The goal of this text is to present philosophy to newcomers as a living discipline with historical roots. While a few early chapters are historically organized, my goal in the historical chapters is to trace a developmental progression of thought that introduces basic philosophical methods and frames issues that remain relevant today. Later chapters are topically organized. These include philosophy of science and philosophy of mind, areas where philosophy has shown dramatic recent progress. This text concludes with four chapters on ethics, broadly construed. I cover traditional theories of right action in the third of these. Students are first invited first to think about what is good for themselves and their relationships in a chapter of love and happiness. Next a few meta-ethical issues are considered; namely, whether they are moral truths and if so what makes them so. The end of the ethics sequence addresses social justice, what it is for one’s community to be good. Our sphere of concern expands progressively through these chapters. Our inquiry recapitulates the course of development into moral maturity

An Introduction to Religion by Mark Knockemus is a comprehensive and accessible resource designed to explore the fundamental concepts, historical developments, and cultural significance of religion. This open educational textbook delves into the meaning of religion, the evolution of religious thought, key figures in religious history, and the intersection of religion with society, ethics, and personal experience. It presents religion not merely as a set of beliefs but as a dynamic and complex phenomenon that has shaped human civilizations. With chapters on topics such as scripture, ritual, morality, and religious experience, the textbook offers a broad and inclusive overview of the world’s major faith traditions and philosophical perspectives. This resource aims to facilitate critical thinking and a deeper understanding of how religion influences individual lives and societies at large, using a phenomenological approach that encourages students to observe without judgment.

This book was written by MSW students as their final project for their Capstone class. Students were each assigned a chapter of the book to write to show that they had achieved competency as a Master’s level social worker. Chapters were assigned based on student interest and experience in certain areas of the field.

Introduction to Sociology 2e adheres to the scope and sequence of a typical, one-semester introductory sociology course. It offers comprehensive coverage of core concepts, foundational scholars, and emerging theories, which are supported by a wealth of engaging learning materials. The textbook presents detailed section reviews with rich questions, discussions that help students apply their knowledge, and features that draw learners into the discipline in meaningful ways. The second edition retains the book’s conceptual organization, aligning to most courses, and has been significantly updated to reflect the latest research and provide examples most relevant to today’s students. In order to help instructors transition to the revised version, the 2e changes are described within the preface.

The complexity of modern business requires a climate where virtue flourishes as opposed to venality, careerism and greed. Through theological and religious studies and opportunities for spiritual development, Jesuit business education helps its graduates (regardless of their religious or non-religious tradition) develop an ethical and spiritual inner compass. It directs them toward cooperation with all persons of good will committed to (trans)forming business in a manner consistent with human purpose and dignity. At the same time, the Jesuit trained leader is forewarned of the reality of human imperfections and social distortions evident in business history. The Jesuit perspective shares with the student a commitment to progress in hope. It rejects any utopian model of human or institutional perfection through an understanding that business institutions and economies are created by human beings and must be changed by human beings. As part of their understanding of calling graduates are prepared for self-sacrifice in order to help secure justice for all in every sphere that business touches.

Knowing Home attempts to capture the creative vision of Indigenous scientific knowledge and technology that is derived from an ecology of a home place. The traditional wisdom component of Indigenous Science—the values and ways of decision-making—assists humans in their relationship with each other, the land and water, and all of creation. Indigenous perspectives have the potential to give insight and guidance to the kind of environmental ethics and deep understanding that we must gain as we attempt to solve the increasingly complex problems of the 21st century.

This five-day interactive and experiential workshop focuses on how leaders lead innovations that both promote social responsibility and produce business success. The workshop is organized around three main parts: observation, sense-making, and creating. During the observation phase, students spend a full day inside the Boston office of the design company IDEO and visit some of the most interesting proven innovators in corporate social responsibility such as Ben & Jerry’s, KLD, MBDC, Plug Power (fuel cell technology), PwC, Schlumberger, or core team members of the UN Global Compact. After returning from their company visits, students describe to one another what they saw and learned. In the final part of the Lab, students conceive and implement innovation projects that serve the needs of a local community. Each team presents its practical accomplishments on the final day of the Lab. Starting in 2004 this course will be renumbered as 15.975.

