Session 1
November 10, 2022
12pm - 1pm
Session 2
November 17, 2022
12pm - 1pm
Session 3
November 24, 2022
12pm - 1pm
Session 4
December 1, 2022
12pm - 1pm
Session 5
December 8, 2022
12pm - 1pm
Session 6
12pm - 1pm
Session 7
12pm - 1pm
Session 8
12pm - 1pm
Session 9
12pm - 1pm
Session 10
12pm - 1pm
Session 11
12pm - 1pm
Session 12
12pm - 1pm
Session 13
12pm - 1pm
Session 14
12pm - 1pm
Session 15
12pm - 1pm
Session 16
12pm - 1pm
Session 17
12pm - 1pm
Session 18
12pm - 1pm
Session 19
12pm - 1pm
Session 20
12pm - 1pm

Online Course Details    

Thinking about ethics can be difficult at the best of times; in an atmosphere of polarization, heightened public controversy and soundbites it is even more difficult. In this course we will consider a few concepts that are central to ethical discussion and try to understand how different ideas may have shaped the way that we think. For example: we tend to hear the word ‘justice’ used to oppose inequality in society. But in the ancient world, ‘justice’ is linked to ideas about harmony and order; so is there more to justice than a concern for equality and fairness? Catholics will be familiar with the idea of ‘natural law’, but very often, doing what is natural often seems to be opposed to doing what a law demands – so how can a law be something ‘natural’?

 

The aim of this course is not to put forward any particular theory or argument about good and bad, right or wrong; rather, we aim to come to a clearer understanding of how we talk and think about ethics – to understand our ethical ‘toolkit’ a bit better.

 

Week 1
Good & bad; right and wrong
In this first session, we look at some of the most basic ideas in our ethical language. What do we mean when we describe something as ‘good’? Is this the same as saying that it is ‘right’ to do something? Is everything that is bad also wrong?

 

Week 2
Righteousness and justice

‘Justice’ is one of the most powerful words in our ethical discourse. But why do people agree so much about what justice actually consists in? In this session we explore a few different ways of thinking about justice, and then reflect on how ‘justice’ connects to ‘righteousness’.

 

Week 3
Happiness and fulfilment
Sometimes it seems as though one thing we could all agree on is that happiness is a good thing – and that we should act so as to increase the happiness of others. But what if there are several very different ways of understanding happiness – and its connection to fulfilment? This session examines our moral intuitions about happiness.

 

Week 4
Nature and law

Questions about what is or is not ‘natural’ are central to many of the fiercest debates in our own culture. And ‘nature’ has played an central role in some of the most influential philosophical accounts of goodness. This session examines the connection between nature and law in one especially important thinker: Thomas Aquinas.

Week 5
Love

People talk about love in many different ways, and it might seem to be too vague and slippery a term to be useful in ethics. But love might be the most important idea in Christian ethics. So why did Jesus think that all other commandments are summed up in the command to love one another? And what does love of another actually involve?

Course
Resources



Week 1: Good& bad; right and wrong


In this first session, we look at some of the most basic ideas in our ethical language. What do we mean when we describe something as ‘good’? Is this the same as saying that it is ‘right’ to do something? Is everything that is bad also wrong?

Questions for reflection

  1. Do you think that we could try to understand the idea of a ‘good’ life by thinking about the purpose of life? If so, how do the two things relate?
  2. What about goodness and beauty? Is perceiving something as morally good at all like recognising something as beautiful, do you think?
  3. What are the differences between the terms ‘right and wrong’ and the terms ‘good and bad’, in your way of thinking about them? What are we saying about an action, if we describe it as ‘wrong’?

 

For further reading

Wittgenstein, ‘Lecture on ethics’ (extract), from The Wittgenstein Reader.

Thomas Nagel, ‘Right and Wrong’, extract from What Does it All Mean? A Very Short Introduction to Philosophy.

Week 2: Objectivity and reality

In this session, we explore an issue that has haunted modern moral philosophy: the question of moral truth. Are there moral truths that exist in an objective realm? If there are, on what are they based? This issue is unavoidable if we are to reflect seriously on our understanding of ethics, because the experience of ethical disagreement is so prevalent. What if the reason that we find it difficult to agree on ‘the truth of the matter’ in ethical questions is because there is no‘ truth of the matter’? If we are to refute this sceptical conclusion, we will need to give some account of the relationship between reality and goodness.

No readings for this week

Questions for reflection

  1. Why do you think that, in our own culture, moral disagreements are often very difficult to resolve?
  2. Do you think it is important to have an account of the objective basis of morality? Why?
  3. How would you respond to someone who claims that moral claims (like ‘lying to children is wrong’) are just expressions of preference?

Week 3 - Happiness and fulfilment


Sometimes it seems as though one thing we could all agree on is that happiness is a good thing – and that we should act so as to increase the happiness of others. But what if there are several very different ways of understanding happiness – and its connection to fulfilment? This session examines our moral intuitions about happiness.

 

Questions for reflection

  1. On p.144, Mill says that ‘the ultimate end, with reference to and for the sake of which all other things are desirable (whether we are considering our own good or that of other people), is an existence exempt as far as possible from pain, and as rich as possible in enjoyments, both in point of quantity and quality…’(see also p. 145)What do you make of this claim?
  2. Mill says that to think of something as desirable, and to find it to be pleasant are two sides of the same coin. Do you think this is true?
  3. Would you plug into Nozick’s ‘experience machine’?! If not, why not?

 

 

For further reading

John Stewart Mill, Utilitarianism (extract)

Bernard Williams, Against Utilitarianism (extract)

 

Week 4 - Nature and law

Questions about what is or is not ‘natural’ are central to many of the fiercest debates in our own culture. And ‘nature’ has played a central role in some of the most influential philosophical accounts of goodness. This session examines the connection between nature and law in one especially important thinker: Thomas Aquinas.

 

Questions for reflection

 

  1. How do connect the ‘natural’ tendency to be concerned with one’s own well-being with moral life?
  2. What do you make of the idea that moral action should be understood as ‘natural’, as Aquinas thinks it is?
  3. Do think that moral life is always harmonious with fulfilment?

 

 

For further reading

Brian Davies, The Thought of Thomas Aquinas, ch. 12

Week 5 - LOVE

People talk about love in many different ways, and it might seem to be too vague and slippery a term to be useful in ethics. But love might be the most important idea in Christian ethics. So why did Jesus think that all other commandments are summed up in the command to love one another? And what does the love of another actually involve?

 Reading

Volf_Exclusion and Embrace

Video

Volf interview- Loving enemies

Volf interview - Justice and Christianity




















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Tutors

Dr Stuart Jesson

Stuart is the Theology Lead at LJC. He graduated with a degree in Literature and Theology from the University of Hull in 2000. From 2003-9 he studied Philosophical Theology part-time at the University of Nottingham, whilst continuing to work in the third sector with vulnerably-housed or homeless people, and young asylum seekers (as well as pulling pints in a pub). He was Lecturer at York St John University for almost a decade, before moving to London Jesuit Centre in 2021. He now lives in South East London, and spends as much time as he can in the woods.

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