Phil 247 – Practical Ethics

“Practical ethics” concerns the question of how to put our ethical obligations into practice. To answer this question, we must not only engage in philosophical theorizing – to determine the nature of our ethical obligations – but we must also engage in empirical analysis – to determine how we can effectively satisfy these obligations. In this class, we will be especially concerned with practical ethics as it relates to global economic inequality. Our primary focus will be on the moral question of whether we shouldhelp the global poor. We will also consider whether we can, in fact, help the global poor. We will consider research in philosophy, history, development economics, political science, and social psychology. The goal of this class is to give students concrete information that they can use to determine how they should think about and react to the moral problem of global poverty.

Phil 243 – Political Philosophy

This course introduces students to the history of political philosophy. We will survey the ideas of historical thinkers who argue for radical political change. We will read work by abolitionists, suffragists, anti-colonialists, and civil rights activists. We focus on these thinkers because, for the most part, they are often either under examined or completely ignored by philosophers and hence are ripe for the attention of curious minds! We will consider the ideas that are offered in light of recent revolutionary movements including the civil rights movement, the Black Lives Matter protests, and the Wet’suwet’en resistance to the coastal gasLink pipeline.