PHL 327 - History of Moral Philosophy

3 credits
Examination of the origins and development of moral philosophy from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Starting in the seventeenth century, the notion that morality was solely based on the will of the Christian God began to wane. Without an external moral authority, philosophers turned to other ways of distinguishing right from wrong. The Christian picture of human good as union with God also began to disappear. Instead the dominant view of human nature became a picture of autonomous individuals pursuing their own interests and potentially in conflict with each other. Philosophers examined will include Hume and Kant. May be taken to fulfill either the history of philosophy or the ethics requirement.