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Class number:
2985
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Title: The Birth of Modern Ethics |
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Department: Philosophy |
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Career: Undergraduate |
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Component: Seminar |
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Session: Regular |
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Instructor's Permission Required: No |
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Grading Basis: Regular |
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Units: 1.00 |
| Enrollment limited to 25 |
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Current enrollment: 21 |
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Available seats: 4 |
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Start date: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 |
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End date: Friday, May 8, 2026 |
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Mode of Instruction: In Person |
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Schedule: TR: 2:55PM-4:10PM, MC - 307 |
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Instructor(s): Ryan, Todd |
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Prerequisite(s): None |
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Distribution Requirement: Meets Humanities Requirement |
Course Description:
The seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuries were an extraordinarily fruitful period in the development of modern ethics. As philosophy began to free itself from traditional religious belief, thinkers were led to pose such fundamental questions as what motivates human behavior? Are all of our actions ultimately selfish or do we have a natural concern for the well-being of others? Are there objective moral truths knowable by reason or do we judge human behavior based on feeling? What reason do we have to be moral even when doing so appears not to be in our own self-interest? Among the authors to be discussed are Hobbes, Mandeville, Hutcheson, Butler and Hume. |