Introduction to Ethics
In teaching Introduction to Ethics, I have found that my students prefer exposure to more ways of thinking about ethics, and to this purpose, I have found adopting Shafer-Landau’s introductory texts to be fantastic for that purpose, as they go over not only the “big three” moral theories (Kant, Utilitarianism, and Virtue Ethics), but also W.D. Ross’ theory of Prima Facie Duties, Feminist Ethics, and Social Contract theory, which enrich the classroom discussions. Furthermore, the sections on the good life and metaethics are also fantastic for making distinctions while also examining the presuppositions and structures of moral theories themselves. I’ve moved from using Shafer- Landau’s Fundamentals of Ethics and The Ethical Life combination to his Concise Introduction to Ethics, while adding short fiction to the course. In using these textbooks, I also work with my students to help them to develop the skills to be critical of the authors of textbooks as well, seeing them as works of their own to be engaged with, rather than merely providing Knowledge or Truths to be memorized.
At the start of the course I have my students engage in a collective, reflective values exercise in order to generate lists of the values that they hold at the stat of the course, with those values ranked and defined. We refer back to the lists throughout the course and reflect on how the different theories engaged with challenge or support their values, ending the course with a discussion about how they might change their lists now having gone through all the material.
Sample Syllabi
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Summer 2018
This course was taught during one of UGA’s “Maymester” sessions. These courses run for four weeks, meeting for approximately three hours per day, every day. While the course schedule meant covering a lot of material in a short amount of time, the longer class sessions allowed for more in-depth, rich discussion.
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Fall 2020
This course was my first time experimenting with Slack as a course communication and management tool as an instructor. For teaching during the pandemic in mixed delivery environments, Slack was an extremely valuable tool, and it helped keep the course on track and everyone in communication with one another.
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Summer 2022
This iteration of the course was taught as a part of UGA’s Thrive at Georgia early-start Summer program where students take an introductory course and a course on university success strategies. I allowed students to also pick a special topic for a day, where we covered moral responsibility and psychopaths. I also began more fully introducing short stories into the class in order to anchor the material.
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Fall 2022
This was the first Introduction to Ethics course I taught at Northland College. For this iteration of the course, I adapted my Summer 2022 Thrive course to a full semester course. For this iteration of the course, I also added an extra, brief reflection piece at the end of the course.
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Fall 2024
This iteration of the course improved upon the 2022 version by incorporating more logic practice. Since the Shafer-Landau texts regularly refer back to the logical standards of soundness and validity, I wanted to reinforce this material for more intentional use throughout the course.