Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, the student will be able to:

• Outline the main tenets of normative ethical theory.
• Describe the main features of utilitarian ethical theory.
• Recognize cases where the principle of utility has guided action.
• Describe the main features of Kantian ethical theory.
• Recognize cases where the principle of respect for persons has guided action.
• Recognize cases where the principle of universalizability has been violated.
• Describe the main features of virtue ethics. Recognize cases where wrongdoing was due to weakness of character.
• Critically analyze common workplace situations calling for principled ethical judgment.
• Conduct a case study analysis that makes intelligent use of the moral principles and methods explored in the course.
• Recognize the violation of a moral principle in an action or proposed course of action.
• Exercise sound judgment in the application of moral concepts to a given case.
• Identify premises and conclusions in a sequence of moral reasoning.
• Evaluate the soundness of sequences of moral reasoning.
• Describe the obstacles that stand in the way of individuals acting ethically in the business world.
• Outline a variety of the ways in which these obstacles can be overcome.
• Articulate to their colleagues a clear sense of where plans, policies or actions fail to live up to acceptable ethical standards.
• Describe the nature of four procedures for testing ethical principles (e.g., universal consequences, role reversal, new cases and subsumption).
• Devise questions that can be used to test the suitability of ethical principles in a given case.
• Explain how these four principle tests actually do test the suitability of ethical principles in a given case.
• Articulate to their colleagues alternative plans, policies or actions that are consistent with acceptable ethical standards.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the place of professional codes of ethics, especially those codes governing their own chosen profession.
• Evaluate the acceptability of actions or policies (as described in a case study) in terms of the relevant professional code of ethics.
• Describe the potential strengths and weaknesses of codes of ethics as guides to ethical conduct.
• Evaluate the suitability of an existing code of ethics.
• Understand the nature of principled moral disagreement and how to resolve such disagreement.
• Identify disagreements over conflicting moral principles.
• Identify disagreements over the relevance of a moral term in a given case.
• Construct an argument that clarifies which principle, among conflicting principles, ought to take priority in a given case.
• Construct an argument that clarifies the relevant application of a moral term in a given case.

Effective as of Fall 2003