Classical Ethics: Informing Modern Decision-Making
CLAS 3080
3 hours
Classical Ethics: Informing Modern Decision-Making
Critical Thinking
Social Awareness & Responsibility
Course Description
Fundamental ethical ideas on interpersonal relationships and best business practices as written about and lived by ancient philosophers in the classical world. Course is designed to facilitate dialogue between the ancient and modern through the reading of non-Abrahamic discussions of living ethical lives and making good decisions with the aim that students understand and apply these ancient ideas to their public and private lives.
Athena Title
Classical Ethics
Prerequisite
One 1000-level ENGL course or one 1000-level CLAS course or second year or higher student standing or permission of department
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to describe how non-Abrahamic Mediterranean philosophies addressed ethical issues pertinent to human beings in their private and public lives.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to formulate rhetorically sound, written compositions which synthesize and interpret ancient philosophical ideas in essay format.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to interpret, deliberate, and defend a wide range of ethical choices presented in the assigned texts.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to apply ancient ethical principles to common lived experience in the 21st century, including ethical decisions pertaining to personal life, public life, and professional and business practices.
Topical Outline
Learning How to Make Ethical Judgments
What is My Purpose in the World?
Self-Discipline and Deliberate Living
Why Should I Choose to Do Good?
Ethical Choices in Profit-Making
Ethical Choices in Leadership
The Stoic Model of Doing Business
What is the Good Life?
What is Excellence?
Mortality as a Lesson in Ethics
TEXTS
The ancient authors that we will read are the following: Plato, Seneca the Younger, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, Cicero, Plutarch, Aristotle, and Valerius Maximus.
These texts are supplemented by modern works on ethics and the process of making ethical choices in our personal and work lives: David Brooks’ The Road to Character and John C. Maxwell’s There’s No Such Thing as Business Ethics.
Institutional Competencies Learning Outcomes
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
Social Awareness & Responsibility
The capacity to understand the interdependence of people, communities, and self in a global society.
