Ethics

Website:www.ethicscenter.cas.lehigh.edu

The interdisciplinary academic Center for Ethics promotes rigorous inquiry into, probing reflection on, and responsible engagement with the ethical dimensions of life from the personal to the global.

Ethics has to do with issues of action, character, and governing values, with questions about right and wrong, good and evil, worthiness and unworthiness, justice and injustice, with matters of individual and collective responsibility, respect and discrimination, war and peace, and with the norms, habits, and systems that make the persons we are, the lives we live, and the societies in which we live together, better or worse. Ultimately, ethics concerns how we ought to live, individually and collectively. Ethical concepts, issues, questions, norms, and systems can be studied philosophically, psychologically, sociologically, anthropologically, historically, politically; ethical inquiry engages the natural and applied sciences and engineering and addresses concerns in economics and business; ethical questions are explored in religion and literature and through artistic expression.

The Center's organizing perspective is that there is no aspect of human beings, no space in human lives, that does not have ethical dimensions—our intrapersonal lives, our interpersonal relations, as well as the educational, professional, familial, social, cultural, religious, artistic, political, economic, environmental, scientific, and global dimensions of our lives together. The ethics domain thus encompasses all aspects of Lehigh University.

For more information, visit our website.

Emeriti. Robin S. Dillon, PhD (University of Pittsburgh)

ETHICS MINOR

The Ethics Minor is currently on hiatus until further notice.

The most important personal, professional, and social questions cannot be resolved through empirical research or technological innovation alone; they require disciplined engagement with the fundamental values at stake in private and public life. Lehigh’s Minor in Ethics prepares students for this engagement, enabling them to think carefully and critically about a wide variety of controversial issues, from the use of military drones and self-driving cars to the protection of our environment and personal data; from issues of human well-being and justice (e.g. in healthcare, immigration, and the economy) to the social problems of racism, sexism, and Islamophobia. The ethical knowledge and skills students develop in Lehigh’s Minor in Ethics are personally enriching and directly contribute to good decision-making in professional and civic life.

The interdisciplinary Minor in Ethics requires a core course that provides students with a robust foundation and critical reasoning tools for identifying and addressing ethical issues and challenges. Elective courses enable students to apply the skills of ethical inquiry and reasoning to specific issues arising in a wide variety of areas and professional fields (e.g. legal, medical, business).

The minor in Ethics consists of 16 credits, including a core course and electives. At least one course must be at the 200-level or above. A maximum of 4 credits of independent study can count for the minor. Senior theses and honors and capstone courses or projects may be eligible. Each semester a complete list of courses eligible for the Ethics minor can be found on the Center for Ethics website and students considering minoring in Ethics should consult with the Director of the Center for Ethics.

Courses

ETH 002 (HMS 002, REL 002) Death and Dying: Religious and Ethical Perspectives 4 Credits

Introduces students to the study of religion, world religious traditions and ethics through an exploration of death and dying. Rituals, practices and texts focused on death provide the basis for comparative study of Asian and Western religious approaches to the meaning and mystery of death as it confronts individuals and communities. Attention will also be given to moral justification for deaths brought about by human actions (i.e., killings). Specific issues include suicide, war deaths, abortion, euthanasia and state-sponsored execution.
Attribute/Distribution: HE, HU

ETH 003 (PHIL 003, REL 003) Global Religion, Global Ethics 4 Credits

Introduction to philosophical and religious modes of moral thinking, with attention given to ethical issues as they arise cross-culturally in and through religious traditions. The course will reference the United Nations Millennium Goals to consider family life and the role of women, social justice, the environment, and ethical ideals. Particular focus varies but may include one or more of the following: abortion and reproductive health, the death penalty, religiously motivated violence, and problems of personal disorder (heavy drinking, anorexia, vengeance).
Attribute/Distribution: HE, HU

ETH 105 (PHIL 105) Ethics 4 Credits

Examination of right and wrong, good and bad, from classic sources such as Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Mill and Nietzsche.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, HU, W

ETH 106 (HMS 106, PHIL 106, REL 106) Bioethics and the Law 4 Credits

Students in this course will learn something about the foundations and (nontechnical) workings of the American system of justice, and will combine that understanding with a focus on various topics in bioethics, from the "right to die" to gene-patenting. A key point will be the understanding that, as science and medicine continually move forward, there are always new challenges to existing legal understanding. How should the law respond to new questions, e.g. inheritance rights of posthumously conceived children?
Attribute/Distribution: HU

