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ETHICS

PHI 2600

Summer 2010 – Reference #388763

Please Note:

This course is a fully online course.  It will NOT require you to attend face to face, on-campus, class sessions, and all work will be completed online in Blackboard.  After classes start, be sure to review the online Schedule of Assignments and complete the Orientation Module.

Faculty Introduction

Your Professor

Welcome to Introduction to Ethics! My name is Professor Tonietta A. Walters.  I'm glad that you have chosen to participate in this fully online course!  I look forward to working with you as you learn more about Philosophy.  I am happy that you are considering taking Introduction to Ethics.  This will be an exciting ethics course where you will be able to talk about interesting things that usually are left untouched due to our busy and hectic life.

 

Course Developer

The developer of this online course is Dr. Pedro Oliveira. He holds a Medical Degree from University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Since his first year in medical school, he has been involved with academic life. As a teacher, Dr. Oliveira has worked with students of all ages and grades, from elementary school to university graduate students. Throughout the years he has taught courses in biology, psychology, philosophy, logic, and ethics. Teaching is his passion and he derives great pleasure from the interaction with students, mainly those who challenge his ideas. For the past 8 years Dr. Oliveira has been working at BCC, first as an adjunct instructor and currently as full-time philosophy professor in the Social Sciences Department at Central Campus.

Course Description

In general everyone knows the distinction between right and wrong conduct. Most of the time, however, what we need is to know how to justify our moral decisions. The present course, Introduction to Ethics, will provide you exactly with this kind of knowledge.

This course is an introduction to the nature of ethics, ethical thinking, major intellectual movements in the history of ethics, and specific problems in ethics. The relationship between ethics and culture will also be examined. In this course you will be exposed not only to the main theories in ethics but also to the major moral issues, such as death penalty, euthanasia, abortion, individual rights and liberties, etc., that we face today as individuals, as well as members of society. For more information, please see the BCC course outline.

Course Materials

Required and Optional course materials are described below:

  • Texts
    • Main Textbook - Boss, Judith: Ethics for Life: A Text with Readings. 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, Boston, 2008 (ISBN 978-0-07-338664-5).  Extra material will be provided by the instructor as needed.
    • Extra Reading - Rachels, James: The Elements of Moral Philosophy. 5th Edition by Stuart Rachels. McGraw-Hill, Boston, 2007 (ISBN 978-0-07-312547-3). This book should be read by those students who might need a different approach to the information found in the course main textbook. Students are not required to buy this book and no assignment will be required from it.

Methods of Instruction

This is a 3-credit hour course. Normally, a 3-credit hour course would meet two or three times each week (during a 16 week term) for a total of 3 hours per week or 48 hours per term. In this fully online class, we will never meet on campus and you will engage in structured online activities. See the Course Schedule of Assignments in the online syllabus for a detailed description of learning activities for scheduled online assignments. Students are responsible for regularly reviewing the Course Calendar and completing all required in-class and online assignments.

Learning Outcomes

It is the objective of this course to acquaint the student with philosophy both as a way of enriching students’ daily living as well as giving them a deeper appreciation of the philosophical issues that inform our literature, art, politics, religions, sciences, psychology, the criminal justice system, medicine, and even movies and advertising.  The successful student should be able to effectively analyze and evaluate arguments and to reason with more accuracy, clarity and completeness.  Finally, it is the aim of this class to equip students with the tools necessary to make informed and intelligent judgments.  Students will need to hone their skills as both analytic and synthetic reasoners as well as their observation and communication skills.  This course will involve experiential practice through thought experiments, thinking, communicating and ultimately writing about philosophical issues.

Course Prerequisites

Students: To maximize your chances for success in this course, make sure that you meet the following course prerequisites:

  • Course Prerequisites and Co-requisites: None
  • Computer Knowledge and Skills:
    • Students in this course should be familiar with the following computer skills.
      • File Management - You should be familiar with finding and saving files on your computer.
      • The Internet - You should be familiar with connecting to the Internet through an Internet Service Provider or Network Connection.
      • Web Browser Software - You should be familiar with using web browser software to navigate the Internet and locate information.
      • Email - You should be familiar with sending and receiving email messages.
      • Discussions - You should be familiar with posting and reading discussion messages in a threaded format.
      • Attachments - You should be familiar with sending email messages with attached files.
      • Word Processing - You should be familiar with creating, editing, saving, and printing documents using Microsoft Word.
  • Other Requirements

Course Requirements

To complete the online segments of this course, you must have access to computer hardware and software that meets or exceeds BC's minimum hardware and software standards for e-learning courses. It is strongly recommended that you check your computer to verify that its hardware and software configuration meets or exceeds the BC standard.

  • Is your computer ready for e-learning? Click here to check it out.
  • New to e-learning? Take the e-learning orientation before enrolling in any e-learning course.
  • Additional Software required for this Course:
    • Assignments that require word processing must be submitted in Microsoft Word format. Documents created using Microsoft Works, or files that have [.txt], [.pdf], or [.asci] extensions will not meet course requirements. If you do not have proper software on your computer, you can use the Microsoft Word program on any of the "open lab" computers at any BC Learning Resource Center or in public libraries.
  • If you are using Microsoft Office 2007 please read here for assistance with uploading assignments.
  • Only word processing documents in Microsoft Word format will be accepted. Please virus check documents before sending them. Panda Software offers a free online virus check.

How to Register for this Course

Please visits the students' myBC website . Students must pay for the course before they will be able to log into the course.

Contact Information

Professor Walters will be available for student’s consultation during the week on an appointment basis only.  Please send an email to twalters@broward.edu, to set up your appointment.  The consultation can be conducted through Live Chat in Blackboard or face to face on campus.  Feel free to contact your professor regarding any academic questions or problems which you may have regarding the course.

Name:

 

Professor Tonietta A. Walters

Office Phone:

 

954-554-4810

Cell Phone:

 

305-299-0100

Department Phone:

 

954-201-7396

Email:

 

twalters@broward.edu (All communication should be through Blackboard email. Use this BC email only if you have an emergency.)

Website:

 

http://www.broward.edu/~twalters

Office Hours:

 

By appointment , Downtown Campus - Bldg 33, Room 425 or my office in Lauderhill

Virtual Office Hours:

 

By appointment through Blackboard Chat or anytime asynchronously online

BC's Emergency Hotline#:

 

954-201-4900

How to Access the Blackboard component once you are Enrolled in this Course

There is NO required on campus orientation. Normally, the login date should be the first day of the session in which the course is scheduled. The only people who will be permitted to login are those students who have registered and paid for the course. There may be a delay of up to 24 hours from when a student registers and pays before Blackboard login is activated.

There is an orientation module assigned the first week of classes that must be completed in order to access the rest of the course Learning Modules. If you fail to complete the orientation material by the due date you will be administratively dropped from the course.

  • Obtain BC email user ID and PIN code before attempting to login to Blackboard.
  • At BC email address site, click on "ID Lookup", then enter your Student# (or INTL Student ID#) and PIN code (2 digit birth month and 2 digit year). Write down your email ID (not the @mail.broward.edu part), which is your Blackboard User Name.
  • Your Blackboard User Name is the same as your BC email ID.
  • Your Blackboard password is the same as your BC email PIN code.

Links to help students get connected to Blackboard/e-learning course(s) at BC