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How are moral standards established? How do we differentiate right from wrong? Why should we be ethical? This course will seek to provide both religious and philosophical answers to these questions. We will begin studying the ethical code of Christianity, which provides us with a divine command to act ethically and a divine example to imitate, that of Christ’s sacrifice. We then compare this code to that of Buddhism, which uses the concepts of reincarnation and interdependency to instill morality in its adherents and stresses that human suffering can be overcome only through ethical action. We then turn to philosophical theories, studying the ethical theories of ancient Greek philosophers Aristotle and Plato, the duty ethics of modern philosopher Kant and postmodern philosopher Lévinas, the utilitarian ethics of Bentham and the ethics of desire of Spinoza, as well as Nietzsche’s plea to rid ethics of morality. Finally, we will assess the relevance of these theories in a discussion of cultural relativism, and apply these views to current debates (euthanasia, abortion, ecology, bio-technology, suicide, the death penalty…)
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