This sample demonstrates curriculum structure, module sequencing, and topic progression for an undergraduate online ethics course.

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8-Module Course Outline: Introduction to Ethics

 

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Course Description

 

This course provides an introduction to ethical thought and moral reasoning, focusing on how individuals evaluate right and wrong actions, values, and ways of living. Students will examine major ethical theories, including consequentialist, deontological, and virtue-based approaches, and consider how these frameworks address contemporary moral questions. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged to think critically about moral disagreement, the foundations of ethical judgment, and the role ethics plays in personal, social, and political life. By engaging with both classic philosophical texts and applied ethical issues, students will develop skills in ethical analysis, argument evaluation, and reflective judgment that can be applied across academic disciplines and everyday decision-making.

 

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Target Learner

 

Undergraduate students, including both philosophy majors and non-majors, fulfilling general education or humanities requirements.

 

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Module 1: Introducing Ethics

 

This module introduces students to the basic questions and methods of ethical inquiry. Students will explore what ethical reasoning involves, why ethics matters in everyday life, and how moral disagreement arises. The module also examines challenges to ethical objectivity, such as moral relativism and skepticism, before introducing the idea of ethical theory as a systematic approach to moral questions.

 

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Lessons

 

• Lesson 1.1: Ethical Reasoning and Everyday Ethics

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• Lesson 1.2: Moral Relativism and Moral Skepticism

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• Lesson 1.3: What Makes a Good Ethical Theory?

 

 

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Module 2: Which Lives Count?

 

This module examines questions about moral status, rights, and the value of life. Students will explore whether human beings have a special moral status and how different ethical theories approach issues such as abortion and euthanasia. The module also introduces debates about the moral consideration owed to non-human animals, including the influential arguments of Peter Singer.

 

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Lessons

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• Lesson 2.1: The Special Value of Human Life

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• Lesson 2.2: Deontology vs. Consequentialism

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• Lesson 2.3: Singer and the Moral Status of Animals

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Module 3: Utilitarianism

 

This module introduces utilitarianism as a major form of consequentialist ethics. Students will examine the core principle of maximizing overall happiness or well-being, along with common objections to utilitarian reasoning. The module also explores rule utilitarianism as a response to some of these challenges, highlighting ongoing debates within consequentialist ethics.

 

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Lessons

 

• Lesson 3.1: What Is Utilitarianism?

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• Lesson 3.2: Problems for Utilitarianism

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• Lesson 3.3: Rule Utilitarianism

 

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Module 4: Kantian Ethics

 

This module explores Kantian ethics, also known as deontological ethics, which emphasizes duties, rationality, and respect for persons. Students will examine Kant’s conception of human dignity, the role of reason and freedom in moral agency, and the requirement to treat others as ends rather than mere means. The module highlights how Kantian ethics differs from consequentialist approaches.

 

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Lessons

 

• Lesson 4.1: Human Dignity

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• Lesson 4.2: Reason and Freedom

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• Lesson 4.3: Respect for Persons

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Module 5: Virtue Ethics

 

This module introduces virtue ethics as an alternative to rule-based and outcome-focused ethical theories. Students will explore the central ideas of virtue ethics, most commonly associated with Aristotle, including character, habituation, and human flourishing. The module also examines Aristotle’s doctrine of the mean and applies virtue ethics to contemporary moral situations.

 

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Lessons

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• Lesson 5.1: Virtue Ethics and Its Core Ideas

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• Lesson 5.2: Aristotle and the Doctrine of the Mean

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• Lesson 5.3: Applying Virtue Ethics

 

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Module 6: Ethics and Religion

 

This module explores the relationship between ethics and religion, including debates about whether morality depends on religious belief. Students will examine arguments for and against the existence of God, the challenge of nihilism, and the Euthyphro dilemma, which raises questions about divine command theory and moral authority.

 

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Lessons

 

• Lesson 6.1: Nihilism and Anti-Nihilism

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• Lesson 6.2: Arguments for and Against God

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• Lesson 6.3: The Euthyphro Dilemma

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Module 7: Morality as Contract

 

This module examines social contract approaches to morality, which seek to explain ethical norms as arising from social agreements while maintaining a degree of objectivity. Students will study the work of thinkers such as Hobbes, Locke, and John Rawls, along with objections to contract-based morality and thought experiments such as the prisoner’s dilemma.

 

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Lessons

 

• Lesson 7.1: Locke and Hobbes

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• Lesson 7.2: Objections and the Prisoner’s Dilemma

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• Lesson 7.3: Rawls and the Just Society

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Module 8: Critiques of Morality

 

This final module examines influential critiques of morality and ethical life, particularly those offered by Karl Marx and Friedrich Nietzsche. Students will explore how these thinkers challenge traditional moral frameworks and consider responses to their critiques. The module encourages reflection on the limits of moral theory and the continuing relevance of ethical inquiry.

 

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Lessons

 

• Lesson 8.1: Marx on Morality

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• Lesson 8.2: Nietzsche on Morality

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• Lesson 8.3: Critiques of Marx and Nietzsche

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This course outline was created for portfolio purposes and demonstrates a typical module-based structure for an undergraduate online ethics course.