Ethics & Civics

Philosophy of Technology: From Marx and Heidegger to Artificial Intelligence, Genome Editing, and Geoengineering (Gen Ed 1194)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

Is technology good, bad, or neutral – and if good, should we make it central to solving all our problems; if bad, should we radically change our ways; and if neutral, then what else should be the focus as we look for solutions to global problems?

 

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Mathias Risse

Technology shapes how power is exercised in society, and thereby also shapes how the present changes into the future. Technological innovation is all around us, and new possibilities in fields like artificial intelligence, genome-editing and geoengineering not only reallocate power, but might transform human life itself considerably, to the point of modifying the essence of what it is to be human.... Read more about Philosophy of Technology: From Marx and Heidegger to Artificial Intelligence, Genome Editing, and Geoengineering (Gen Ed 1194)

Philanthropy, Nonprofits, and the Social Good (Gen Ed 1192)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How can we most effectively harness the power of philanthropic giving and nonprofit work to create positive social change and address society's most pressing challenges?

 

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Shai M. Dromi

How can charitable giving and nonprofit work be used to foster positive social impact? This course investigates this question by introducing students to the nature of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations, and their influence on civil society.... Read more about Philanthropy, Nonprofits, and the Social Good (Gen Ed 1192)

Security (Gen Ed 1020)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How do the moral implications of security, a term with a long and provocatively ambivalent history, continue to be relevant in today’s understanding of community and social responsibility?

 

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John Hamilton

Security is everywhere. Driven by hopes and fears, the need to be or feel safe determines almost every aspect of our world, from politics, foreign policy and environmental concerns to our social, communal and personal relationships. But what in fact do you desire when you desire security?... Read more about Security (Gen Ed 1020)

U.S. K-12 Schools: Assumptions, Binaries, and Controversies (Gen Ed 1189)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

What if schools were for learning instead of education?

 

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Elizabeth City

You will be involved in education your whole life. As a taxpayer, voter, or parent, you will be connected with formal schooling. You will almost certainly be in the role of teacher at various points in your life, whether in a classroom, in another professional setting, or guiding someone in something you love to do.... Read more about U.S. K-12 Schools: Assumptions, Binaries, and Controversies (Gen Ed 1189)

Borders (Gen Ed 1140)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How have borders been formed historically, and what are the ethics of border construction, defense, expansion or transgression?

 

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Mary Lewis

Two people holding hands and crying on the opposite sides of a metal fence.

As a society, we pay particular attention to borders when incidents such as children separated from their asylum-seeking parents or tear-gas being used to deter entry throw the legal divide between two nation states into sharp relief. But seldom do we stop to think about what a border is, or when and why some borders are defended more aggressively than others. 

... Read more about Borders (Gen Ed 1140)

Ethics of Climate Change (Gen Ed 1015)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

What are individuals, scientists, businesses, and governments morally required to do to prevent catastrophic climate change?

 

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Lucas Stanczyk

How should governments respond to the problem of climate change? What should happen to the level of greenhouse gas emissions and how quickly? How much can the present generation be expected to sacrifice to improve conditions for future generations?... Read more about Ethics of Climate Change (Gen Ed 1015)

Evolving Morality: From Primordial Soup to Superintelligent Machines (Gen Ed 1046)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

How can we understand the evolution of morality—from primordial soup to superintelligent machines—and how might the science of morality equip us to meet our most pressing moral challenges?

 

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Joshua D. Greene

In this course we’ll examine the evolution of morality on Earth, from its origins in the biology of unthinking organisms, through the psychology of intelligent primates, and into a future inhabited by machines that may be more intelligent and better organized than humans. First, we ask: What is morality?... Read more about Evolving Morality: From Primordial Soup to Superintelligent Machines (Gen Ed 1046)

Res Publica: A History of Representative Government (Gen Ed 1032)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

What is a democratic republic, and can such a regime — one that trusts citizens to capably choose and monitor those in power, and one that trusts those in power to restrain themselves and each other while attending to the public good — survive and protect us from tyranny?

