Philosophy

This course is an introduction to ethics. It is structured around twelve topics, such as: Do you have a moral duty to donate most of your money to charity? Are we unfree and thus not responsible for anything? Is moral virtue a matter of luck? If someone you love dies and you’re not upset, does that mean you never really cared about them? In addition to thinking about particular ethical issues, the course discusses some of the most powerful and persuasive theories in moral philosophy, including utilitarianism (the view that an action is right if it promotes happiness), deontology (the view that an action is right if it is done from duty), and virtue ethics (the view that an action is right if one has the right moral character or virtues).

This course examines the background of contemporary philosophy of language and the main controversial topics. Students learn to read and analyze the literature in this field, so as to have a preliminary ability to study philosophy of language. The course is divided into two modules. The first module introduces the meaning theory of language; the second module introduces the reference theory of language.

This course examines modern philosophy and analyzes how history has become a philosophical problem; how the philosophy of history entered the 20th century and how its different from the historical theory; how it affected the different paths of research methods in the two disciplines of philosophy and history.

This version of the Medical Ethics course includes an Independent Study Project (ISP) done under the direction of the instructor. The minimum reading is between 20 and 25 articles from established academic periodicals/magazines. The ISP is 10-12 pages and counts for 1/3 of the overall grade for the course. This course provides students with an introductory investigation into the question of if, when, and how ethical considerations can or must play a role in the practice of the medical profession. It makes students aware of the fact that the health sciences are not operating in a moral vacuum and that a good knowledge of both older and recent ethical debates in this particular field is of the greatest significance. This course consists of three parts. The first part of the course gives an introduction to some fundamental European philosophical ideas of what it means to be a human being. This introduction is accompanied by an introduction to the most important ethical theories of the West. The second part of the course discusses a general framework of medical ethics as it could play a guiding role in the day-to-day practice of those who are members of the medical profession or related areas. The third part of the course discusses some of the most important and well-known ethical problems that can be found within the medical field. There are lectures, discussions, and the study of cases that reflect the most important problems and topics that make up the moral challenges of the medical discipline of today.