moral philosophy

I have taught ‘Introduction to Moral Philosophy’ in various ways: in a normal term, in summer sessions, in-person, fully online, sync, and async. Typically in this course, we see a bit of metaethics and of theories of well-being, and then we focus on normative theories and applied questions about abortion, genetic engineering, poverty, and treatment of non-human animals.

When teaching it asynchronously over the Summer, I have given the course a different structure. For example, it’s important that students have i) a routine (“Every Monday, do X”), ii) introductory texts that are accessible, concise, and connected to primary source readings in obvious ways (e.g., Shaffer-Landau’s ‘Living Ethics’), and iii) short and preferably interactive videos (Kaltura is a good tool to create them.)

Here’s a sample syllabus. Below is a video snippet.