Ethical Theory and Moral Practice

Aim

On completion of the course, the students should on an advanced level be able to:

• account for and analyse theories and problems within the field of ethics and applied ethics
• develop a theoretically informed argumentation in specific problem areas of applied ethics
• formulate theory-based policy recommendations and assessment regarding moral issues in one specific professional setting
• express an open and critical attitude to positions and arguments

Content

Until recently, the term 'applied ethics' was taken quite literally: the application of ethical theory to issues in practical life. Nowadays, many ethicists acknowledge that the relationship between ethical theory and moral practice might be more interactive. Moral choices may be guided or criticised from the perspective of some ethical theory. But theories may also be criticised and adjusted from the point of view of well-considered moral judgements concerning concrete problems. In this course, various normative ethical theories, like natural law theory, utilitarianism, kantianism and virtue ethics, will be investigated. Focus will be on the application of these theories to practical problems. It will then be investigated how to criticise and evaluate the theories in the light of their implications for practice.