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PHIL20240

Academic Year 2024/2025

Applied Ethics (PHIL20240)

Subject:
Philosophy
College:
Social Sciences & Law
School:
Philosophy
Level:
2 (Intermediate)
Credits:
5
Module Coordinator:
Professor Katherine O'Donnell
Trimester:
Spring
Mode of Delivery:
On Campus
Internship Module:
No
How will I be graded?
Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

Syllabus: Applied Ethics 20240

This course will examine a range of perennial ethical problems using the crisis of accelerating climate change as our focal point. One of the most fundamental ethical questions we can ask is what do we owe each other? What do we owe those suffering hunger, poverty, and injustice? How do these duties apply to future generations? Do we have a duty to open our borders to those escaping persecution or climate change? To what degree are we willing to radically alter the way we live to preserve ‘our’ way of life?

While these questions have been around for a long time, our post-COVID world seems particularly rife with anxiety and uncertainty. Will the world ever ‘go back to normal’? What kind of career trajectory or life plan can we reasonably expect to pursue? Beyond any preferred normative viewpoint, questions relating to which diet is the best to maintain or the preservation of habitats for non-human life, carry added existential weight. It is no longer enough to ask, “How ought we to live?” We must now view all human activities through an ecological prism in order to safeguard the very possibility of human society. As a species, we are more powerful than ever before, and yet as individuals we often feel helpless in the face of novel zoonotic illnesses, fragile supply chains, and increasingly unpredictable weather patterns. However bleak things may look to us at present, it is vital to face these threats directly while strengthening our capacities to think critically and compassionately.

About this Module

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this module students will have gained a good understanding of the range and depth of practical ethical problems facing us today. A general aim of this module is to teach students to approach difficult and often emotive topics in a structured and analytical manner focusing on the critical assessment of arguments.

Indicative Module Content:

1. Accelerated Climate Change and ‘Hopelessness’
2. Moral status of Non-human Beings
3. Eco-fascism and eco-terrorism
4. Moral Duties to Future Generations
5. Duties and Rights of those Displaced by Climate Change
6. Moral and Existential Hazards of Geoengineering

Student Effort Hours:
Student Effort Type Hours
Autonomous Student Learning

93

Lectures

24

Tutorial

8

Total

125


Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The module will comprise lectures and small-group tutorials.

Assignment Instructions
You must give page numbers when you are making references to and quoting from works. Failure to do so will be strictly penalised.
You are expected to refer at least twice to particular discussions that took place in lectures or tutorials. Please give the dates as to when these discussions took place. Failure to do so will be strictly penalised.
Generative AI Use in Module Assignments – Amber Light
You may use generative AI for assignments in this module for certain purposes only (listed below and within UCD academic integrity guidelines.
• To generate a research plan;
• To correct spelling, grammar and punctuation;
• To translate passages of text;
• To arrange references according to a particular citation style – we recommend Harvard or Chicago;
• To get feedback on a draft.

If you are unsure of contravening academic integrity guidelines in your use of Generative AI, please email your tutor and/or the lecturer in advance of engaging with Gen AI.

If you use Gen AI you must:
(a) Show track changes or provide access to the document history (via a Google Doc. link to archived drafts) to show the writing, revision, and editing process.
AND (b) Write a short description of how Gen AI was used in the preparation of the assignment.
This final instruction is very important as your assignment will go through a plagiarism detection tool which will most likely flag your submission as being generated through GenAI and you will be at risk of having your grade severely penalised if you do not provide either a document with track changes or provide access to the document history to show the writing, revision, and editing process AND also provide a short description (100-200 words) of how you used Gen AI.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy
Description Timing Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade In Module Component Repeat Offered
Assignment(Including Essay): This mid'term assignment will be a written exercise of 500-800 words Week 8 Graded No
30
No
Participation in Learning Activities: students will be graded on their participation in tutorial activities Week 3, Week 4, Week 5, Week 6, Week 7, Week 9, Week 10 Graded No
20
No
Assignment(Including Essay): The students will have an end-of-semester essay of 1,800-2,000 words Week 14 Graded No
50
No

Carry forward of passed components
No
 

Resit In Terminal Exam
Autumn No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback will be given on each of the essays

Name Role
Dr Rachel Handley Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Assoc Professor Danielle Petherbridge Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Jonathan Wren Lecturer / Co-Lecturer

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.
Spring Lecture Offering 1 Week(s) - 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33 Fri 10:00 - 11:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 1 Week(s) - 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31 Thurs 11:00 - 11:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 2 Week(s) - 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 31 Thurs 15:00 - 15:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 6 Week(s) - 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 Wed 14:00 - 14:50
Spring Tutorial Offering 7 Week(s) - 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30 Wed 13:00 - 13:50