Oct 04, 2024  
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog 
    
2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Applied Ethics Minor


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The Applied Ethics minor is designed for degree candidates from any college in the university who want to study and evaluate ethical issues in business, medicine, law, public policy, the environment, media, data collection and use, or other areas. The program is designed to develop students’ ability to think critically about ethical problems in a specific domain or professional practice; and to credential UMass Dartmouth baccalaureates with advanced marketable skills and competencies.

Students in the Applied Ethics program explore core ethical theory including utilitarianism, deontology, virtue ethics, and more. They practice how to apply that theory to moral issues in business, public policy, and professional practice. Elective options for the minor explore philosophy as it applies to health care; technology; disability, race, and gender; human rights; the environment; value theory, and more.

In the Applied Ethics minor, students will learn how to perform ethical reasoning and analysis in their preferred area of study. The program is structured so that students can specialize in one of the following tracks:

  1. Ethics and Public Policy
  2. Medical Ethics
  3. Information & Technology Ethics
  4. Environmental Ethics
  5. Ethics of Media and Creative Expression

Electives within each track are identified below with superscript letters corresponding to those above next to the course name. Tracks are subject to revision by the Philosophy Department Curriculum Committee. Students may also develop individual tracks in consultation with, and the approval of, the Program Director.

Required Core


Required Core 300 Level


300-Level Content Area Required Courses (approved topics only PHL 331, PHL 319, PHL/WGS 307, PHL 317, PHL 315; or

equivalent 300-level or higher PHL ethics course with approval of Director or PHL Dept. Chair)

Complete 3 Credits

Other/Elective Course Choices


Two content area elective courses from the same content area from approved list below: 6 Credits

Two additional elective courses from any content area from list below: 6 Credits.

Notes: At least two (2) electives must be 300 level or above. Substitutions must be approved by the Program Director.

Ethics & Public Policy


Ethics & Public Area: Choose Two

Medical Ethics


Medical Ethics: Choose Two

Ethics of Media and Creative Expression


Ethics of Media and Creative Expression: Choose Two

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