics is not in its nature hostile towards religious faith. But it will happen.

Is morality impossible to define?

You learn all about the many different theories and viewpoints on Ethics through the years, and learn how none of them can quite grasp or define it consistently, eventually coming to the conclusion that morality is impossible to define, but that the search for a definition of morality is itself a moral act.

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