Curriculum

Students must complete 7 credits of coursework. Approved courses will be listed approximately two weeks in advance of registration each semester, and a master list of past approved courses will be available from the program director.

Gateway: Ethics 100D: The Challenges of Living an Ethical Life
This course is specially designed for Ethics Certificate students and is offered once each academic year. All Ethics Certificate students are required to take this course. It is a prerequisite for the Capstone and for one of the two .5-credit seminars.

Discussions in Ethics: Ethics 102.1 and 102.2: Engaging Ethics Outside the Classroom
These two .5-credit courses are required of all Ethics Certificate students and are open only to those students. Each semester, students meet with faculty and non-academic professionals to discuss the ways they address ethical issues in their work. It is required that students take the Gateway course before completing the second of these seminars. Ethics 102.1 and 102.2 may be taken in any sequence.

Capstone: Ethics 200: Research Seminar in Ethics
This course should be taken in the spring semester of a student’s senior year, and it is open only to Ethics Certificate students. Usually organized around a broad theme, the course allows students to undertake their own original research, integrating the knowledge obtained through a major or majors with insights gained through the study of ethics. As appropriate, the research for this course can link with (but not be substituted by) research undertaken to graduate with Distinction in a major or in the certificate.


In addition to the Gateway, Capstone and Discussions in Ethics courses, students must take four courses which should be distributed as follows:

I. Philosophical Ethics: Develop a foundation in philosophical ethical traditions. Students must complete one of the following, and may take one additional course from this category:

  • Philosophy 107: Political and Social Philosophy (offered at least every two years)
  • Philosophy 116: Problems in Ethical Theory (offered yearly)
  • Philosophy 117: Ancient and Modern Ethical Theory (offered yearly)
  • Political Science 123: Introduction to Political Philosophy (offered yearly)

II. Cross-Cultural Ethical Traditions: Develop insight into a variety of ethical traditions across cultures. Students must take at least one course from a list of approved courses in this category.

III. Ethics in Historical Perspective: Develop knowledge of different ethical dilemmas across time, as well as the variety of solutions offered to those dilemmas. Students must take at least one course from a list of approved courses in this category or one course in Category IV below.

IV. Ethics in Literature and the Arts: Develop a moral imagination and gain a deeper  understanding of human frailty, creativity, and strength by studying fiction, poetry, painting, and film. Students must take at least one course from a list of approved courses in this category or one course in Category III.

V. Ethics of Contemporary Issues: Explore the ethical challenges in today’s  workplaces, fields of study, and everyday life. Students may take one course from a list of
approved courses in this category.

To summarize, students take one course each from Category I and Category II, one course in either Category III or Category IV, and one additional course in any of the five categories.


Please note: The following rules apply to all certificate programs at Duke:

  • No more than half of the courses taken to satisfy the requirements of the certificate may originate in a single department or program.
  • Students electing to satisfy the requirements of a certificate program may use for that purpose no more than two courses that are also used to satisfy the requirements of a major, minor, or other certificate programs being pursued.
  • At least four of the courses used for a certificate must be 100-level or above.
  • At least half the courses taken to satisfy a certificate must be taken at Duke.



Course Registration Information
This is not a complete list of courses that are approved for the Ethics Certificate, but only those that were offered in each semester listed. Courses listed for Spring 2011 follow the old curriculum categories, but the classes themselves can still count towards the certificate.