Global Ethics
Course Code: PUBLG081
Course Tutor: TBC
Assessment: One 3,000 word essay
Credit Value: 15
About this course
This course critically examines some of the most pressing ethical questions (questions concerning what we ought morally to do) arising in the contemporary international arena. What do the global wealthy owe to the global poor? What would make trade fair? Should the world be organized along globally democratic lines? Who should bear the costs of climate change? Under what conditions might resort to war be justified? These are only some of the questions we will be addressing over the course of the term. In doing so, we will cover four broad issue areas:
- global economic justice: concerning entitlements to resources at the global level;
- global political justice: concerning entitlements to political participation at the global level;
- justice in the international use of force: concerning entitlements to the use of force at the international level;
- global climate justice: concerning our duties with respect to the effects of global climate change.
Course aims
In sum, this is a course in political theory/philosophy. It aims to familiarise students with the contemporary literature on global ethics, and to enable them to engage in sophisticated normative debates about important matters of international concern.
Course objectives
At the end of the course students will:
- have a clear grasp of the contemporary philosophical literature on the main ethical dilemmas arising in the international arena;
- be able to construct sustained normative arguments about issues such as global poverty, humanitarian intervention, climate change, global democracy etc., and be able to defend them against opposing arguments and perspectives;
- be able to make links between theoretical ideas and empirical information in areas of global ethical concern.
