Request to revise graduate curriculum in Philosophy

Date: October 26, 2009
To: College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
From: Julie Putnam, Administrative Assistant to Faculty Governance (amended by Clarence Greene 12-8-11)
Approved On: October 6, 2009
Implementation Date: 2009

Note: Deletions are strikethroughs. Insertions are underlined.

Summary

The Department of Philosophy proposes to:

Remove three courses from the curriculum:

  • PHIL 6219 History of Ethical Theory
  • PHIL 6272 Idea of Human Nature
  • PHIL 6851 Practicum in Ethics and Applied Philosophy

Add nine new courses to the curriculum:

  • PHIL 6110Ethical Theory
  • PHIL 6120Philosophical Methods and Analysis
  • PHIL 6190Supervised Teaching
  • PHIL 6210Ethics and Aesthetics
  • PHIL 6240/8240Research Ethics in the Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
  • PHIL 6250Ethics of Public Policy
  • PHIL 6260Ethics and International Affairs
  • PHIL 6330Race and Philosophy
  • PHIL 6340 Philosophy of Mind

Modify course numbers, titles, and/or descriptions for all remaining courses except:

  • PHIL 5050 Topics in Philosophy
  • PHIL 6050 Topics in Philosophy
  • PHIL 7999 Master’s Degree Graduate Residency Credit
  • PHIL 8050 Topics in Philosophy

Cease using the Theoretical, Traditional, and Applied course categories

Begin using three course categories for the MA: Required Courses, Core Electives, and Capstone Courses

Begin using two course categories for the Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics: Required Courses and Core Electives

Catalog Copy

New Catalog copy:

  • M.A. in Ethics and Applied Philosophy
  • Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics

Department of Philosophy

103 Winningham
704-687-2161
http://philosophy.uncc.edu

Coordinator

Dr. Marvin Croy

Graduate Faculty

  • Dan Boisvert, Lecturer
  • Marvin Croy, Associate Professor
  • Michael Eldridge, Lecturer
  • William Gay, Professor
  • Gordon Hull, Assistant Professor
  • Robin James, Assistant Professor
  • Michael Kelly, Professor and Chair
  • Lisa Rasmussen, Assistant Professor
  • Eddy Souffrant, Associate Professor
  • Rosemarie Tong, Mecklenburg County Medical Society Distinguished Professor in Health Care Ethics
Master of Arts in Ethics and Applied Philosophy

The program is designed to foster the application of ethical and philosophical knowledge to currently pressing concerns in social, economic, medical, legal, commercial, cultural, and political contexts and associations. The department offers both theoretical and applied courses. These courses provide students with a comprehensive, normative, politically-informed and logically consistent training relevant to current challenges encountered in business, medical associations, national and international political contexts, as well as public education.

Admission Requirements

In addition to meeting the university’s graduate admission requirements, all prospective students must:

  • Submit a personal statement outlining why the applicant seeks admission to the program.
  • Submit three academic letters of recommendation, attached to the recommendation forms required by the graduate school, which address the student’s philosophical skills and/or ethical reasoning.
Degree Requirements

The Master of Arts in Ethics and Applied Philosophy requires the completion, with a GPA of 3.0 or better, of a minimum of 30 semester hours of approved graduate course work. The successful completion of a Thesis or Internship is also required for the Master of Arts. Prior to starting a thesis or Internship, a student in the M.A. program will have to apply for readmission if the student has not taken any class for two years. All degree requirements must be completed within six calendar years of first enrollment in the program.

Course Distribution

Required Courses (9 credits):

  • PHIL 6110 Ethical Theory
  • PHIL 6120 Philosophical Methods and Analysis
  • PHIL 6190 Directed Readings/Research

Core Elective Courses (18 credits), drawn from the following:

  • PHIL 6050 Topics in Philosophy
  • PHIL 6190 Supervised Teaching
  • PHIL 6210 Ethics and Aesthetics
  • PHIL 6220 Health Law and Ethics
  • PHIL 6230 Ethics, Biotechnology, and the New Genomics
  • PHIL 6240 Research Ethics in the Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
  • PHIL 6250 Ethics of Public Policy
  • PHIL 6260 Ethics and International Affairs
  • PHIL 6310 Language and Violence
  • PHIL 6320 Feminist Theory and Its Applications
  • PHIL 6330 Race and Philosophy
  • PHIL 6340 Philosophy of Mind
  • PHIL 6350 Philosophy of Technology
  • PHIL 6360 Philosophy of Education

Capstone Course (3 credits), drawn from the following:

  • PHIL 6410 Internship
  • PHIL 6920 Thesis
Admission to Candidacy Requirements

An Admission to Candidacy form is to be filed upon the completion of 24 hours of course work.

Advising

The coordinator of graduate studies serves as formal advisor to the graduate students.

Transfer Credit

Up to 6 hours earned from other accredited institutions may be eligible for transfer credit. Formal approval must be obtained from the coordinator of graduate studies and the Dean of the Graduate School.

