Learn to articulate ethical assumptions and values across cultures to effectively engage in discourse, as you strive toward a common good in your career and life.
With a Minor in Ethics & Society at Sacred Heart, you’ll integrate intentional, ethical reflection into both your personal life and your respective academic discipline. You will gain an understanding of how to contribute to society’s flourishing across philosophical and religious traditions, in a time when there is a need for moral critical reasoning and a clear grasp of our ethical responsibilities.
Sacred Heart’s Minor in Ethics & Society draws from existing traditions to facilitate reflection on human dignity, questions of good and evil, autonomy, rightness and wrongness of acts, human rights, justice, character and community. By paying special attention to the features that constitute a meaningful life, you will learn to address pertinent questions about:
Students are required to take 18 credits (or equivalent) to complete the Minor in Ethics & Society, including two required foundational courses and a minimum of four additional ethics-based courses.
Are there good reasons for acting morally? Are consequences relevant to the morality of actions, or only our intentions? What is the nature of moral virtue? What is a good life? This course provides systematic analysis of such questions, drawing from important works in the history of moral philosophy and engaging with pressing contemporary ethical issues.
Explores the historical sources and methods of reasoning in the Roman Catholic moral tradition. Critically examines current moral issues in Catholicism.
Select four electives from the following list or additional courses as approved by the Department of Philosophy. Choose between TRS 251 or PH 271 and PH 203 or CS 319. HS 351 is for health science majors only or with permission of the department. MGT 231 is for WCBT students only or with permission of the college.
This course examines Catholic Social Justice in the contemporary world.
Drawing from the values and perspectives of Catholic Social Teaching through the lens of Social Work practice, this course critically examines social justice concepts and develops intercultural skills needed to address issues of social justice with individuals and diverse communities. Through a cultural immersion experience abroad, students will be engaged with local communities and participate in community-based learning opportunities which address issues such as: human rights, human dignity, solidarity with the poor, and the common good.
This course focuses on the ethical and social and legal issues associated with computer technology and its context in society. It is a writing seminar that focuses on ethical issues such as privacy, hacking, intellectual property, accountability, identity, whistleblowing, virtual communities, social networking, codes of ethics and professional responsibility. Students use philosophers such as Aristotle, Kant and Mill, to support their positions through papers, ethical debate and dialogue. This course is a senior level capstone course. It emphasizes both oral and written communication as students discuss and examine their own ethical beliefs in relation to society and technology.
Prerequisite: Take one course from PH department
The planning and delivery of healthcare is strongly affected by legal issues and ethical aspects of professional roles and care delivery in various settings. Basic legal and ethical principles will be presented and applied to selected scenarios to illustrate the role that the law and ethics have on healthcare practice. The regulation of healthcare at national and state levels will also be reviewed.
This is a survey course. The objective of this class is to learn to apply legal and ethical principles to managerial-related problems. The course provides a general study of areas of laws pertinent to business, including tort law, contract law, employment law, criminal law, and constitutional law. The student is expected to learn to identify legal issues and consider the ethical implications of his or her solution or decision.
An examination of the beginnings of Western philosophic thought from the pre-Socratics through the Hellenistic period, with extensive consideration of Plato and Aristotle.
The development of technology raises unique questions about what it means to be human, what constitutes a just society or institution, and what constitutes moral behavior. This course uses the resources of moral philosophy to explore the ethical issues of modern technology. Potential topics include artificial intelligence, privacy, anonymity, autonomous machines, big data, surveillance, the environment, social media, and misinformation.
Prerequisite: Any 3-credit Philosophy course
Understanding of the various philosophical and ethical issues raised by a consideration of the environment and of humans' place within it.
Prerequisite: TAKE A PHILOSOPHY COURSE
Examines the ethical and legal issues surrounding abortion, physician-assisted suicide, euthanasia, genetic cloning, genetic therapy/enhancement, genetic patenting, and healthcare allocation.
This course is for the study, preparation, and participation in the Intercollegiate Northeast Regional Ethics Bowl debate competition. Students spend at least three hours a week examining contemporary ethical situations. They learn how to frame an ethical dilemma. They learn various ethical approaches such as consequentialist ethics, duty-based ethics, virtue ethics, social contract theory, discourse ethics, the principle of double-effect, paternalism, biocentric and anthropocentric approaches to environmental ethics, principles of autonomy and benevolence. The students also research each case to understand the various relevant factors of each case and how they impact the analysis of the case. Finally, the students participate in an intercollegiate debate competition in which they articulate, defend, analyze, and comment on the cases in a timed, competition format. The approximate time spent on case preparation, study, and participation, averages out to 3 hours/week for a period of 15 weeks. 2-3 hour-weekly meetings are guided by a professor in a seminar format. The students also spend at least one hour a week on independent research and consultations. The competition day itself lasts 7-12 hours, depending on how far the team advances. The purpose of the course is to engage the students socratically and teach them to apply theoretical learning, to engage in research, and to articulate their opinions in an organized fashion that considers all sides of an issue before coming to an ethical conclusion. The goal is to teach students how to think and analyze situations ethically in a critical and fair manner.
The social-ethical teachings of the Catholic tradition, especially since Pope Leo XIII's letter On the Condition of Labor in 1891. Explores Catholic social teaching that emerges from Church documents, traces its application to many issues of social and political conflict, and considers how this teaching is challenged by the perspectives of women, minorities, and people in developing countries.
Examination of core ethical teachings and methods in several world religions. These resources guide ethical analysis of conflicted issues in contemporary society, such as economic inequality, racism, violence, sexual ethics, and bioethics.
Examines the relationship between religion and sexuality in various world religions. Topics include asceticism versus eroticism, defining normality and deviance, sex as a means to challenge or maintain the social order, and religious responses to the changing sexual morality in contemporary Western society.
Using methods and principles of biomedical ethics, explores several ethical issues in medical practice and healthcare policy. Frameworks employed include religious/ethical perspectives in Christianity and some other religious traditions, as well as philosophical and social theories. Topics may include euthanasia, reproductive technologies, confidentiality, human subjects, and allocation of healthcare resources.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit TRS course
An examination of ethical attitudes toward war and peace embraced by Christianity, Islam, and other religions. Just war theory and pacifism are applied to contemporary problems of violence.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit TRS course
Investigates philosophical and religious theories of human rights, the modern history of rights, and ways to implement a human rights agenda.
Prerequisite: Take a 3 credit TRS course
