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

(14 hours)

1. Complete the following: PHIL 213 : Introduction to Ethics.
2. From the following, complete four courses in ethics, social and political philosophy, or history of philosophy with an emphasis on ethics:

PHIL 217R : Social and Political Philosophy. PHIL 313R : History of Ethics. PHIL 320R : Studies in Ancient Philosophy.

(Must have an emphasis on ethics.)

PHIL 330R : Studies in Medieval Philosophy.

(Must have an emphasis on ethics.)

PHIL 340R : Studies in Modern Philosophy.

(Must have an emphasis on ethics.)

PHIL 350R : Studies in Contemporary Philosophy.

(Must have an emphasis on ethics.)

PHIL 413R : Topics in Ethics. PL SC 300 : Contemporary Political Theory. PL SC 307 : Reason, Revelation, and Politics. PL SC 309R : Topics in Political Philosophy.

Note: One approved 2 or 3 credit course in ethics from another department may substitute for any single course listed above. (The Philosophy Department maintains a list of ethics courses offered by other BYU departments.)

*Hours include courses that may fulfill university core requirements.

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.

Critical and Effective Reading, Writing, and Communicating

 

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.

Philosophical and Ethical Applications

 

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.