Postgraduate Course: Normative Theory MSc (PHIL11062)
Course Outline
| School | School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences | 
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences | 
 
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) | 
Availability | Not available to visiting students | 
 
| SCQF Credits | 20 | 
ECTS Credits | 10 | 
 
 
| Summary | This course provides a systematic comparison of some of the major normative traditions. The course looks at what exactly these traditions agree and disagree about.  
 
Shared with UG course PHIL10078 Normative Theory 
 
For courses co-taught with undergraduate students and with no remaining undergraduate spaces left, a maximum of 8 MSc students can join the course. Priority will be given to MSc students who wish to take the course for credit on a first come first served basis after matriculation. | 
 
| Course description | 
    
    The topic list is as follows: 
 
Week 1: Introduction 
Week 2: Consequentialism 
Week 3: Kant's Ethics 
Week 4: Contractualism 
Week 5: Virtue Ethics 
Week 6: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy 
Week 7: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy 
Week 8: Normative Explanation 
Week 9: Normative Explanation 
Week 10: Particularism 
Week 11: Particularism 
 
**Tutorials for PG students will happen on Fridays 11.10am - 12.00pm in room 6.01 Dugald Stewart Building.
    
    
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites | 
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Co-requisites |  | 
 
| Prohibited Combinations |  | 
Other requirements |  None | 
 
 
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |   
Learning Outcomes 
    On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
    
        - learn about the main normative ethical approaches
 - see how they have been, and could be, applied to practical ethical questions.
 - understand how and why they support similar and different verdicts.
 - read classic works in ethics
 - think about difficult practical questions and be able to defend one¿s view.
 
     
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Reading List 
Week 1: Introduction 
Bernard Williams 'Socrates' Question' Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy, Chapter one. 
 
Week 2: Consequentialism 
J. S. Mill Utilitarianism (chapter 3 optional)  
 
Week 3: Kant's Ethics 
Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals, (Chapter one and chapter two)  
 
Week 4: Contractualism 
T. Scanlon 'The Structure of Contractualism' in What We Owe To Each Other. 
 
Week 5: Virtue Ethics 
John McDowell 'Virtue and Reason' The Monist 62 (3):331-350 (1979) 
 
Week 6: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy I 
Bernard Williams, Chapters two and three of his Ethics and the Limits and Philosophy 
 
Week 7: Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy II 
Bernard Williams, Chapters four and five of his Ethics and the Limits of Philosophy 
 
Week 8: Normative Explanation 
Mark Schroeder, 'Cudworth and Normative Explanations' 
 
Week 9: Normative Explanation 
H. A. Prichard 'Does Moral Philosophy Rest on a Mistake?' 
 
Week 10: Particularism 
Jonathan Dancy 'What are the Options' Chapter one of his Ethics without Principles 
 
Week 11: Particularism 
Jonathan Dancy 'Holism and its Consequences' Chapter five of his Ethics without Principles 
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Additional Information
| Course URL | 
Please see Learn page | 
 
| Graduate Attributes and Skills | 
Not entered | 
 
| Additional Class Delivery Information | 
The course will be taught by Dr Debbie Roberts. 
 
Tutorials for PG students will happen on Fridays 11.10am - 12.00pm in room 6.01 Dugald Stewart Building. 
 
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| Keywords | Not entered | 
 
 
Contacts 
| Course organiser | Dr Deborah Roberts 
Tel: (0131 6)51 5171 
Email:  | 
Course secretary | Ms Becky Verdon 
Tel: (0131 6)50 3860 
Email:  | 
   
 
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