Course

Values and Contemporary Issues

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Philosophy
Course code
PHIL 1102
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
How can we develop answers to questions of value in our complex age? How can we think more clearly and humanly about issues confronting our lives and our society? How can we live as aware beings who are genuinely responsive to our own needs and to the needs of others? This course considers such questions by exploring the moral and human issues involved in such topics as abortion, capital punishment, racial and sexual discrimination, individual liberty, the “moral majority”, capitalism, and technology. The course also pursues such questions by endeavouring to lead the student to an understanding of the more deeply rooted philosophical problems which give rise to our perplexities concerning such moral issues. This course will serve as a foundation for further work in philosophy (Note: the format and topics may vary. Some course sections may focus more extensively on issues in medical ethics, others on issues pertaining to the relation of morality to the law, and still others on different topics. Therefore, individual instructor’s course descriptions should be consulted.)
Course content
  1. The course will primarily involve an examination of current ethical issues which are of general interest to the student.  For example:
    • the morality of taking human life: abortion, euthanasia, suicide, capital punishment, war;
    • the relation of morality to the law: the “moral majority”, paternalism, civil libertarianism, pornography, drugs, censorship;
    • the just or unjust treatment of sentient beings, e.g., racism, sexism, affirmative action, animal liberation, poverty and  famine;
    •  the direction of culture and civilization: technology, T.V. and violence, eugenics, education and indoctrination, ecology, capitalism, socialism.
  2. Through the examination of the types of issues in #1, students will learn the general dialogical method of developing their own moral perspective and will be acquainted with various philosophical methods for confronting moral issues (e.g., analytic, existential, phenomenological, pragmatic).
  3. Through the examination of the types of issues in #1, students will also become acquainted with:
    • different types of posture: in ethics (e.g. subjectivism/objectivism, egoism/altruism, individualism/authoritarianism, relativism/universalism) as they relate both to personal and social morality;
    • different ethical theories, e.g., utilitarian, deontological, virtue, existential, and situational; and
    • different kinds of levels of ethics, e.g., descriptive, normative and meta-ethical.
Learning activities

The course will be taught by a combination of informal lecture and structured discussion.  Class participation will be encouraged throughout all aspects of the course.  As dialogue is essential to philosophical growth, time will be allowed for in-depth, “give and take” discussions between individual students and the instructor and between individual students and other students, as well as for more general class discussions.  Students may be invited to participate in class-instruction, if they so desire, by giving seminars.  Some audio-visual materials, focussing on particular ethical problems, or the understanding of such problems, will be used.

Means of assessment

Evaluation will be based upon course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College policy. The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria at the beginning of the semester.

Any combination of the following totalling 100%:

Test, Quizzes, and Short Assignments      20% - 50%    
Written Class Presentations, Essays, Essay Exams      20% - 60%
Instructor’s General Evaluation
(e.g., participation, attendance, 
homework, improvement, extra-credit, group work)		       0% - 20%

 

 

 

 

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, the successful student should be able to:

  1. Think in a meaningful way about some of the major contemporary ethical issues.
  2. Learn how to develop personal philosophical positions in relation to some of these issues.
  3. Examine some contemporary theorizing about these issues by moral philosophers who have wrestled with them and attempted to formulate solutions in a rational and critical manner.
  4. Become familiar with some of the fundamental philosophical problems which underlie these issues, through the reading of classical and modern philosophical theories.
  5. Recognize that critical thinking is imperative to handle the complexities inherent in modern moral issues and that simple answers and thoughtless actions are dangerous responses.

Textbook materials

Sample Texts (one of the following):

  • Camp, J. C. V; Olen, J.; and Barry, V. Applying Ethics: A Text with Readings, 10th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2011.
  • Rachels, J. The Elements of Moral Philosophy, 6th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2010.
  • White, J. E. Contemporary Moral Problems, 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2006.

Requisites

Prerequisites

None - Although PHIL 1101 is recommended

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution Transfer details for PHIL 1102
Camosun College (CAMO) CAMO PHIL 202 (3)
Capilano University (CAPU) CAPU PHIL 101 (3)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU PHIL 1110 (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG PHIL 1100 (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU PHIL 120 (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU PHIL 1XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU PHIL 210 (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) DOUG PHIL 1102 (3) & DOUG PHIL 1103 (3) = UBCO PHIL_O 111 (3) & UBCO PHIL_O 121 (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) Any 2 of DOUG PHIL 1102 (3) or DOUG PHIL 1103 (3) or DOUG PHIL 1151 (3) or DOUG PHIL 1152 (3) or DOUG PHIL 2250 (3) or DOUG PHIL 3300 (3) = UBCV PHIL_V 100 (6)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC PHIL 1XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV PHIL 110 (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC PHIL 232 (1.5)
Vancouver Island University (VIU) VIU PHIL 112 (3)

Course Offerings

Fall 2025

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
33
Remaining seats:
2
On waitlist
0
Building
New Westminster - North Bldg.
Room
N3408
Times:
Start Time
12:30
-
End Time
14:20
CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
16
Remaining seats:
19
On waitlist
0
Building
New Westminster - North Bldg.
Room
N3408
Times:
Start Time
14:30
-
End Time
16:20
CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
34
Remaining seats:
1
On waitlist
12
Building
Coquitlam - Bldg. B
Room
B2250
Times:
Start Time
9:30
-
End Time
12:20
CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
0
Currently enrolled
0
Remaining seats:
0
On waitlist
0
Building
New Westminster - South Bldg.
Room
S0660
Times:
Start Time
9:30
-
End Time
12:20