Ethics

What morally obligates us? Which things have moral value, and how should we measure and balance values of different kinds? Is it only the outcome that matters, or are there more factors to be taken into consideration? Why and when does equality have value? What are the conditions that morally obligate a person to their acts? Does moral responsibility depend on free action or free will? Which obligations stem from the right to dignity? These, and many other questions, concern the ethicists. Hovering above these issues are meta-ethics, questions about the nature of ethics: What are the fundamental characteristics of morality? Are there moral facts that we discover in the same manner we discover scientific facts, or perhaps, the source of our morality lies in our willfulness and tendencies alone? How, if at all, can moral judgments be justified?

Alongside these theoretical questions, scholars in our department study the different domains of Applied Ethics: Bioethics (ethical issues raised in clinical medical treatment and research), Climate Ethics (moral dilemmas concerning man-manufactured climate change), ethics in education, and war and ethics.