 

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Daniel Carpenter

“A republic, if you can keep it.”  So did Benjamin Franklin characterize his hopes for American government. What did Franklin and others mean by republic, and why did he and so many others worry that it might be something hard to hold onto? This course will give you the theoretical basis and historical evolution of republics so that you can understand the American system of a democratic republic, now spread widely around the planet even as it is considered under threat.... Read more about Res Publica: A History of Representative Government (Gen Ed 1032)

Brains, Identity, and Moral Agency (Gen Ed 1064)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

Can we reconcile the scientific 'brain as a machine' view with our strong experience of moral agency?

 

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Steven Hyman

Advances in brain science have the potential to diminish many forms of human suffering and disability that are rooted in disordered brain function. But what are the ethical implications involved in altering the structure and function of human brains? What’s at stake when we have the ability to alter a person’s narrative identity, create brain-computer interfaces, and manipulate social and moral emotion? In this course, you will ask and attempt to answer these questions, and discuss the implications of mechanistic explanations of decision-making and action for widely-held concepts of moral agency and legal culpability.... Read more about Brains, Identity, and Moral Agency (Gen Ed 1064)

Human Trafficking, Slavery and Abolition in the Modern World (Gen Ed 1115)

Semester: 

Spring

Offered: 

2025

Why do slavery, human trafficking and other forms of servitude thrive today globally, including the USA, and what can we do about it?

 

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Orlando Patterson

We often think of slavery as being a dark chapter in our past, but this is a tragic oversimplification. What defines slavery in the modern world, and what are the moral, political and social implications of its continued existence? As we explore its underpinnings, we discover that all of us may be in some way complicit in its survival.... Read more about Human Trafficking, Slavery and Abolition in the Modern World (Gen Ed 1115)

Life and Death in the Anthropocene (Gen Ed 1174)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2024

What does it mean for us -- both as a society and as individuals -- to live in a world radically remade by the human hand?

 

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Naomi Oreskes

In 2019, geologists voted to make the Anthropocene a time unit in the Geological Time scale. For scientists, this means that future geologists will be able to see the effects of human activities – climate change, biodiversity loss, plastic – in the stratigraphic record and thereby distinguish this epoch from the ones that came before.... Read more about Life and Death in the Anthropocene (Gen Ed 1174)

Making Change When Change Is Hard: the Law, Politics, and Policy of Social Change (Gen Ed 1102)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2024

How does social change happen?


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Cass Sunstein

How does change happen? When, why, and how do people, and whole nations, come to together to influence large-scale policies and actions on issues like the environment, equality, criminal justice? Why do revolutions occur? This course will try to answer these questions, and do so by exploring a diversity of efforts related to societal change.... Read more about Making Change When Change Is Hard: the Law, Politics, and Policy of Social Change (Gen Ed 1102)

Happiness (Gen Ed 1025)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2024

Should we pursue happiness, and if so, how should we do it?

 

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Susanna Rinard

Should we pursue happiness, and if so, what is the best way to do it?  This course will critically assess the answers to these questions given by thinkers from a wide variety of different places, cultures, and times, including Stoicism, Epicureanism, Buddhism, Daoism, and contemporary philosophy, psychology, and economics.... Read more about Happiness (Gen Ed 1025)

Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory (Gen Ed 1091)

Semester: 

Fall

Offered: 

2024

What if many of our assumptions about the self and about how to live fully are limiting and even dangerous, and what other possibilities might we be able to find in classical Chinese philosophy?

 

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Michael Puett

What is the best way to live a fuller and more ethical life? Concretely what should we do to begin to live in a more flourishing and inspiring way? Questions such as these were at the heart of philosophical debates in China.... Read more about Classical Chinese Ethical and Political Theory (Gen Ed 1091)

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