For the past few years, I’ve been teaching Introduction to Ethics at community colleges in Texas. Every now and then, I hear from people outside Texas who would like to take the course, not for college credit, but simply because they’re interested in learning about ethics.
Unfortunately, college bureaucracy makes it difficult to accommodate students who aren’t officially enrolled. So, if there’s enough interest, I’d like to try offering the course independently to a small group of students, if there’s an interest.
The course is an introduction to philosophical ethics. We’ll begin with argumentation and critical thinking, before moving on to major ethical theories and a series of controversial real-world issues, including animal ethics, abortion, drug policy, the death penalty, and global poverty.
The goal isn’t simply to learn what different philosophers have said. You’ll be expected to understand and evaluate arguments, develop your own positions, and engage with people who disagree with you.
This would be an 8-week, fully asynchronous online course on Canvas. There are no scheduled meetings, so you can do the work on your own schedule. Each week, you’ll be expected to complete assigned readings and watch online lectures and videos. No textbook is required; all course materials will be provided.
I would expect you to devote roughly 9 hours per week to the course if you want to get the most out of it. You’ll need to be prepared to do substantial reading, think carefully about the material, and participate actively.
There will be six quizzes covering the readings, lectures, and videos, and weekly discussions. I’ll provide you with grades and feedback on your work and, at the end, I’m happy to provide a certificate of participation documenting your completion of the course. What I can’t offer is any kind of formal credit, so this is only for students with a genuine interest in learning about ethics for the sake of learning.
I expect students not to use AI tools for this course. Part of what makes an ethics course worthwhile is having genuine conversations with other people: reading what they actually think, responding to their arguments, and reconsidering your own views. I want us to have these conversations without everyone outsourcing their thinking and writing to AI.
You don’t need to have studied philosophy before! No prior knowledge in philosophy is required for the course.
I’d like to start the course sometime within the next two weeks. The exact start date will depend on interest and on how quickly I can put everything together.
I’ll limit the number of students to make if possible for myself to give due attention to each student.
If this sounds interesting to you, please fill out this form to indicate your interest:
https://forms.gle/gKvEYVtM53fC5tGk8
Filling out the form does not commit you to taking the course. I’m simply trying to determine whether there is enough interest to make this worthwhile and, if so, how many people would like to participate.