Language Requirement

Although students are not required to demonstrate proficiency in a foreign language as a formal requirement of the program, they are expected to acquire competency in and use whatever languages they need to pursue their research interests.

Thesis

Students have the option of writing a thesis (3 semester hours credit) in fulfilling the capstone/concluding project requirements. Both Thesis and its alternative (Internship) are linked to the Directed Readings/Research course.

Application for Degree

Graduation information, including deadlines for candidacy and degree application, are available online from the Graduate School at www.uncc.edu/gradmiss/c_graduation.html.

Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics is of interest to three groups of students: (1) professionals working in areas of applied ethics; (2) students just beginning to explore graduate work in philosophy; (3) students in other master’s and doctoral programs, such as biology, health administration, and public policy, who expect their careers to include work in applied ethics.

Admission Requirements

In addition to meeting the university’s graduate admission requirements, all prospective students must:

  • Submit a personal statement outlining why the applicant seeks admission to the program
  • Submit two academic letters of recommendation, in addition to the recommendation forms required by the graduate school, which address the student’s philosophical skills and/or ethical reasoning
Prerequisite Requirements

A bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution and a minimum undergraduate GPA of 2.75 is required for admission to the Graduate Certificate program.

Certificate Requirements

The Graduate Certificate in Applied Ethics requires the completion of 15 credits of graduate course work in philosophy. The coursework should be distributed as follows:

Required Courses (3 credits):

  • PHIL 6110 Ethical Theory

Core Elective Courses (12 credits), drawn from the following:

  • PHIL 6050 Topics in Philosophy
  • PHIL 6210 Ethics and Aesthetics
  • PHIL 6220 Health Law and Ethics
  • PHIL 6230 Ethics, Biotechnology, and the New Genomics
  • PHIL 6240 Research Ethics in the Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences
  • PHIL 6250 Ethics of Public Policy
  • PHIL 6260 Ethics and International Affairs
  • PHIL 6310 Language and Violence
  • PHIL 6320 Feminist Theory and Its Applications
  • PHIL 6330 Race and Philosophy
  • PHIL 6340 Philosophy of Mind
  • PHIL 6350 Philosophy of Technology
  • PHIL 6360 Philosophy of Education

Approval of the Philosophy Department Graduate Coordinator is required in order to substitute related courses offered by other departments and programs.

Advising

The coordinator of graduate studies serves as formal advisor to the graduate students.

Transfer Credit

Transfer credit is not accepted in the certificate program.

Courses In Philosophy

PHIL 5050. Topics in Philosophy. (1-3) Prerequisite: Permission of the department. In-depth treatment of selected problems and issues in philosophy. May be repeated for additional credit as topics vary. (Upon approval by the Department Graduate Committee)

PHIL 6050. Topics in Philosophy. (1-3) Prerequisite: Permission of the department. In-depth treatment of selected problems and issues in philosophy. May be repeated for additional credit as topics vary. (Upon Approval by the Department Graduate Committee)

PHIL 6110. Ethical Theory. (3) Examination of major normative and meta theories that undergird our practical judgments about morally right actions and morally good persons, organizations, or policies. This examination may include central problems and issues concerning morality’s: requirements (e.g. utility, duty, virtue, care), authority (e.g. absolutism, relativism, pluralism, multiculturalism), scope (e.g. deceased or future human beings, animals, environment), justification (e.g. rationality, intuition), source (e.g. reason, sentiment, disagreement), and nature (e.g. realism/antirealism, objectivity/subjectivity). (Yearly)

PHIL 6120. Philosophical Methods and Analysis. (3) Explores the distinctive and various methods within philosophy (logical, phenomenological, feminist, conceptual, linguistic, deconstructive, and others), their uses in particular contexts (including links to other disciplines), and how methodology shapes philosophy (including its social impact). One aim is to clarify “applied philosophy” by examining its methods. Students will analyze, evaluate, reconstruct, and originate arguments, judgments, and decisions. They will do so in connection with both texts shared among all the students in the class and the particular interests of individual students. Each student will develop a paper over the course of the semester to bring these issues together. (Yearly)

PHIL 6190. Supervised Teaching. (1) Offers an opportunity to work closely with a faculty member and to engage in supervised teaching as a form of applied philosophy exploring pedagogical practices, theories, issues, and educational research within the philosophy classroom. Normally connected with a graduate assistantship. (Upon Approval by the Department Graduate Committee)

PHIL 6210. Ethics and Aesthetics. (3) Art often generates ethical conflicts because of its forms, content, or functions in society, and ethical debates are sometimes played out through art, so ethics and aesthetics are deeply intertwined. In turn, aesthetics has been strongly tied to politics. The course will cover a range of ethical/political issues in aesthetics across various arts (visual arts, film, music, literature, etc.), including readings from classical and contemporary authors such as Plato, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Adorno, Said, Nussbaum, and Piper. (Regularly)

