{"ModuleCode":"PH3230","ModuleTitle":"Normative Ethical Theory","Department":"Philosophy","ModuleDescription":"This module is a study of the main contending contemporary views about goodness and virtue, principles of moral evaluation, and moral decision-making. These include deontological, consequentialist, and contemporary virtuebased and contractarian theories. Emphasis will be placed on securing a thorough understanding the arguments used to derive fundamental moral principles and to justify claims about our moral obligations. Such study aims to reveal the kinds of issues that are involved in analyzing what constitutes rational considerations for moral action, and the strengths and weaknesses of the rival theories.","ModuleCredit":"4","Workload":"2-1-0-0-7","ExamDuration":"P2H","ExamVenue":"MPSH2-B","Types":["Module","UEM"],"CorsBiddingStats":[{"AcadYear":"2014/2015","Semester":"2","Round":"1A","Group":"Lecture 1","Quota":"18","Bidders":"8","LowestBid":"1","LowestSuccessfulBid":"1","HighestBid":"802","Faculty":"Arts & Social Sciences","StudentAcctType":"Returning Students [P]"},{"AcadYear":"2014/2015","Semester":"2","Round":"1A","Group":"Lecture 1","Quota":"5","Bidders":"0","LowestBid":"0","LowestSuccessfulBid":"0","HighestBid":"0","Faculty":"Arts & Social Sciences","StudentAcctType":"New Students [P]"},{"AcadYear":"2014/2015","Semester":"2","Round":"1B","Group":"Lecture 1","Quota":"10","Bidders":"1","LowestBid":"1","LowestSuccessfulBid":"1","HighestBid":"1","Faculty":"Arts & Social 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Week","DayText":"Tuesday","StartTime":"1600","EndTime":"1700","Venue":"AS4-0601"},{"ClassNo":"W2","LessonType":"Tutorial","WeekText":"Every Week","DayText":"Friday","StartTime":"1400","EndTime":"1500","Venue":"AS3-0208"},{"ClassNo":"W3","LessonType":"Tutorial","WeekText":"Every Week","DayText":"Thursday","StartTime":"0900","EndTime":"1000","Venue":"AS3-0302"}],"IVLE":[{"Announcements":null,"Forums":[],"Workbins":[],"Webcasts":[],"Gradebooks":[],"Polls":[],"Multimedia":[],"LessonPlan":[],"ID":"ff7d004e-4926-487f-bf3d-bdbb2eeedd1c","CourseLevel":"1","CourseCode":"PH3230","CourseName":"NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORY","CourseDepartment":"","CourseSemester":"Semester 2","CourseAcadYear":"2014/2015","CourseOpenDate":"/Date(1417622400000+0800)/","CourseOpenDate_js":"2014-12-04T00:00:00","CourseCloseDate":"/Date(1433865540000+0800)/","CourseCloseDate_js":"2015-06-09T23:59:00","CourseMC":"0","isActive":"N","Permission":"S","Creator":{"UserID":null,"Name":"Christopher Anthony 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contending\n\ncontemporary views about goodness and virtue,\n\nprinciples of moral evaluation, and moral\n\ndecision-making. These include deontological,\n\nconsequentialist, and contemporary virtuebased\n\nand contractarian theories. Emphasis will\n\nbe placed on securing a thorough understanding\n\nthe arguments used to derive fundamental\n\nmoral principles and to justify claims about our\n\nmoral obligations. Such study aims to reveal the\n\nkinds of issues that are involved in analyzing\n\nwhat constitutes rational considerations for\n\nmoral action, and the strengths and weaknesses\n\nof the rival theories.","Order":1},{"ID":"2e5f053b-8835-4692-be49-41f07234cfff","Title":"Prerequisites","Description":"There are no official prerequisites for this module, and it is designed to be accessible to students who have no familiarity with the views we'll be covering. However, there are two important things students should keep in mind while deciding whether to take this module.
\n
\nFirst, this module may be especially challenging for those who have not taken many Philosophy modules. I say this because, in my experience, students with little or no background in Philosophy sometimes have trouble understanding the nature of philosophical argument. In this module, students will be expected to argue, both in their written work and in class discussions. Many inexperienced students catch on quickly, and become very good at it, but not all do. Philosophical argument will be discussed in detail during the first lecture (among other things), so it's extremely important not to miss the first lecture! IF YOU HAVEN'T TAKEN ANY PHILOSOPHY MODULES BEFORE, THIS COULD BE A VERY TOUGH MODULE FOR YOU!
\n
\nSecond, I've also noticed that students who haven't achieved a certain level of competence and fluency with the English language tend to struggle, sometimes very much, in Philosophy modules. Your performance in this module has a lot to do with your ability to read and understand some rather difficult, complicated material--and your ability to TALK and WRITE about it. Also, your ability to understand the stuff you'll HEAR during lectures/tutorials is very important, because very often new points (that is, points not in the reading assignments) will come up during discussions, and students will need to understand and remember them. I would guess that some very smart students have done quite poorly in Philosophy modules simply because they had some rather serious difficulties with the language. STUDENTS WHO HAVE DIFFICULTY WITH ENGLISH WILL HAVE TO WORK EXTRA HARD TO ENSURE THAT THEY DO WELL IN THIS MODULE.
\n
\nPlease take the above points seriously. I'm sad to say that, in the past, some students started a module like this one with me and never quite acquired the philosophical way of thinking/arguing about things and/or never overcame their linguistic obstacles. On the other hand, some students started out with the aforementioned disadvantages but worked extra hard and wound up performing excellently.","Order":2},{"ID":"8e5f053b-8835-4692-be49-41f07234cfff","Title":"Assessment","Description":"Most lectures will begin with a quiz on the reading assignment for that week. Total point earnings from these quizzes will account for 35% of the course grade.
\n
\nPLEASE NOTE: Quizzes cannot be "made up" except in cases where the student can document reasons for his/her absence that are legitimate by the university's standards. In cases where students know in advance that they will miss a lecture or tutorial for such legitimate reasons, they are expected to notify me in advance, so that I can arrange an alternative assignment as needed.
\n
\nStudents will also be assessed by the frequency at which they make worthwhile contributions during lecture and tutorial discussions. This will account for 25% of the course grade.
\n
\nThe Final Exam will be comprehensive, and will be worth 40% of the course grade.","Order":8},{"ID":"60334cb4-4634-4daf-bbd7-e9ed62f132b1","Title":"Preclusions","Description":"NIL","Order":9},{"ID":"7a7d18f2-6280-4b98-a80d-f38d07984b89","Title":"Workload","Description":"2-1-0-0-7
Workload Components : A-B-C-D-E \r\n
A: no. of lecture hours per week \r\n
B: no. of tutorial hours per week \r\n
C: no. of lab hours per week \r\n
D: no. of hours for projects, assignments, fieldwork etc per week \r\n
E: no. of hours for preparatory work by a student per week","Order":10}],"ReadingFormatted":[],"ReadingUnformatted":[]}],"Lecturers":["Christopher Anthony Brown"],"LecturePeriods":["Tuesday Afternoon"],"TutorialPeriods":["Tuesday Afternoon","Friday Afternoon","Thursday Morning"]}]}