Module manager: Rach Cosker-Rowland
Email: R.Cosker-Rowland@leeds.ac.uk
Taught: Semester 2 (Jan to Jun) View Timetable
Year running 2025/26
This module is approved as a discovery module
The module is an introduction to ethics and practical philosophy covering topics in political philosophy, metaethics, applied and/or social philosophy in addition to core areas in ethics. It introduces you to core ideas that are necessary to understand debates in philosophical ethics and practical philosophy including theories of the right and the good, such as utilitarianism and deontological approaches to ethics. The module also includes an introduction to the methods of argumentation in ethics and practical philosophy such as arguments from cases and intuitions, and debunking arguments in ethics.
The module aims to enable you to understand positions and debates in ethics and practical philosophy such as whether a society is just only if all are equally well-off and whether we act wrongly if we do something that doesn’t maximize aggregate utility. The module also aims to equip you with the tools to understand and evaluate arguments for positions in ethics and practical philosophy, and to provide you with an understanding of how to make your own arguments in ethics. Central to this is an understanding of:
- Different types of theories in ethics and practical philosophy, such as theories of what’s right and wrong, good and bad, just and unjust, as well as of the rightness and wrongness of particular actions
- The distinctions between these different theories and how they interact
- How to argue for different views in ethics
- How to evaluate views in ethics and how to evaluate arguments for these views
- How to construct independent arguments in ethics
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following learning outcomes relevant to the subject:
1. Accurately describe and evaluate views in ethics or related areas of practical philosophy
2. Reconstruct and explain views and/or arguments in ethics or practical philosophy from primary source material
3. Construct a well-structured simple argument for your own view in ethics or practical philosophy
Skills Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of the module students will have demonstrated the following skills learning outcomes:
4. Communicate ideas and understanding clearly and concisely, using appropriate academic language (Academic and Work Ready skill)
5. Search for and utilise appropriate material to support knowledge and analysis of topics (Academic, Work Ready, Digital and Sustainability skill)
6. Apply standards of academic integrity including when and how to appropriately acknowledge someone else’s work (Academic and Work Ready skill)
7. Identify ethical questions and use ethical frameworks (Sustainability skill)
The syllabus will vary annually. Possible topics include:
- Ethical Theories such as theories of right and wrong, theories of well-being, and/or theories of the nature of ethics
- Consequentialism and/or utilitarianism
- Deontological approaches to ethical questions
- Theories of Justice and other topics in social and political philosophy
- Specific applied issues in political philosophy or applied ethics such as freedom of speech, civil disobedience, immigration, the treatment of animals, or euthanasia
- Examples, thought experiments, and other kinds of methods of argumentation in ethics
| Delivery type | Number | Length hours | Student hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lecture | 14 | 1 | 14 |
| Seminar | 8 | 1 | 8 |
| Private study hours | 178 | ||
| Total Contact hours | 22 | ||
| Total hours (100hr per 10 credits) | 200 | ||
In addition to the formative feedback available to students in student hours and seminar-based activities, each student is invited to complete ONE piece of formative work which will receive written feedback
Students are given a choice of essay plan, exposition of an argument, and objection and reply.
To ensure that students get the formative feedback that they need, they are asked to read and reflect on (i) the feedback they received in previous summative assessments, (ii) the PRHS marking criteria and (iii) the specific guidance provided on the summative assessment in this module. This requires students to critically engage with previous feedback, current expectations, and play an active role in honing their knowledge and skill development.
| Assessment type | Notes | % of formal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| Coursework | Essay | 100 |
| Total percentage (Assessment Coursework) | 100 | |
Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated
The reading list is available from the Library website
Last updated: 08/05/2025
Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team