Getting Started

Ethics is the branch of philosophy that asks what makes actions right or wrong, what it means to live well, and what we owe to one another. These are not abstract puzzles. You face decisions with moral dimensions constantly: whether to be honest when honesty is costly, whether a law you disagree with still deserves your obedience, whether the consequences of an action matter more than the intention behind it.

You already have views about these questions. The purpose of this course is not to replace those views but to examine them: to put your moral intuitions in conversation with some of the most important attempts in history to systematize ethical thinking.

We will read six major works of ethical theory, each from the original source. The course is organized around a single running question: where does morality come from, and does it have an objective foundation? Each thinker gives a different answer, and the conversation between them is what makes this course worth taking.

What to expect

This is a self-paced online course — there are no scheduled meeting times or fixed deadlines. You move through the material at your own speed. But that flexibility comes with real responsibility. Plan on several hours of reading, writing, and engagement per week — roughly the same commitment as any three-credit-hour college course.

The course is organized into units, and you should complete them in order. Within each unit, the expected flow is: read the overview, work through the lesson pages, complete the assigned reading, then engage with the discussion prompt and take the quiz.

A few habits that will serve you well

• Set a regular schedule for yourself — even 30 minutes a day keeps you moving forward
• Read the assigned texts more than once; philosophical writing almost always rewards a second pass
• Take notes as you read and flag moments where an argument seems to break down — those are worth thinking about further
• Give yourself time; don't rush through the material just to finish — the point is to actually engage with the ideas
• Try explaining what you've read to someone not taking the course — if you can't, you probably need another pass
• Contact your instructor by email if you have questions or run into problems

Technical skills you'll need

Before you begin, make sure you're comfortable doing the following:

• Navigating a website using a browser (you're already doing this!)
• Downloading, opening, and saving files
• Creating and saving a document in a word processor (Microsoft Word, Google Docs, etc.)
• Using a search engine for basic research

How to approach the texts

Philosophical texts are unlike most of what you've probably read before. They don't deliver information so much as construct arguments — step by step, premise by premise. Reading them quickly produces confusion, not understanding. Reading them slowly, with attention to how each sentence connects to the next, is how the ideas actually land.

A few things that help: read with something to write with. Mark passages that seem important or puzzling. When you finish a section, try to state in one sentence what the main point was. If you can't, go back.

Philosophy has many right answers, but also many wrong ones. When you engage with the material, you're not just sharing an opinion — you're making a case. The quality of your reasoning matters as much as the position you take. Assertions are not arguments; claims need support.

How to approach the writing

Writing philosophically is hard, but it becomes easier with practice. The most common mistake is trying to cover too much. A short, focused argument that you can actually defend is better than a broad survey that skims every topic.

• Read your draft aloud before finalizing — if a sentence is hard to say, it's probably hard to read
• Explain your argument to someone not taking the course; if they can't follow it, revisit it
• Make sure each paragraph has a clear purpose and connects to your central claim

What academic honesty means in this course

Academic dishonesty is, broadly speaking, a form of misrepresentation. When you submit work that isn't genuinely yours, you misrepresent your own understanding — which defeats the purpose of being here. The goal of this course is for you to actually develop the ability to think philosophically. That can't happen if someone else (or something else) does the thinking for you.

Forms of academic dishonesty

• Cheating includes copying answers from another student's exam, helping others with exam questions, or using an AI chatbot to write significant portions of an assignment without attribution.
• Fabrication includes making up sources or creating fake data or citations.
• Plagiarism includes submitting someone else's work as your own, copying text from internet sources without proper citation, or submitting AI-generated text as your original work.

On the use of AI tools

AI writing tools (such as ChatGPT or Claude) may not be used to write or substantially draft your assignments for this course. Submitting AI-generated text as your own work constitutes academic dishonesty.

You may use AI tools to help generate initial ideas, to critique a draft argument you have already written, or to rephrase an awkward sentence — not to produce the argument itself. If you're unsure whether a specific use is acceptable, ask before submitting, not after.

Consequences

A first violation results in a warning and a zero on the assignment. A repeat violation results in a failing grade for the course. If you are uncertain about what is and isn't permitted, please ask — that is always the right move.

Further reading

• Academic dishonesty (Wikipedia)
• What is plagiarism? (Plagiarism.org)
• Using generative AI in coursework (Boston University)