Ethics Program and Concentration

Director: Dr. Mark Doorley
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 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. 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 Environment. Concentrators must also fulfill the service requirement.

Service component: 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. This component affords students the opportunity to engage in practical moral inquiry. The student, in conjunction with the program 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 Tradition 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 Meanings of Justice
• Two electives from list of approved track courses

Track III: Ethics, Economics and Public Policy
• PHI 2450/ Catholic Social Thought
PJ2600
or
THL 4320 The Social Teachings of the Christian Churches
• SOC 2950/ Perspectives on US poverty
PJ 5200
or
ECO4200/ Economics of Catholic Social Thought
PJ 2000
• Two electives from list of approved track courses

Track IV: Ethical Issues in Science, Technology and the Environment
• HIS 2276 American Environmental History
or
• THL 5400 Science and Religion
• PJ 2000 Caring for the Earth
or
• PHI 2121 Environmental Ethics
• Two electives from approved track courses

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.