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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Philosophy

Postgraduate Course: Normative Theory MSc (PHIL11062)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course provides a systematic comparison of some of the major normative traditions. The course looks at what exactly these traditions agree and disagree about.

Shared with UG course PHIL10078 Normative Theory

For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation.
Course description The topic list is as follows:

Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Consequentialism
Week 3: Kant's Ethics
Week 4: Contractualism
Week 5: Virtue Ethics
Week 6: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
Week 7: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy
Week 8: Normative Explanation
Week 9: Normative Explanation
Week 10: Particularism
Week 11: Particularism

**Tutorials for PG students will happen on Fridays 11.10am - 12.00pm in room 6.01 Dugald Stewart Building.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. learn about the main normative ethical approaches
  2. see how they have been, and could be, applied to practical ethical questions.
  3. understand how and why they support similar and different verdicts.
  4. read classic works in ethics
  5. think about difficult practical questions and be able to defend one¿s view.
Reading List
Week 1: Introduction
Bernard Williams 'Socrates' Question' Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Chapter one.

Week 2: Consequentialism
J. S. Mill Utilitarianism (chapter 3 optional)

Week 3: Kant's Ethics
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, (Chapter one and chapter two)

Week 4: Contractualism
T. Scanlon 'The Structure of Contractualism' in What We Owe To Each Other.

Week 5: Virtue Ethics
John McDowell 'Virtue and Reason' The Monist 62 (3):331-350 (1979)

Week 6: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy I
Bernard Williams, Chapters two and three of his Ethics and the Limits and Philosophy

Week 7: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy II
Bernard Williams, Chapters four and five of his Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy

Week 8: Normative Explanation
Mark Schroeder, 'Cudworth and Normative Explanations'

Week 9: Normative Explanation
H. A. Prichard 'Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?'

Week 10: Particularism
Jonathan Dancy 'What are the Options' Chapter one of his Ethics without Principles

Week 11: Particularism
Jonathan Dancy 'Holism and its Consequences' Chapter five of his Ethics without Principles
Additional Information
Course URL Please see Learn page
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information The course will be taught by Dr Debbie Roberts.

Tutorials for PG students will happen on Fridays 11.10am - 12.00pm in room 6.01 Dugald Stewart Building.

KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Deborah Roberts
Tel: (0131 6)51 5171
Email: D.Roberts@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Becky Verdon
Tel: (0131 6)51 5002
Email: Rebecca.Verdon@ed.ac.uk
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