Logo UAB
2022/2023

Ethics

Code: 100282 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500246 Philosophy OB 2 1

Contact

Name:
Angel Puyol González
Email:
angel.puyol@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
catalan (cat)
Some groups entirely in English:
No
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Other comments on languages

Prof. Gómez will teach in Spanish

Teachers

Irene Gomez Franco

Prerequisites

No

Objectives and Contextualisation

  1. Learn to distinguish ethics as a philosophical reflection, that is, as a reflection on a specific discursive medium: the own of a form of knowledge not comparable to science or common sense.
  2. To understand and practise correctly this kind of discourse.
  3. To learn to recognize the major issues and problems that have been raised so far.
  4. Integrate what you learn in the philosophical training acquired during the first year of the degree.
  5. Learn how to relate ethical problems with philosophical issues in general, all of them coping identities and differences between one and the other.

Competences

  • Analysing and summarising the main arguments of fundamental texts of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Applying the knowledge of ethics to the moral problems of society, and assessing the implications about the human condition of changes in the world of contemporary techniques.
  • Recognising and interpreting topics and problems of philosophy in its various disciplines.
  • Students must be capable of applying their knowledge to their work or vocation in a professional way and they should have building arguments and problem resolution skills within their area of study.
  • Students must be capable of collecting and interpreting relevant data (usually within their area of study) in order to make statements that reflect social, scientific or ethical relevant issues.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Students must have and understand knowledge of an area of study built on the basis of general secondary education, and while it relies on some advanced textbooks it also includes some aspects coming from the forefront of its field of study.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Accurately drawing up normative texts.
  2. Autonomously searching, selecting and processing information both from structured sources (databases, bibliographies, specialized magazines) and from across the network.
  3. Correctly, accurately and clearly communicating the acquired philosophical knowledge in oral and written form.
  4. Establishing relationships between science, philosophy, art, religion, politics, etc.
  5. Expressing both orally and in written form, the issues and basic problems of the philosophical tradition.
  6. Reading basic philosophical text thoroughly.
  7. Relating the characteristic elements and factors of the philosophical tradition.
  8. Rigorously building ethical arguments, and defending and distinguishing them from the incorrect ones.
  9. Students must develop the necessary learning skills to undertake further training with a high degree of autonomy.
  10. Summarising the topics and arguments exposed in a classical philosophical debate.

Content

Program

Part 1:

  1. What is ethics?
  2. Objectivity and subjectivity in ethics.
  3. Relativism and universalism in ethics.
  4. The foundation of ethics.
  5. Ethics in relation to science, law and religion.
  6. The ethical dilemmas. Moral argumentation. 
  7. Psychology and biology in ethics. Altruism and selfishness.

 Part 2:

  1. Aristote and virtue ethics.
  2. Hume and moral feelings.
  3. Kant and the moral duty.
  4. John Stuart Mill and utilitarianism.
  5. The philosophy of suspicion: Marx, Nietzsche and Freud. 
  6. Ethics and feminism: Mary Wollstonecraft and Simone de Beauvoir.

 

 

 

Methodology

During the sessions, the teachers will present the topics of the program detailing the main concepts, framed in the appropriate argumentation. The reading orientation will also be understood, with special emphasis on the recommended readings.

Annotation:Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Directed 35 1.4 4, 7, 10
directed 10 0.4 6
Type: Supervised      
Supervissing 20 0.8 3, 5
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomus 50 2 6, 7
Autonoumus 27.5 1.1 2, 3, 1

Assessment

There will be an exam on the first part and text comments on the second part (1/3 of the final mark each test).

Development of a topic to choose from among those that the teachers will plant (1/3 of the final grade; maximum 1,500 words; delivered on the first day of class in 2023).

Each test must be passed separately in order to get the average that allows to pass the avaluation.

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity,
regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
first test: exam 1/3 final qualification 2.5 0.1 2, 3, 8, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10
second test: text comment 1/3 final qualification 2.5 0.1 2, 3, 8, 1, 5, 6, 7, 10
third test: essay 1/3 final qualification 2.5 0.1 2, 3, 8, 1, 5, 6, 9, 7

Bibliography

Textbooks:

Camps, Victòria, Breve historia de la ética, RBA, Barcelona.

Camps, V. (editora), Historia de la ética, 3 volums, Crítica, Barcelona.

MacIntyre, Alasdair, Historia de la ética, Crítica.

 

Main works:

Aristóteles, Ética a Nicómaco

Kant, Fundamentación de la metafísica de las costumbres

John Stuart Mill, Utilitarismo

Nietzsche, Genealogía de la moral

Simone de Beauvoir, El segundo sexo

Software

No.