Course Syllabus

Introduction to Ethics

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Course Description

This course examines personal and professional issues from an ethical point of view, emphasizing how we decide what is right and wrong in our daily lives. Issues might include: civil rights, health care, political concerns, business decisions, war, and the environment.

Essential Objectives

1. Explain the basic concepts of classical and contemporary theories in ethics as they pertain to right and wrong, the individual and society, objectivity and subjectivity, happiness and suffering, free will, and fate.
2. Discuss the ideas of selected theorists, the methods they used to develop their ideas, and the cultural factors which influenced their theories.
3. Identify and describe the major influences in our society which shape our values.
4. Apply ethical theories of decision making and critical thinking skills to problems of social justice and propose just solutions.
5. Apply the basic concepts of classical and contemporary theories in ethics to the field of business and professional ethics.
6. Develop an ethical framework for defining and addressing issues in one's own life.
7. Describe his or her own decision-making process.

Required Technology

More information on general computer and internet recommendations is available on the CCV IT Support page. https://support.ccv.edu/general/computer-recommendations/

Please see CCV's Digital Equity Statement (pg. 45) to learn more about CCV's commitment to supporting all students access the technology they need to successfully finish their courses.

Required Textbooks and Resources

Link to Textbooks/Resources Information for this course in eCampus.

The last day to use a Financial Aid Advance to purchase textbooks/books is the 3rd Tuesday of the semester. See your financial aid counselor at your academic center if you have any questions.

Methods

Course Requirements:

This course will allow students to develop the skills and vocabulary necessary to describe moral decision-making processes. Students will be asked to evaluate and discuss current ethical dilemmas in our world using classical and contemporary ethical theories. Students will be required to maintain an open mind. Open discussion will be the primary way that we will confront these issues in each class. Respectful participation in these discussions is required. Students will complete a weekly journal entry that details their personal reflection on each week’s assigned readings and discussion. The goal of this is to see a development of thought behind moral reasoning. Other assignments will be described below.

The instructor reserves the right to change the syllabus as needed, with advanced notice to students, in order to better achieve course goals.

Texts:

This course will use open educational resources including this primary text:

Hendricks, C. & Matthews, G., eds. (2019). Introduction to philosophy: Ethics. Rebus Community. https://press.rebus.community/intro-to-phil-ethics/

Other articles and resources will be assigned via Canvas.

Evaluation Criteria

Assignments:

Weekly Course Discussions/Participation: Each week, students will participate in a discussion with their peers about the topic of the week. Students are required to make an initial post by Thursday of each week and respond to two peers by Sunday night at 11:55 PM. Weekly course discussions are not able to be made up if a student is unable to participate.

Journal Entries: Throughout the semester, students will submit a one page journal entry that should focus on their personal reaction to or struggle with our weekly reading assignments and class discussions. Journal entries are turned in weekly through Canvas. Has your attitude changed? How so? Have you ever looked at a moral question in a particular way before? Do you agree or disagree with a particular perspective? Did we focus on something that you never thought required a moral decision before?

Mid-term Response Paper: Using the moral theories and perspectives that have been discussed in class, students will complete a 3-4 page response paper based on an assigned article or prompt. This response paper provides students with an opportunity to apply the theoretical perspectives that have been studied to a particular dilemma.

Final Paper and Presentation:Instead of a final exam, you will be required to write a 5-6 page paper (12pt Times New Roman, 1 inch margins, double spaced.) This assignment will ask you to explore an ethical problem of our time, which must be pre-approved by the instructor). You should evaluate each problem using at least three different ethical theories that are covered throughout the course. A couple of weeks before the assignment is due, a portion of our class session will provide you with the opportunity to have a draft of your paper reviewed by a classmate.

Evaluations:

• Participation/Class Discussions: 30%
• Journal Entries: 20%
• Mid-term Response Paper: 20%
• Final Project: 30%

Grading Criteria

CCV Letter Grades as outlined in the Evaluation System Policy are assigned according to the following chart:

	High	Low
A+	100	98
A	Less than 98	93
A-	Less than 93	90
B+	Less than 90	88
B	Less than 88	83
B-	Less than 83	80
C+	Less than 80	78
C	Less than 78	73
C-	Less than 73	70
D+	Less than 70	68
D	Less than 68	63
D-	Less than 63	60
F	Less than 60
P	100	60
NP	Less than 60	0

Weekly Schedule

Attendance Policy

Regular attendance and participation in classes are essential for success in and are completion requirements for courses at CCV. A student's failure to meet attendance requirements as specified in course descriptions will normally result in a non-satisfactory grade.

• In general, missing more than 20% of a course due to absences, lateness or early departures may jeopardize a student's ability to earn a satisfactory final grade.
• Attending an on-ground or synchronous course means a student appeared in the live classroom for at least a meaningful portion of a given class meeting. Attending an online course means a student posted a discussion forum response, completed a quiz or attempted some other academically required activity. Simply viewing a course item or module does not count as attendance.
• Meeting the minimum attendance requirement for a course does not mean a student has satisfied the academic requirements for participation, which require students to go above and beyond simply attending a portion of the class. Faculty members will individually determine what constitutes participation in each course they teach and explain in their course descriptions how participation factors into a student's final grade.

Accessibility Services for Students with Disabilities:

1. Provide disability documentation to the Accessibility Coordinator at your academic center. https://ccv.edu/discover-resources/students-with-disabilities/
2. Request an appointment to meet with accessibility coordinator to discuss your request and create an accommodation plan.
3. Once created, students will share the accommodation plan with faculty. Please note, faculty cannot make disability accommodations outside of this process.

Academic Integrity