Philosophical Approaches to Ethical Decision Making
A moral philosophy course on the nature of ethical decision making, with some attention to applications in law and statecraft. Topics will include the leading theories of normative ethics; the Trolley Problem; the doctrine of double effect; the problem of “dirty hands”; the morality of abortion, self-defense, torture, and warfare; whether aiding others is ever morally obligatory; whether harming someone to help another is ever morally permissible; whether doing evil is worse than failing to avert it; and the challenges of acting ethically under conditions of factual and moral uncertainty. Class sessions will be conducted seminar-style, with mini-lectures and guided discussions.