Disability Ethics

Catalog description

Traditional moral and political philosophy has often ignored or marginalized the needs and interest of disabled individuals. This course introduces key intellectual traditions that have influenced our modern understanding of what is moral good and just. The class will contemplate fundamental questions that affect the daily lives of those with disabilities and their families. The course will introduce a moral principle or tradition and apply that to issues related to the needs and interests of those with disabilities. The objective is to develop an understanding of how the life circumstances and prospects of disabled people are shaped by larger discourses within moral philosophy and for students to acquire the capacity to respond to ethical dilemmas that affect those individuals with disabilities personal and professional lives. (Sponsored by the Department of Philosophy.)