Taught by George Fourlas
This class explores the field of ethics from the starting point of a primordial tension: the experience of being an individual and a member of a relational environment. This starting point places our exploration in stark contrast to classical approaches to ethics, which focus on the consequences of individual actions, universal rules, and individual habits. Instead, we will discuss ethics in terms of interpersonal relations and we will focus on how we can work on our relations in order to transform ourselves and thus our circumstances. Hence, in this exploration it will become clear that acting ethically is far more complicated than commonly assumed, but also an absolutely necessary practice for the proper functioning of a democratic society and thus for the fostering of a healthy environment. The general goal of this class is to have a clear understanding of key theories and texts in applied ethics and social-political philosophy, but also a clearer sense of what one must do to act ethically in everyday encounters.