Loyola University Chicago

Department of Philosophy

PHIL 324: Topics in Ethics

PHIL 324: Topics in Ethics

The Generic Catalog Description

Issues selected from all fields of moral theory and metaethics.


PHIL 324: Topics in Ethics: Health Disparities

Takunda Matose

This course explores three questions. First, what are the competing philosophical views about the nature of equality and what is morally objectionable about inequality? Second, what are some of the approaches to thinking about human difference within science and medicine? And finally, given the answers to the first two questions, how should we think about health disparities and their moral significance?

This course has both an Ethics and Values (E&V) designation and a Law, Society, and Social Justice (LSSJ) designation for the purposes of major specialization. It also fulfills a Writing Intensive (WI) requirement.


PHIL 324: Topics in Ethics: Philosophical Issues in Human Rights*

Joy Gordon

This course addresses a variety of philosophical issues within human rights. We’ll start with some texts that point to different approaches in conceptualizing human rights, as well as an overview of the major human rights instruments in international law and global governance. We’ll look at such questions as the concept of rights, and its empirical and Marxist critics; the shift over the last decade in the ethical framework for understanding torture; hermeneutical issues that emerge in human rights treaties; the different ways that gender comes into play within human rights; the thorny problem of how to determine intent in cases of genocide; and issues of sovereignty when countries seek to assert extraterritorial jurisdiction over human rights violations that take place in other parts of the world.

This course has a Law, Society, and Social Justice (LSSJ) designation for the purposes of major specialization.

*This course is a split 300/400-level course with limited enrollment opportunities for undergraduates. Please contact the instructor or Undergraduate Program Director for more information