ETH 112 (PHIL 112) Business Ethics 4 Credits

This course will explore moral problems that arise in the production and distribution of goods and services. Topics may include: the intersection of government and business, stakeholder vs stockholder theory, moral obligations of employers and employees, discrimination in the workplace, theories of ownership, fraudulent practices, cons and scams, and ethics in sales. (HU).
Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, HU

ETH 116 (HMS 116, PHIL 116, REL 116) Bioethics 4 Credits

Moral issues that arise in the context of health care and related biomedical fields in the United States today, examined in the light of the nature and foundation of moral rights and obligations. Topics include: confidentiality, informed consent, euthanasia, medical research and experimentation, genetics, and the distribution of health care.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, HU

ETH 119 (EVST 119, PHIL 119) Environmental Ethics 4 Credits

Evaluates the ethical and moral dimensions of humanity’s relationship to nature as well as our individual and collective moral duties to confront urgent environmental challenges. Topics may include the intersection of climate and social justice; responsibilities to future generations, distant others, and nonhuman animals; the limitations of traditional ethical, political, and economic frameworks for accommodating our obligations and commitments to justice; and possible legal and public policy responses.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, HU

ETH 120 (HMS 120, SOAN 120) Values and Ethics of Community-Engaged Research 4 Credits

The many dimensions of community-engaged research and learning are explored, with special attention to ethical practices, values, research methods, and critical reflection. Experiential and service aspects of the course provide opportunities for students to build skills for social and community change, as well as build capacity for research and critical inquiry.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, SS, SW

ETH 149 (REL 149) Modern Islamic Ethics 4 Credits

This course will focus on developments in Islamic thinking and ethics that emerge from the modern encounter between Muslim societies and the West. We will discuss Islamic modernism and fundamentalism through short primary texts from a variety of modern Muslim thinkers.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, HU, W

ETH 171 Independent Reading and Research 1-4 Credits

Independent study of selected topic designated and executed in close collaboration with a member of the Center for Ethics Program faculty. May be repeated for elective credit. Consent of program director required. Repeat status: May be repeated.
Repeat Status: Course may be repeated.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, W

ETH 191 Special Topics in Ethics 1-4 Credits

Intensive study of a topic of special interest not covered in other courses. May be crosslisted with relevant offerings in major department or other programs. Consent of program director required.
Repeat Status: Course may be repeated.
Attribute/Distribution: AL, CC, HE, SW, W

ETH 205 (PHIL 205) Ethics Seminar 4 Credits

Advanced seminar in Ethics. Content varies. Check department website for term-specific content. May be repeated for credit if the content differs. Student must have completed at least one Philosophy course at the 100-level.
Repeat Status: Course may be repeated.
Attribute/Distribution: HE, HU

ETH 216 (HMS 216, PHIL 216, REL 216) Research Ethics 4 Credits

Research with human and animal subjects carries with it a host of ethical and legal obligations. Topics include the history of human subjects research; ethical use of placebo studies; the ethics of research in developing countries; whether there is an ethical obligation to volunteer to be a research subject.
Attribute/Distribution: HU

ETH 226 (HMS 226, REL 226) From Black Death to Covid-19:Plague,Pandemic,Ethics and Religion 4 Credits

An investigation into the ways religion and morality shape interpretations of plague and pandemics. Three specific pandemics are examined: the bubonic plague of the 14th century, the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, and the current global Covid-19 crisis. Moral issues provoked by institutional, political and social responses to pandemic disease are also considered.
Attribute/Distribution: HE, HU, W

ETH 254 (ASIA 254, EVST 254, REL 254) Buddhism and Ecology 4 Credits

Buddhism’s intellectual, ethical, and spiritual resources are re-examined in light of contemporary environmental problems. Is Buddhism the most green of the major world religions? What are the moral implications of actions that affect the environment?
Attribute/Distribution: CC, HE, HU, W

ETH 271 Independent Reading and Research 1-4 Credits

Independent study of selected topics designated and executed in close collaboration with a member of the Center for Ethics Program faculty. May be repeated for elective credit. Consent of program director required.
Repeat Status: Course may be repeated.
Attribute/Distribution: CC, W

ETH 291 Special Topics in Ethics 1-4 Credits

ETH 373 Internship 1-3 Credits

Supervised work in Center for Ethics allows students across the university to bring critical perspectives on ethical issues into the campus community. This course may be repeated for credit up to a maximum of 6 credits. Prerequisites: one course in ethics and consent of the Center director.
Repeat Status: Course may be repeated.

ETH 391 Special Topics in Ethics 1-4 Credits