Download (12) Christian Moral Reasoning

3203
Ethics II: Religious Ethics
Course description
This course is designed to introduce students to the ethics of a non-Christian religion (its
concepts, variety, history, major figures, and some of its classic texts), to the critical comparison
of different religious ethics, and to the analysis of practical issues in politics and economics.
Aims
The aim of the Religious Ethics paper is to introduce students to the ethics of a non-Christian
religious tradition, to its critical comparison with Christian ethics, and to the analysis of practical
issues in the fields of politics and economics in terms of either Christian ethics or a non-Christian
religious ethical tradition or both.
Objectives
The course aims to enable candidates to demonstrate understanding of:
 principal concepts and methodological issues in a non-Christian tradition of moral thought
 how to relate non-Christian moral concepts and sources to Christian moral concepts and
sources
 concrete issues in the light of Christian and non-Christian religious moral sources and
concepts
 how to marshal relevant material in support of an argument
In the course of demonstrating the above, the course also aims to enable candidates,
secondarily, to demonstrate some understanding of:
 the moral thought of relevant major figures in the history of a non-Christian religious
ethical tradition
 the internal variety of this ethical tradition
 the relation of this ethical tradition to major schools of Western moral philosophy (e.g.,
those of Aristotle, Kant, and Utilitarianism) and to current intellectual trends (e.g., political
liberalism, feminism, postmodernism, human rights discourse)
8 lectures, 8 classes & 4 tutorials: the course aims to cover a lot of theoretical, practical, and
historical territory, as well as to induct candidates into careful comparative analysis of two
religious ethical traditions. Candidates will be prepared for the two parts of the examination
paper by introductory lectures on “A [Muslim or Jewish or Hindu etc] Vision of Moral Life” and 2
tutorials on concepts and methods, followed by classes on concrete moral issues in political and
economic ethics. Further tutorials will be devoted to the compulsory essay.