AP/PHIL3020 3.0 M: Ethics
Offered by: PHIL
Session
Winter 2026
Term
W
Format
LECT
Instructor
Calendar Description / Prerequisite / Co-Requisite
An advanced course in theoretical ethics, understood as covering both normative ethical theory and metaethics. Prerequisite: At least one of: AP/PHIL 2070 3.00 or AP/PHIL 2075 3.00. Course credit exclusion: GL/PHIL 3237 3.00.
Course Start Up
Course Websites hosted on York's "eClass" are accessible to students during the first week of the term. It takes two business days from the time of your enrolment to access your course website. Course materials begin to be released on the course website during the first week. To log in to your eClass course visit the York U eClass Portal and login with your Student Passport York Account. If you are creating and participating in Zoom meetings you may also go directly to the York U Zoom Portal.
For further course Start Up details, review the Getting Started webpage.
For IT support, students may contact University Information Technology Client Services via askit@yorku.ca or (416) 736-5800. Please also visit UIT Student Services or the Getting Help - UIT webpages.
Professor Robert Myers
rmyers@yorku.ca
In this course we will examine two sets of questions that have been central to philosophical treatments of ethics since the beginning of the 20th century.
The first set has to do with the status of ethical judgments and ethical inquiry. Can ethical judgments be true or false? What might make them so? How might we know them to be so? Can evidence or arguments be offered in support of ethical judgments? Or are they ultimately just expressions of people’s desires? We will begin by bringing these worries into sharper focus, and then examine several influential responses to them.
The second set of questions has to do with the content and structure of our ethical convictions. Is there one fundamental ethical principle from which all these convictions can be derived? If so, what is it? If not, how are we to decide what to do when competing ethical considerations are in play? We will look at several influential answers to these questions and also consider, more skeptically, whether any single theory could really be true to the full range of our ethical convictions.
Technical requirements for taking the course: Classes will be in person. Students will need internet access to the course eClass site.
Readings will be made available on the eClass site.
Mid-term exam: 40%
Final paper: 60%
TBA
- Students will learn to read and analyze philosophical texts and to articulate and defend philosophical positions of their own.
- Students will develop familiarity with the central developments in 20th century ethical theory.
- Students will learn to think critically both about the demands that morality makes of us and about our reasons to comply with them.
Course policies
The final paper must be submitted BOTH to Turnitin AND to the course director via email. Late submissions will be subject to a penalty of 2.5% per day, unless prior approval has been granted by the course director.
- Academic Honesty
- Student Rights and Responsibilities
- Religious Observance
- Grading Scheme and Feedback
- 20% Rule
No examinations or tests collectively worth more than 20% of the final grade in a course will be given during the final 14 calendar days of classes in a term. The exceptions to the rule are classes which regularly meet Friday evenings or on Saturday and/or Sunday at any time, and courses offered in the compressed summer terms. - Academic Accommodation for Students with Disabilities
