Religion & Philosophy Exploring Ethics
evolving—and what ideas engage them now. Topics of social and political interest with ethical grounding will be explored using the guiding question from Socrates, “How, then, shall we live?” • Facilitated discussion.
ONLINE: In this online course, we will be reading essays by ethicists who argue different sides of an important issue, like world hunger, immigration, pornography, animal welfare, abortion, and euthanasia. Most of our class time will be spent on open discussion of the essays. We will also look into the dominant theories philosophers hold about how moral decisions can reasonably be made. Our object will be to understand both sides of the issues and arrive at reasoned positions of our own. Weekly reading assignments will be about 15 pages. • Facilitated discussion.
Please note: The course will be taught on Zoom each week, but there will be opportunities for those in the class who are available to gather in person for a potluck at Betsy’s home during February and April. Since the OLLI and Duke time frames for the term are different, we understand if OLLI students are not able to attend all the later classes, but, with Zoom, we hope they can arrange to do this. The course begins before the OLLI winter term start date and runs for 12 weeks, from January 9 to April 10. There will be no class on March 6 and 13. The required weekly reading assignments will be available on the course website.
Please note: The required textbook is available in various formats: new ($59), rented ($50), unbound ($44), or used (various prices). Be sure to get the fifth edition to have access to all the essays we’ll discuss.
Dr. Betsy Alden, faculty with the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke, has led this course—the only “intergenerational” academic course offered at Duke— for 20 years along with two undergraduate coinstructors who have previously taken the course. Dr. Alden is also an ordained United Methodist minister and taught women’s leadership at the Sanford School of Public Policy before her “retirement.”
Required text: • Steven Cahn, Exploring Ethics, 5th ed. (9780190887902) Richard Prust is professor emeritus of philosophy at St. Andrews University and coauthor of Personal Identity in Moral and Legal Reasoning.
• 10 Tue, Jan 25-Mar 29, 11:00am-12:15pm • Online via Zoom • Maximum: 24; Fee: $100; Course ID: 1767
Coinstructors Meghna Datta and Margaret Gaw took this class in previous years and are looking forward to helping to facilitate great discussions! Margaret is a senior at Duke, originally from Nashville. She is an English major, premed, and very interested in maternal and reproductive health, currently serving as a doula at UNC Women’s Hospital. Meghna is a junior from Madison, Wisconsin, pursuing a self-designed degree (medicine, mortality, and a meaningful life). She loves to play violin, spend time outdoors, and read good books.
Intergenerational Ethics ONLINE: Do you ever wonder what the younger generations are thinking about? This course explores generational perspectives on today’s ethical issues through an interactive approach: 10 undergraduates partner with “overgrads” in OLLI to lead discussions that pursue and share perspectives on current issues. Overgrads and undergrads learn from each other about how their values have evolved and/or are
• 12 Sun, Jan 9-Apr 10 (no class Mar 6, Mar 13), 2:00-3:30pm • Online via Zoom • Maximum: 10; Fee: $100; Course ID: 2255
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