Ethics of Institutions

Course goals

After completion, the student:

1. has basic knowledge of what institutions are, and how institutional ethics relates to, and interacts with, other forms of ethical analysis;
2. has a good knowledge of a range of ethical theories that can be applied in ethical analysis of institutions;
3.knows which values are relevant in the ethical analysis of institutions, and
4.has an in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of the most important conceptualizations of those values;
5.masters an advanced toolbox needed for making an ethical analysis of an institution or institutional change;
6.has some preliminary experience in making ethical analyses of institutions or institutional change;
7.is able to defend his or her own normative position regarding the ethical desirability of an institution;
8.has graduate-level knowledge of some concrete examples of the ethical analysis of institutions.  

Content

This course aims to give the students a graduate-level introduction in the ethics of institutions. It aims to equip them to make a basic ethical analysis of an institution, and provide them with the knowledge of the relevant literature. The course also aids the students to develop their own normative position in the landscape of ethical theories, or to strengthen the critical understanding of a position that they may already be endorsing. The focus in the course is on the theoretical and methodological tools that are needed to make an ethical assessment of institutions. The example of higher education will be used to illustrate the differences between the different theoretical tools.