Theoretical and Applied Ethics MIN
Program Purpose
The importance of ethics education is reflected in the number of ethics courses taught across the curriculum and across the university campus. There is an interdisciplinary sense that ethics training is a vital component of professional training. Ethics training provides a systematized way of thinking about issues of right and wrong, good and bad. While the various disciplines teaching ethics, including among others business, engineering, law, and nursing, offer cases that challenge the intuitions of students concerning right and wrong conduct, there is a need for moral theory that ties these intuitions about cases together into a consistent system. This minor offers more thoroughgoing theoretical ethical analysis for those who are pursuing studies invovling ethical applications in various disciplines. It also provides a unified core of study for those pursuing more normative avenues of study.This minor also provides a normative basis for social and political studies.
Curricular Structure
PHIL 213 - Introduction to Ethics
4 courses from the following list:
From the following, complete 4 courses in ethics, social and political philosophy, or history of philosophy with an emphasis on ethics:
PHIL 212R - Intro to Applied Ethics - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 217R - Contemp Political Philosophy - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 313R - History of Ethics - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 320R - Studies in Ancient Philosophy - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 330R - Studies in Medieval Philosophy - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 340R - Studies in Modern Philosophy - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 350R - Studies in Contemporary Phil - You may take once 3.0
PHIL 413R - Topics in Ethics - You may take once 3.0
POLI 362 - Reason, Revelation, & Politics 3.0
POLI 367 - Contemporary Political Theory 3.0
Note 1: No more than six credit hours may double-count for both the Philosophy major and the Theoretical and Applied Ethics minor.
Note 2: One approved 2 or 3 credit course in ethics from another department may substitute for any single course listed in the electives list above. (The Philosophy Department maintains a list of ethics courses offered by other BYU departments.)
For more information, please visit http://registrar.byu.edu/catalog/2013-2014ucat/departments/Philosophy/EthicsMinor.php
Learning Outcomes
History and Value of Philosophy
1. Identify major figures and texts in moral and political philosophy, their historical context, their philosophical interrelations, and their importance.
2. Identify the major areas, movements, and issues in the history of Western moral and political philosophy.
1. Write clear, cogent, logically sound, and well-researched essays.
2. Master and apply principles of informal logic, critical thinking, and critical reading.
3. Master university-level written and oral communication skills.
1. Apply philosophical knowledge and critical thinking/reading skills in writing papers and solving theoretical, practical, and ethical problems.
2. Integrate philosophical principles with religious and moral convictions.
Evidence of Learning
Direct Measures
1. Writing samples from selected ethics and social and political philosophy courses
2. Department exit examination
Indirect Measures
1. Alumni survey of recent graduates
Learning and Teaching Assessment and Improvement
At least annually the Committee on Teaching and Curriculum meets with the Committee on Assessment and Communication to review information from the various direct and indirect measures of the program. Recommendations are prepared for the department, which reviews the information and makes plans for improvements to curriculum and teaching based on the findings.