Applied Ethics

This module will be a survey of some of the most pressing ethical issues confronting us today. The discussion will begin with describing what applied ethics is and the range of topics that are normally covered under this field of ethics. Students will engage with ethical issues from thematic clusters: Environment and Climate Change, Medical and Public Health, Conflict and Violence, Migration, and Artificial Intelligence. In engaging with these thematic clusters, the lectures and tutorials will ask: How is the subject being discussed an ethical issue or concern? What ethical principles do they violate? What understanding of an ethical life or ethical society is it fostering or preventing? How does the phenomenon under investigation harm or benefit living entities? How can things change for the better? This module will require a fair amount of autonomous reading. Students are required to read the text before the class and participate in the discussion.