Kenan Institute for Ethics Courses
EVANTH 125S-01 / ETHICS 125S-01 / SOCIOL 123S-01
Partnering and Parenting
(Spring 2011)
Instructors: Suzanne Shanahan and Brian Hare (Cultural Anthropology)
This course examines current patterns of human mating and family dynamics across cultures from an interdisciplinary perspective. Using guest lectures from natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities; field exercises; and problem solving assignments, students apply biological, societal, and institutional knowledge and methods to address questions in three main areas: 1) how much does biology determine mating and parenting behavior? 2) How much do institutions determine mating and parenting behavior? 3) Can anyone be a “good” mate or “good” parent? Each section is tied to ethical questions such as “should governments define what it means to be a good parent?” Problem-centric approach will guide discussion.
PUTTI (Provost’s Undergraduate Team-Teaching Initiative) courses are team-taught, problem-focused undergraduate courses which approach pressing global societal challenges from multiple disciplines and engage faculty from across schools and University Institutes.
ETHICS 137-01 / NEUROSCI 137-01 / PHIL 153-01 / PSY 119-01
Neuroethics
(Spring 2011)
Instructors: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong and Scott Huettel (Psychology and Neuroscience)
This course focuses on emerging ethical controversies concurrent with advances in neuroscience. Background material covered will include concepts and methods in neuroscience and theories of ethics and morality from philosophy, law, and other fields. Ethical topics covered will include biological bases of morality; emotions and decision making; neuroeconomics and neuromarketing; pathologies of mind and behavior; volition and legal culpability.
PUTTI (Provost’s Undergraduate Team-Teaching Initiative) courses are team-taught, problem-focused undergraduate courses which approach pressing global societal challenges from multiple disciplines and engage faculty from across schools and University Institutes.
ETHICS 180S-01 / POLSCI 199CS-01
Special Topics in Ethics: Ethics in Global Politics
(Spring 2011)
Instructor: Amber Diaz
In a world faced with challenges to human security ranging from terrorism and war to natural disasters and pandemics, what are the significant ethical dilemmas faced by scholars, policy-makers, and practitioners? We begin by establishing a basis for ethical reasoning about global politics by engaging several philosophical schools of thought, and from this foundation move into discussion of salient issues including human trafficking, mass killing and genocide, humanitarian relief efforts, migration and refugees, the ethics of war and peacekeeping, climate change and ecological justice, and questions of poverty and distributive justice. The purpose of this course is to enable students to apply rigorous social science methodology and critical thinking to the major ethical issues faced in global politics today, in order to develop practical and applicable responses.
ETHICS 100D
The Challenges of Living an Ethical Life
(Fall 2010)
Instructor: Ruth Grant
The course is framed by a number of familiar but fundamental ethical questions: What is a good, just and worthy life? How is it to be lived and among whom and by engaging in what sorts of activities? What is the relationship between politics and morality or ethics and power? What are the differences between morality and moralism, ethical responsibility and irresponsibility? In what ways and to what degree are human beings independent actors and to what degree are they shaped by forces outside their control and consciousness? Are violence and war, lying and deception ever justified? When and how? To what extent are we captured by the particular circumstances of our lives and to what extent can we develop more capacious understandings of citizenship and community? How do issues of race, class and gender shape what we mean by a moral life, and who can or should live it?
(Ethics 100D is the gateway course for the Ethics Certificate Program.)
ETHICS 202S, POLSCI 225S, SOC 202S, PUBPOL 203S
Organizations in Crisis
(Fall 2010)
Instructor: Rebecca Dunning
This course examines the causes and consequences of ethical crisis and change across business, military, higher education, and religious institutions and introduces students to different perspectives and traditions to make sense of organizations and their ethical cultures. The class will host guest speakers from the worlds of business, academia, organized religion, and the military. Each student’s final product is a case study of an ethical crisis in an organization.
PUBPOL 270, HIST 211
The History of Poverty in the U.S.
(Fall 2010)
Instructors: Bob Korstad and Jim Leloudis
The overarching goals of this course–and the larger project on the Moral Challenges of Poverty and Inequality, of which it is a part–are to raise awareness and a sense of urgency among the public about the ongoing prevalence of poverty and inequality in North Carolina; to analyze competing ethical principles and their resulting policy prescriptions for alleviating poverty; and to educate future leaders about the human and economic costs of poverty and the challenge it poses in a democracy.
ETHICS 200
Research Seminar in Ethics
(Spring 2010)
Two sections of Ethics 200 are being offered this semester.
“Crime and Punishment”
Instructor: Walter Sinnott-Armstrong
In this course, students read and discuss recent work on crime and punishment, including debates about the death penalty. During the course, students write a book comprised of individual chapters written by them using the tools and training reflected in their chosen majors. Collectively, the chapters provide disciplinary perspectives that reflect the complex ethical, cultural and political problems of crime and punishment.
“Markets and Moral Order”
Instructor: Kieran Healy
This course examines the relationship between the institution of the market and the moral order of society. The market has variously been seen as a civilizing force, a corrosive influence on character, a seedbed of personal virtue, an engine of spite and envy, the foundation of individual freedom, a juggernaut that destroys everything in its path, and a thin reed in need of just the right mix of cultural values and social organization to survive. Students read the social theory of the market, drawing on sources in philosophy, politics, history, economics, and sociology The emphasis is on work that is both theoretically innovative and empirically grounded.
(Ethics 200 is the capstone course for the Ethics Certificate Program.)
ETHICS 180-01/CULTANTH 180-04
Special Topics in Ethics: Anthropology and Ethics
(Spring 2010)
Instructor: Aaron Thornburg
2009-2010 Kenan Instructorship in Ethics recipient
This course addresses ethical issues and debates within the anthropological subdisciplines of Archaeology, Biological Anthropology (including Primatology), Cultural Anthropology/Ethnography, and Visual Anthropology. By investigating anthropological ethics in its multiple (but not unrelated) manifestations, the course provides an opportunity for students to learn more about ethics through the lens of discussions and debates emanating from this holistic and ethically embattled field that have bearing on cognate disciplines and the study of the field of ethics in general.
ETHICS 280S / GLHLTH 279S
Refugees: Global Health and Ethics
(Fall 2009)
Instructor: Fiona Terry
This seminar examined the ethical and global health challenges posed by refugees and internally displaced persons in the contemporary era.
ETHICS 202S
Organizations in Crisis
(Fall 2008)
Instructors: Noah Pickus, Suzanne Shanahan
Course Description: This course examined the causes and consequences of ethical crisis across business, military, higher education and religious institutions and introduces students to different perspectives and traditions to make sense of organizations and their ethical culture. It focused on contending conceptions of ethics and the meaning of ethical crisis, on why certain organizations are more prone to ethical problems, and on why certain organizations are better able to manage them.
