Ethics Program and Concentration

Director: Dr. Mark Doorley
Associate Director: Dr. Brett Wilmot
Office: 485 St. Augustine Center
Tel. (610) 519-4692
Fax. (610) 519-8026
Website: http://www.villanova.edu/artsci/ethics/
Course descriptions: http://www.artsci.villanova.edu/courses/ethics.html

The University believes that issues of ethics and values are at the heart of every human endeavor. In addition to regular requirements in the sciences and humanities, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Villanova School of Business require each student to take a special multidisciplinary course in ethics, typically in the sophomore year. The purpose of this course (ETH 2050) is to give students the opportunity to examine and discuss both ethical theories and their applications to contemporary moral issues. This course is designed to contribute to the implementation of Villanova’s mission statement which states that as a Catholic institution Villanova both emphasizes the values of the Jewish and Christian humanistic traditions and concerns itself with all value systems.

Concentration: The Ethics Concentration offers students an opportunity to pursue in-depth an intellectual discipline that studies human character and conduct. Ordinarily, a student must earn a C or better in ETH 2050 in order to pursue an Ethics Concentration. Each student in the concentration selects one of four tracks: Ethics and Health Care; Ethics, Politics, and Law; Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy; or Ethics, Science, Technology, and the Environment. Concentrators must also fulfill the service requirement.

Service Requirement: A minimum of 100 hours of approved service, including work with the poor or otherwise marginalized members of our society and/or work related to building a sustainable world environment, is required for the Ethics Concentration. This component affords students the opportunity to engage in practical moral inquiry. The student, in conjunction with the associate director, will arrange and design the service with the goal of enhancing comprehension of applied ethical issues in the track selected by the student.

Required Courses:

• ETH 2050 Ethical Traditions and Contemporary life
• ETH 4000 Integrating Seminar

Track 1: Ethics and Health Care

• PHI 2115 Ethics for the Health Care Professional
• THL 4200 Ethics of Life and Death
  or
• THL 5950 Death and Dying
• Two electives from list of approved track courses

Track II: Ethics, Politics, and Law

• PHI 2450 Social and Political Philosophy
• PHI 3650 Philosophy of Law
  or
• PJ 5000 Selected Topics*
• Two electives from list of approved track courses

Track III: Ethics, Economics, and Public Policy

• PHI 2450/ Catholic Social Thought
  PJ 2600
• SOC 2950/ Perspectives on US poverty
  PJ 5200
  or
  ECO 4200 Topics in Economics*
• Two electives from list of approved track courses

Track IV: Ethics, Science, Technology, and the Environment

• HIS 2276 American Environmental History
• PJ 2200 Caring for the Earth
  or
• PHI 2121 Environmental Ethics
• Two electives from approved track courses
   

*Topics courses must be approved by the director

Ethics Minor: The Ethics Program offers an ethics minor that is open to all undergraduate students at Villanova University. The rationale for this academic program is based on two pillars. First, Villanova University prides itself on presenting an educational alternative built around a clear ethical core, in particular, the moral teachings of the Catholic Church. An ethics minor allows students to pursue the study of ethics explicitly and in depth as part of their undergraduate education but without committing to the more extensive demands of a concentration. This minor contributes directly to the mission of the university. Second, a focus on ethics not only benefits students’ intellectual and moral development and contributes to the public perception of the university but also has tangible benefits for students as they apply for graduate studies, fellowships, and jobs on completion of their studies.

Academic Requirements: ETH 2050 is the gateway course for the ethics minor. Ordinarily, a student must earn a B or better in ETH 2050 to be eligible for the minor. Generally, a student will declare the minor after completing ETH 2050. In discussion with the faculty of the Ethics Program, the student will create a course of study that pursues a thematic program or question that the student identifies. To complete the requirements for the Ethics Minor, a student must prepare an E-Portfolio which will collect representative written work that he or she has done for the courses taken in pursuit of the minor, including the work for ETH 2050. A student is required to complete two upper-level ethics courses in theology and two upper-level ethics courses in philosophy. Each semester the courses that will count toward the minor will be marked in the Master Schedule.


See the website address above for more information.