Minor Overview

About this minor
Applied ethics refers to the practical application of ethical theories to contemporary problems. As such, applied ethics is associated with real-world actions and their moral considerations. This Minor explores contemporary ethical issues across a range of diverse areas including digital technologies, bioethics, global and environmental justice, health delivery and medical research. At Level 1, students will articulate and apply ethical theories to a number of contemporary ethical problems arising out of the development of digital technologies (PHIL1001). At Level 2, students will complete a multi-disciplinary unit designed to increase students' awareness and critical thinking skills related to a diverse range of ethical dilemmas including animal ethics and welfare; human reproduction; fraud and whistleblowing; drug discovery, development, marketing and use (SCIE2100). Depending on their interests, students will complete either PHIL2001 or PHIL2009. In PHIL2001, students will gain knowledge about arguments in favour of and in opposition to abortion, euthanasia, and animal vivisection and be able to reason in a constructive and cooperative manner about these polarising issues. In PHIL2009, students will locate issues of global and environmental justice, including war, climate change and global poverty, in their historical cultural context, evaluate philosophical positions and identify and question their basic assumptions. At Level 3, students will construct persuasive arguments concerning difficult issues as well as recognise and utilise evidence and reasoning that is relevant for establishing a moral conclusion (PHIL3003). For students taking a minor which shares units with their other unit sets (majors or minors): in order for minors to be recognised on academic and graduation documents, students may only have a maximum of one unit overlapping between their unit sets.
Outcomes
Students are able to (1) articulate contemporary ethical problems arising out of the development of digital technologies; (2) evaluate philosophical positions, identifying counter-examples and questioning their basic assumptions; (3) reason in a constructive and cooperative manner about contemporary and polarising moral issues; (4) apply ethical theories to, and reason effectively about, new ethical questions; and (5) demonstrate sound research and communication skills to reach morally defensible decisions.
Incompatibility

MJD-ARIDM Artificial Intelligence

Units

Key to availability of units:
S1
Semester 1
S2
Semester 2
Take all units (18 points):

Availability Unit code Unit name Unit requirements
S1 PHIL1001 Ethics for the Digital Age: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy
Incompatibility
PHIL1107 Ethics, Free Will and Meaning
S1 PHIL3003 Moral Theory
Prerequisites
any Level 2 Philosophy unit
or PPHE2211
or PPHE3327
Incompatibility
PHIL 2209 Moral Theory
S1 SCIE2100 Social Responsibility in Action
Prerequisites
completion of 48 points of prior study
Take unit(s) to the value of 6 points:

Availability Unit code Unit name Unit requirements
S2 HUMR2001 Global and Environmental Justice
Incompatibility
Successful completion of
Unit(s) PHIL2009 Global and Environmental Justice
S1 PHIL2001 Bioethics
Prerequisites
any level 1 unit in the Bachelor of Arts, or equivalent
Incompatibility
PHIL2201 Social Ethics: Life and Death