Contemporary Moral and Political Issues

This is a course in applied ethics and politics, designed to discuss issues of contemporary moral and political concern. Here are just a small selection of the questions we’ll discuss: ● What are the limits of free speech? ● What duties do the global rich have to assist the global poor? ● How should we treat nonhuman animals? Can they have rights? ● What share of goods created through social cooperation are people entitled to? ● Can countries rightly choose to exclude immigrants? ● Is abortion permissible? How does this question relate to abortion’s legal status? As you can see, we will be covering a wide range of topics. Our goal is to approach these issues from a philosophically informed perspective so that by the end of the course you are better equipped to grapple with controversial issues.