PHIL121 CM - Naturalism and Morality

It is sometimes said that science is the investigation of how things are, and ethics is the investigation of how things ought to be. But in what sense can we really “investigate” how things ought to be? Are there moral truths “out there” waiting to be investigated? If there are moral truths “out there”, how, if at all, do they fit into the natural world investigated by science? And how, if at all, could we come to know what the moral truths are? Does science reveal our moral sentiments to be mere products of our cultural and evolutionary history, having no connection to any alleged truths of morality? This course will cover classical and contemporary texts on the relationship between naturalism and morality.

Prerequisite: One prior course in philosophy.

Offered: Occasionally

Credit: 1

Course Number: PHIL121 CM