PHIL 6220. Health Law and Ethics. (3) This course interprets and uses the main normative principles of bioethics (autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice) to guide the practice of healthcare professionals and policymakers. It also increases understanding, interpretation, and monitoring of the impact of legal, regulatory, and political environments on healthcare organizations. Topics include medical malpractice, Medicare and Medicaid law, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, reproductive freedom, death and dying, pain and suffering, allocation of scarce medical resources, developments in genetics, and regenerative medicine. (Regularly)

PHIL 6230. Ethics, Biotechnology, and the New Genomics. (3) This course uses a range of normative theories (e.g., deontology, utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and feminist ethics) to assess the morality of developments in biotechnology and the new genomics. It also probes the ethical, legal, political, and social implications of genetically modifying food and animals, genetically enhancing human beings, extending the human life span, assisting human reproduction, creating chimeras, and fusing humans with machines. (Regularly)

PHIL 6240/8240. Research Ethics in the Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences. (3)This course is designed to identify the fundamental elements that characterize not only methodologically grounded but also morally appropriate scientific research. Class discussion and readings will focus on key issues in biomedical and behavioral research including informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, risk-benefit assessments, mechanisms for protecting animal and human research subjects, international research, vulnerable populations, conflicts of interest and data management, publication ethics, intellectual property issues and the politics of research. (Regularly)

PHIL 6250. Ethics of Public Policy. (3) This course examines the conceptual tools available in the development of policies, regulations and guidelines that are responsive to normative standards of character and conduct. The course will include discussion of ethical and political theory, as well as its intersection with policy-making at topics such as equity, efficiency, security, and liberty. Issues may include how specific policies express moral commitments and choices, how some policies favor certain values over others, as well as on issues such as whistle-blowing, “dirty hands” (doing wrong to do right), “many hands” (hiding accountability in bureaucracy) and professional incompetence. (Regularly)

PHIL 6260. Ethics and International Affairs (3) The relations between nation states and other trans-national organizations are often assumed to be governed by realist power relations, and outside the scope of ethical deliberation. In this course we will examine what sorts of ethical norms can or should be brought to bear on international relations. Possible topic areas include both theoretical issues such as the applicability of ethical theory to the behavior of trans-cultural and international issues, the appropriateness of “Western” ethical norms to the discussion; as well as more specific topics such as global hunger, uneven development more generally, arms proliferation, and environmental security.. (Regularly)

PHIL 6310. Language and Violence. (3) Explores philosophical theories on the relationship between language and violence, on a continuum from subtle forms of covert personal violence to grievous forms of covert institutional violence. (Regularly)

PHIL 6320. Feminist Theory and Its Applications. (3) This course will cover feminist critiques of the philosophical canon, feminist approaches to philosophical problems (e.g., feminist ethics, feminist epistemology), and philosophical studies of topics related to gender, sexuality, and the intersection of these categories with race and class. Students will have the opportunity to investigate how feminist philosophy bears on their individual projects and areas of interest. (Regularly)

PHIL 6330. Race and Philosophy. (3) In this course, students will both study the role of race in the history of philosophy and examine, from a philosophical perspective, contemporary discourses of race and racism. Critical race theory and postcolonial theory will be studied, as well as their intersection with feminism, queer theory, among other critical political philosophies. (Regularly)

PHIL 6340. Philosophy of Mind. (3) Examines questions concerning the relationship between body and mind, the existence of other minds, the nature of consciousness, and the architecture of cognition. Approaches to these questions include traditional philosophical sources (emphasizing metaphysics and epistemology) and more recent developments in cognitive science (including the computational model of mind, mental representation, connectionist systems, and artificial intelligence). Also addressed are ethical and social issues involved in the design and implementation of intelligent systems. Inquiries bear on issue such as free will and determinism, emotion and reasoning, and the nature of rationality. (Regularly)

PHIL 6350. Philosophy of Technology. (3) Examines philosophical views on the nature of technology, focusing on its effects on society and nature. Computer technologies and other cases will be considered. (Regularly)

PHIL 6360. Philosophy of Education. (3) Exploration of modern philosophies of education, with a focus on the relationships between pedagogy and society. (Regularly)

PHIL 6410. Internship in Ethics and Applied Philosophy. (3) On-site work in ethics and applied philosophy. Site and workload to be determined in consultation with a business, agency, organization or association and one faculty-internship advisor. Provides practical and professional training experience under conditions that the University cannot duplicate. (On demand)

PHIL 6910. Directed Readings/Research. (3) . Students will write and revise a substantial paper based on their research, which will be linked to Thesis or Internship. (Upon Approval by Department Graduate Committee)

PHIL 6920 Thesis. (3) Appropriate research and written exposition of that research is required. (Upon Approval of Department Graduate Committee).

PHIL 7999. Master’s Degree Graduate Residency Credit. (1) Continuation of individual Concluding Project or Thesis for students completing the program but not enrolled in other graduate courses. (Fall, Spring, Summer)

PHIL 8050. Topics in Philosophy. (1-3) Prerequisite: Permission of the department. In-depth treatment of selected problems and issues in philosophy. May be repeated for additional credit as topics vary. (Upon approval by the Department Graduate Committee)