Methods & Tools in Practical Philosophy

Course goals

Upon completion of this course, students will have:

• reflected upon the relationship between practical work in applied ethics and the choice and use of particular approaches, methods, and concepts;

• gained professional experience of being an ethicist in practical, interdisciplinary, and/or policy-related contexts;

• learned to deliver, within a short time frame, a report to a stakeholder, of sufficient quality and with relevant content and recommendations;

• learned to work as part of a group in a professional manner on applied ethical issues, in interaction with a stakeholder, whilst protecting their individual and research integrity and paying explicit attention to the group process and interaction with the stakeholder.

Content

This course is a practical follow-up to the theoretical courses in Block 1. In Methods & Tools, you put your knowledge into practice and use the theoretical background and insights acquired in Block 1 to work with ethics in practice, and to reflect on the relationship between theory and practice. The course revolves around stakeholder assignments. You will work on these assignments in small groups throughout the course. The stakeholder assignments will culminate in a presentation and a report. This group project is not only an exercise in how to put ethical knowledge into practice, but also an exercise in professional skills. Apart from the group project, students also write a paper in which they do theoretical groundwork for stakeholder project OR an individual reflection essay in which they reflect on the challenges and opportunities involved in putting ethics into practice.

Please note that we expect a serious time commitment from each student in line with the standard workload per EC (this means 140 hours in total for the course, of which 100 hours are to be devoted to the group project). Some flexibility is required in making appointments with the stakeholder.

Additional information

The following courses must have been completed:
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice AEMV16002 and
Ethics of Institutions AEMV16001 or Ethics and Public Policy AEMV16003

Career orientation: Students will be stimulated and trained to improve the skills that they need in professional contexts. Emphasis will be put on research and writing skills (in particular communicating with a non-philosophical audience). Students will get in touch with people in professional practice.