Academic Catalog

AET582 ETHICS AND VALUE I:THEORETICAL

Course Code: 8360582
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week): 3(3-0)
ECTS Credit: 8.0
Department: Applied Ethics
Language of Instruction: English
Level of Study: Graduate
Course Coordinator:
Offered Semester: Fall or Spring Semesters.

Course Content

The very continuity of the social order suggests that there is some degree of agreement about values, or at least some conformity to common principles of action. If so, the problem of philosophical reflection becomes one of deciding what our value commitments are and whether they can be defended as rational. The aim of this introductory course will be to pursue such reflection in conjunction with a reading and discussion of texts by major thinkers of the past (e.g., Aristotle, Plato, Kant, Mill, Nietzsche). The course will thus categorize, classify and summarize some of the major ethical theories such as subjectivism, objectivism, conventionalism, utilitarianism, the appeal to nature, the appeal to the golden rule, Kantianism, egoism, etc. The main focus will be to identify the criterion of rationality that these theories imply.