Ethics- Period 2

Ethics is a branch of philosophy that focuses on questions, such as "In virtue of what are actions right or wrong (morally obligatory, morally permissible, or morally impermissible)?", "What makes a certain state of affairs good or bad?", and "What constitutes a good life?". In this course, we will critically explore different theories that have been developed which offer answers to these questions. Along the way spend time examining how these ethical theories apply to contemporary moral issues, such as abortion, animal welfare, famine relief, and many others. A related issue that we examine is whether we are morally responsible for our actions, in the sense of being praise- or blameworthy for them. We also discuss several epistemic, metaphysical and semantic questions, such as whether we can know moral claims, whether they are objectively rather than relatively true, and what their semantic features are.

Contact hours listed under a course description may vary due to the combination of lecture-based and independent work required for each course therefore, CEA's recommended credits are based on the ECTS credits assigned by VU Amsterdam. 1 ECTS equals 28 contact hours assigned by VU Amsterdam.