About the Program
The Ethics and Justice minor is designed to help students critically examine their values, understand competing conceptions of justice, rights, and duties, and to develop a principled framework for better ethical reasoning in professional and personal contexts.
About the Government, Planning, and Philosophy Department
Cassety Hall 202
1300 Elmwood Ave.
Buffalo, NY 14222
Phone: (716) 878-6116
gpp.buffalostate.edu
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
-Deliberate ethical values and principles and apply them in ambiguous, complex, and controversial contexts
-Evaluate competing conceptions of justice
-Clearly articulate fundamental ethical concepts (e.g. respect, right, good)
-Apply competing conceptions of rights and duties to questions of ethics and justice
-Recognize the role of integrity and conscientiousness in ethical decision-making
-Demonstrate the ethical practice of advocacy, dissent, and dialogue that constructively attends to points of conflict
-Demonstrate the discourse skills necessary to participate in civic life
Program Requirements
Program Requirements
Foundations (3 credits)
Select one of the following:
PHI 102 Introduction to Ethics: Overview of justice and other fundamental ethical concepts, various topics in applied ethics
PHI 111 Ethics for Scientists: Medical resource allocation, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, right to health care, genetic engineering, vaccine mandates, research ethics/IRB principles
PHI 112 Professional Ethics: Justice for clients and professionals, professionalism, integrity, whistleblowing, applications to professions (Education, law, etc)
PSC 223 Law and Society: Role of courts, relationship of law to society
Civic Discourse and Disagreement (3 credits)
Select one of the following:
PHI 304 Philosophy of Law: Relationship of law to justice, ethics, and politics; conceptions of autonomy and harm
PHI 314 Rights and Respect: Foundational issues of rights, respect for others, and disagreement.
Conceptions of Justice (3 credits)
Select one of the following:
PHI 301 Justice: Liberty vs Equality: Foundational political philosophy course, natural rights, positive rights, distributive justice.
PHI 361 Race and Progress: Race and political philosophy, racial categories, race and justice
PSC 351 History of Political Thought I:
Theories and Tools in Practice (3 credits)
Select one of the following:
PLN341 – Housing and Equitable Urbanism: understood as a component of human flourishing rather than a mere commodity. Issues of environmental justice, segregation of housing by income/race, government’s role in housing and [lack of] improvement
PLN350 – Planning Sustainable Communities: Theory, ethics, and practice of planning sustainable communities (3P’s: People, Planet, and Profit).
PHI 495 Special Project (in some area of ethics or political philosophy)
PSC 426 Mediation (principles and techniques of mediation as a technique to resolve legal disputes)
Customize Your Minor with Electives (six credits)
Select two of the following:
PSC 104 International Relations
PHI 110 Meaning of Life: Foundational questions of values, happiness, meaningfulness, purpose in life
PHI 308 Philosophy of Love and Sex: Foundational issues of love, friendship, respect, consent, autonomy, happiness.
PHI 102 or PHI 111 or PHI 112 or PHI 304 or PHI 314 if not used to satisfy a named requirement.