20809268Social Ethics
Course Information
Description
Investigates American conceptual frameworks used in understanding what makes for a "good society," with emphasis on the dominant individualistic tradition and its "multicultural" competitor. Drawing upon social scientific and philosophical constructs, discussions demonstrate how public issues manifest deeper cultural divisions over "social justice." The development of a theory of justice provides the basis for a normative or ethical understanding of society and its institutions.
Total Credits
3
Course Competencies
  1. Examine the role of ethical theory applied to society and its institutions
    Assessment Strategies
    by class discussions that allow students to express and confront their biases
    by applying the contribution of ethics to society to personal life in a two-page paper
    by satisfactory performance on examinations that require an understanding and use of normative theory
    Criteria
    you examine the criteria for making ethical judgments about social issues
    you subject social structures to normative understanding
    you examine the role of normative theory in social issues
    you examine the limits and possibilities of social ethics
    you explore the possibilities of an ethical conversation beyond subjective individual preferences

  2. Explain the principles of a theory of justice
    Assessment Strategies
    by performing at a satisfactory level on an objective examination
    on an examination
    Criteria
    you summarize the meaning of "justice" as a concept
    you explain the meaning of the "mediating" principles of "liberty" and "equality"
    you differentiate between the principles of "individuality" and "community"
    you articulate the principles of "adequacy" and "beneficence"
    you compare the mediating principles to the overarching principle of justice

  3. Assess institutions and/or practices through justice theory
    Assessment Strategies
    in class discussions of common readings on politics, education, and the family that indicate mutual understandings
    through an examination that combines objective information and an essay reflecting their ability to relate their readings to justice theory
    by submitting a two-page paper that relates life-experience with American institutions to normative theory
    Criteria
    you examine how justice theory applies to institutional life
    you analyze the institution of the family through justice theory
    you critique political institutions using justice theory
    you critique educational institutions through the principles of justice theory

  4. Analyze a public policy issue using justice theory
    Assessment Strategies
    in the application of normative theory to social issues by oral analysis in class discussion of common readings
    on a well-written and reasoned answer to an essay question given in a take-home examination
    Criteria
    you apply relevant ethical principles to particular social issues
    you develop a just policy regarding a social issue under analysis

  5. Investigate indexes of social well-being as a measure of social justice
    Assessment Strategies
    by achieving consensus during class discussions
    by performing satisfactorily on an examination that questions their grasp of the data and its interpretation
    Criteria
    you examine the evidence produced by the attempt to measure "social well-being"
    you explore the factors used to measure well-being
    you contrast the dominant measure of the GDP to other indexes of social well-being
    you specify how indexes of social well-being are related to social ethical inquiry
    you compare and contrast the measures of social well being and social ethics

  6. Explore justice theory by relating it to your own life
    Assessment Strategies
    by presenting a well-written and well-reasoned two-page paper relating life-experience and justice theory
    Criteria
    you match the issue selected for analysis and the principles used
    you analyze any life-experience that raises justice issues using principles from the theory of justice presented in class

  7. Compare the tenants and presuppositions of individualism and multiculturalism
    Assessment Strategies
    by satisfactory completion of an examination requiring an accurate understanding of multicultural and individualist concepts and their relationship
    Criteria
    you examine the presuppositions that lay behind much contemporary debate over public issues
    you specify the basic convictions of liberal individualism as set out by lectures and common readings
    you specify the basic convictions of multiculturalism as set out by lectures and common readings
    you compare the basic convictions of individualism and multiculturalism
    you compare the strengths and weaknesses of both multiculturalism and individualism

  8. Examine how multiculturalism and individualism may constitute "quasi-religions"
    Assessment Strategies
    in class conversations that show the common capacity to use the idea of "civil religion" or "quasi-religion"
    potentially by the satisfactory answering of questions on an objective and or essay examination
    Criteria
    you apply the concept of quasi-religion to fundamental public beliefs
    you distinguish between ostensibly "secular" phenomena and "quasi-religious" ones, using the criteria provided in common readings
    you identify the religious elements in individualism and multiculturalism as presented in common readings

  9. Specify how justice points to a "middle way" between individualism and multiculturalism
    Assessment Strategies
    by class discussions that elucidate the issue
    potentially by answering satisfactorily one or more questions on an essay examination
    Criteria
    you examine the relative adequacy/inadequacy of multiculturalism and individualism
    you identify the justice principles emphasized by multiculturalism and individualism
    you identify the problems associated with both of the dominant paradigms through which discussions of public justice take place
    you examine the need for alternatives to the dominant paradigms on the basis of their relative weaknesses

  10. Explore the role of "communitarianism" as one effort to mediate between the current social ethical options
    Assessment Strategies
    by participation in class discussions that consider the contribution of communitarianism to the discussion of the good society
    potentially through a satisfactory answer to an essay question on a take-home examination
    Criteria
    you examine how communitarianism balances the principles of justice identified in the class
    you explain how justice relates to communitarian analysis
    you explore the way that communitarians such as Robert Bellah and Amitai Etzioni analyze institutions such as politics, education, and the family
    you examine the ethical principles operating in the analysis of communitarian thinkers
    you explore the mediating character of communitarian thought, working between atomistic individualism and separatist multiculturalism