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This module introduces a distinction between ethics and morals, which it explores in order to favour the understanding of our relationship with the normative. It defines ethics as ‘what we think it is appropriate to do’, and sets out to investigate the various elements of this definition by examining action-theory (what it is to do something), value-theory (what it is to consider something appropriate) and political- or community theory (who ‘we’ are). Authors studied include Thomas Aquinas, Hannah Arendt, Jürgen Habermas and Edith Stein. The aim is to discuss whether morality differs from ethics (as thus defined) in that moral philosophy concerns what is right or good, and to think about what this might mean. A case study is presented (immigration), which allows for a concrete exploration of the proposed tension between ethics and morals.
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