We may often reflect on the moral questions in life, such as the
following:  How ought I to act?  What sort of habits should I strive
to develop?  How can I determine which actions are right and which
are wrong?  What makes actions good or bad?  Which goals are worth
pursuing in life?  What moral duties do I owe to myself and my fellow
persons?

Are there any objective moral values, or are they “just relative”?
Such questions might be thought amongst the deepest challenges we
face in life, as their answers seem both staggeringly important and
yet constantly out of grasp.

Ethics is the branch of philosophy which investigates such
questions.  As a branch of philosophy, ethics approaches these
questions with precision and rigor.  This course will explore the
ethical thought of some of history’s most profound and exacting
thinkers, including Plato, Aristotle, Bentham, Mill, Kant, and
Nietzsche.  We will also consider the relevance of their theories to
contemporary moral problems.

The coursework will involve weekly Oncourse reading quizzes, essay
tests, and a final paper, with special emphasis on the clarity and
thoroughness of written work.