Undergraduate Module Descriptor

PHL1013: Philosophy of Morality

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The course introduces students to basic principles of the main contending moral theories and seeks to show how these are involved in assessing moral justifiability and obligation. It will also draw attention to the complex relation between moral theory and moral judgment on the one hand, and the factual status of the phenomena and situations to which moral reasoning and principles are applied on the other.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. competently understand some of the main ethical theories;
2. evaluate practical areas of ethical controversy in the light of these theories
Discipline-Specific Skills3. reflect on and identify issues of fundamental ethical significance;
4. relate these issues to social, historical and material features of the cultural environment
Personal and Key Skills5. reflect on, and examine critically, taken-for-granted beliefs and values;
6. analyze and communicate, clearly and directly, arguments and positions (both one's own and well-established ones.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Bennett, Christopher: What is this Thing Called Ethics?, London/ New York: Routledge 2010.
Rachels, James: The Right Thing to Do, 5th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill 2010.

Rachels, James & Stuart: The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 6th ed. Boston: McGraw Hill 2010.

Mill, John Stuart: Utilitarianism, ed. Roger Crisp, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2007.