Descriptions for Ethics 390 - Fall 2021

ETHS 390-01A:  Justice in the 21st Century
Daniel Finn
Few issues are as fundamental to human life as justice: everyone is in favor of it.  Yet few issues are as controversial: justice has widely divergent meanings for different people.  This course will examine in detail five rival understandings of justice prevalent in debates today.  Students will read two novels, and five philosophical or theological treatments of the notion of justice in our joint efforts to come to grips with what justice means in our lives: personally and on a national and global scale.  Like every Ethics Common Seminar, the goal of this course is to improve each student's ability to make good moral judgments.

ETHS 390-02A:  Museum History: Ethics of Collecting and Display
Carol Brash
This class will examine ethical issues that arise from the museum’s core activities: collecting and display. You will study the museum’s role in society and in the shaping of knowledge. Readings will come from the textbook as well as case studies and current events. Through discussion of the readings, writing, presentations, and role play you will examine current best practices of museum ethics and develop your own informed interpretations. This course will look at a variety of museum types including but not limited to art, history, and science museums.

ETHS 390-03A (cross-listed with POLS 358B) :  Ethics of War:  What do Ethics Mean during a Time of War?
Christi Siver
If General Sherman was right that "war is hell," the concept of ethics seems completely irrelevant.  However, as human society has evolved, numerous politicians, philosophers, and religious figures have agreed on the need for an ethics in war, even if they have not agreed on the content of those ethics.  Students will be introduced to formal ethical frameworks and discover the dilemmas they encounter when applying these frameworks to real world situations.  Students will compare how these ethical frameworks overlap and diverge from political values.  We will debate particular dilemmas in warfare, including which authorities can declare war and when they are justified in doing so, what methods can be used in war, and what obligations both combatants and non-combatants have.  Students will work with a basic ethics text supplemented by contemporary articles outlining modern dilemmas related to ethics of war.

ETHS 390-04A (cross-listed with POLS 313) : 20th Century and Contemporary Political Thought
Jim Read
The theme of this Political Science 313/Ethics 390 offering is “Markets, Justice, and Identity.” We will focus on two different ways in which questions of justice and injustice arise in the modern world: in matters of distribution (who gets how much of what?); and in matters of recognition (are we respected and valued for who we are, or treated as though we don’t matter?) We will examine the ethical choices we face on in this respect as citizens, voters, consumers, and members of a community. We will give sustained attention to issues of racial equality and racial injustice – including in the context of law enforcement and the U.S. criminal justice system. Finally, we will explore how identity politics, in both positive and destructive forms, shapes modern democratic societies.

ETHS 390-05A: Nature, Democracy and Ethics
Paul Cherlin
The study of ethics is typically characterized as the study of right and wrong, good and evil. This course will take a much broader approach to morality; we define ethics as a critical and evaluative study of human conduct and social intercourse. In order to evaluate human conduct, we ask a range of questions: what are our obligations to other people? Who or what determines these obligations? What is the best way to live together in a diverse society? What are the challenges to social solidarity? Are moral guidelines relative to a time and place, or do certain rules transcend situated contexts? Given the events that have unfolded during 2020, these questions are on a lot of people’s minds. However, they have always been the important questions to ask!

ETHS 390-06A: Nature, Democracy and Ethics
Paul Cherlin
The study of ethics is typically characterized as the study of right and wrong, good and evil. This course will take a much broader approach to morality; we define ethics as a critical and evaluative study of human conduct and social intercourse. In order to evaluate human conduct, we ask a range of questions: what are our obligations to other people? Who or what determines these obligations? What is the best way to live together in a diverse society? What are the challenges to social solidarity? Are moral guidelines relative to a time and place, or do certain rules transcend situated contexts? Given the events that have unfolded during 2020, these questions are on a lot of people’s minds. However, they have always been the important questions to ask!

ETHS 390A-01A:  Healthcare Ethics
Georgia Hogenson
This course directs students to re-think ethics in today's system of healthcare, where the best possibilities for ethical healthcare in this century lie beyond traditional and mainstream thought. Students will question assumptions guided by the major principles of healthcare ethics and reflect deeply on clinical cases across healthcare disciplines from the perspective of professional and consumer.

ETHS 390A-02A:  Healthcare Ethics
Georgia Hogenson
This course directs students to re-think ethics in today's system of healthcare, where the best possibilities for ethical healthcare in this century lie beyond traditional and mainstream thought. Students will question assumptions guided by the major principles of healthcare ethics and reflect deeply on clinical cases across healthcare disciplines from the perspective of professional and consumer.

ETHS 390A-03A:  Healthcare Ethics
Kathy Ohman
This course directs students to re-think ethics in today's system of healthcare, where the best possibilities for ethical healthcare in this century lie beyond traditional and mainstream thought. Students will question assumptions guided by the major principles of healthcare ethics and reflect deeply on clinical cases across healthcare disciplines from the perspective of professional and consumer.

ETHS 390A-04A:  Healthcare Ethics
Kathy Ohman
This course directs students to re-think ethics in today's system of healthcare, where the best possibilities for ethical healthcare in this century lie beyond traditional and mainstream thought. Students will question assumptions guided by the major principles of healthcare ethics and reflect deeply on clinical cases across healthcare disciplines from the perspective of professional and consumer.