What does it mean to be moral?

Is murder morally wrong?  If we think that murder is morally wrong
is this just because we have been successfully educated by our
culture to have this “correct” opinion about murder?  Are moral
judgments like murder is wrong merely opinions that are relative to
the practices of a particular culture?  Is there anything more
behind the idea that murder is wrong than the fact that many of us
happen to believe that it is wrong?  What kind of argument could we
make to a person who did not hold the opinion that murder is
unethical?  Does our prohibition against murder represent an
objectively valid moral principle that holds for all people at all
times?

We all have ideas about right and wrong action.  These ideas are
generally so basic, such as the idea that murder is unethical, that
we rarely question them.  This course will examine the question what
does it mean to be moral?  The guiding idea behind this course is
that it is not sufficient to simply have opinions about ethical
issues.  If these issues are truly important to us, we ought to be
able to critically examine and defend our opinions as well.

We will begin the course by examining the controversy between
ethical relativism and moral objectivism.  The greater part of the
course will then be dedicated to examining how two ethical theories –
utilitarianism and Kantian ethics – attempt to answer the question,
what does it mean to be moral?  We will look carefully at the
ethical theories of Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill and evaluate
their respective strengths and weaknesses.  Finally, in the latter
part of the course we will apply these ethical theories to three
contemporary issues: capital punishment, abortion, and euthanasia.
In addition to homework and in class assignments, students will be
evaluated on the basis of two 3-5 page papers, a midterm
examination, and a final examination.