Terence Lau & Lisa Johnson's The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business is a book for today's student, who expects learning to be comprised not only of substance, but also of interactive exercises and multimedia. This book streamlines the presentation of material to ensure that every page is relevant, engaging, and interesting to undergraduate business students, without losing the depth of coverage that they need to be successful in their academic journeys and in their professional careers. This is not Legal Environment of Business (LEB) ”light.“ Rather, this is LEB without risk of students' eyes glazing over in boredom or from lack of comprehension. This is LEB presented in an exciting way, where every page is interesting to students and relevant to real life.

Our subject is the ethics of leadership, an examination of the principles appealed to by executive authority when questions arise about its sources and its legitimacy. Most treatments of this subject resort to case-studies in order to illustrate the application of ethical principles to business situations, but our primary emphasis will be upon classic works of imaginative literature, which convey more directly than case-studies the ethical pressures of decision-making. Readings will include works by Shakespeare, Sophocles, Shaw, E.M. Forster, Joseph Conrad, George Orwell, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Henrik Ibsen, among others. Topics to be discussed include the sources of authority, the management of consensus, the ideal of vocation, the ethics of deception, the morality of expediency, the requirements of hierarchy, the virtues and vices of loyalty, the relevance of ethical principles in extreme situations.

The aim of this subject is to acquaint the student with some important works of systematic ethical philosophy and to bring to bear the viewpoint of those works on the study of classic works of literature. This subject will trace the history of ethical speculation in systematic philosophy by identifying four major positions: two from the ancient world and the two most important traditions of ethical philosophy since the renaissance. The two ancient positions will be represented by Plato and Aristotle, the two modern positions by Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. We will try to understand these four positions as engaged in a rivalry with one another, and we will also engage with the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes, which offers a bridge between ancient and modern conceptions and provides a source for the rivalry between the viewpoints of Kant and Mill. Further, we will be mindful that the modern positions are subject to criticism today by new currents of philosophical speculation, some of which argue for a return to the positions of Plato and Aristotle.

This resource includes a set of activities, teacher guides, assessments, materials, and more to assist educators in teaching about the ethics of artificial intelligence. These activities were developed at the MIT Media Lab to meet a growing need for children to understand artificial intelligence, its impact on society, and how they might shape the future of AI.

Media Literacy in the Age of Deepfakes aims to equip students with the critical skills to better understand the past and contemporary threat of misinformation. Students will learn about different ways to analyze emerging forms of misinformation such as “deepfake” videos as well as how new technologies can be used to create a more just and equitable society. This module consists of three interconnected sections. We begin by defining and contextualizing some key terms related to misinformation. We then focus on the proliferation of deepfakes within our media environment. Lastly, we explore synthetic media for the civic good, including AI-enabled projects geared towards satire, investigative documentary, and public history. In Event of Moon Disaster, an award-winning deepfake art installation about the “failed” Apollo 11 moon landing, serves as a central case study.
This learning module also includes a suite of educator resources that consists of a syllabus, bibliography, and design prompts. We encourage teachers to draw on and adapt these resources for the purposes of their own classes.
Visit Media Literacy in the Age of Deepfakes to access the learning module and educator resources. A sample of some of these materials can be found on OCW.
This course was produced by the MIT Center for Advanced Virtuality, with support from the J-WEL: Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab.

This course considers a range of philosophical questions about the foundations of morality, such as whether and in what sense morality is objective, the nature of moral discourse, and how we can come to know right from wrong.

Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint addresses in a novel format the major topics and themes of contemporary metaethics, the study of the analysis of moral thought and judgement. Metathetics is less concerned with what practices are right or wrong than with what we mean by ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’
Looking at a wide spectrum of topics including moral language, realism and anti-realism, reasons and motives, relativism, and moral progress, this book engages students and general readers in order to enhance their understanding of morality and moral discourse as cultural practices. Catherine Wilson innovatively employs a first-person narrator to report step-by-step an individual’s reflections, beginning from a position of radical scepticism, on the possibility of objective moral knowledge. The reader is invited to follow along with this reasoning, and to challenge or agree with each major point. Incrementally, the narrator is led to certain definite conclusions about ‘oughts’ and norms in connection with self-interest, prudence, social norms, and finally morality. Scepticism is overcome, and the narrator arrives at a good understanding of how moral knowledge and moral progress are possible, though frequently long in coming.
Accessibly written, Metaethics from a First Person Standpoint presupposes no prior training in philosophy and is a must-read for philosophers, students and general readers interested in gaining a better understanding of morality as a personal philosophical quest.

An introductory course in the molecular biology of the auditory system. First half focuses on human genetics and molecular biology, covering fundamentals of pedigree analysis, linkage analysis, molecular cloning, and gene analysis as well as ethical/legal issues, all in the context of an auditory disorder. Second half emphasizes molecular approaches to function and dysfunction of the cochlea, and is based on readings and discussion of research literature.

This course introduces students to the basic concepts and methods of moral and political philosophy. Its primary focus is on the development of moral reasoning skills and the application of those skills to contemporary social and political issues. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: Discuss several major theories of justice and morality, including utilitarianism, libertarianism, social contract theory, deontology, and the ethics/politics of virtue; Demonstrate how moral and political dilemmas are handled differently by each set of theoretical principles; Develop their analytical skills through interpreting the consequences of various moral principles and revising principles to correspond with their own conceptions of justice; Discuss the relationship between morality and politics; Formulate their own positions concerning moral and political principles, especially in regards to particular issues discussed in this course; Discuss the origins of western democratic politics and constitutional government; Address a range of difficult and controversial moral and political issues, including murder, the income tax, corporate cost-benefit analysis, lying, affirmative action, and same-sex marriage. (Philosophy 103)

The NASW Code of Ethics is intended to serve as a guide to the everyday professional conduct of social workers. This Code includes four sections. The first Section, "Preamble," summarizes the social work profession's mission and core values. The second section, "Purpose of the NASW Code of Ethics," provides an overview of the Code's main functions and a brief guide for dealing with ethical issues or dilemmas in social work practice. The third section, "Ethical Principles," presents broad ethical principles, based on social work's core values, that inform social work practice. The final section, "Ethical Standards," includes specific ethical standards to guide social workers' conduct and to provide a basis for adjudication.

Negotiation and Conflict Management presents negotiation theory – strategies and styles – within an employment context. 15.667 meets only eleven times, with a different topic each week, which is why students should commit to attending all classes. In addition to the theory and exercises presented in class, students practice negotiating with role-playing simulations that cover a range of topics. Students also learn how to negotiate in difficult situations, which include abrasiveness, racism, sexism, whistle-blowing, and emergencies. The course covers conflict management as a first party and as a third party: third-party skills include helping others deal directly with their conflicts, mediation, investigation, arbitration, and helping the system change as a result of a dispute.
Learning and grading in 15.667 is based on: readings, simulations and class discussions, four self-assessments, your analysis of the negotiations of others, writing each week in your journal, and writing three Little Papers.

This course addresses the philosophical question of what a non-violent life entails. It investigates its ethical dimensions and challenges, and considers whether we can derive a comprehensive moral theory from the principle of non-violence. In addition, it discusses the issues of lying, the duty to forgive, non-violent communication, the ethics of our relationship to anger, the possibility of loving enemies, and the ethics of punishment and rehabilitation. Readings are included from primary exponents of non-violence, such as Tolstoy, Gandhi, and King.
This course is part of the Experimental Study Group at MIT.

An OER Ethics Reader contains several foundational philosophical readings in the area of ethics. Readers will trace the historical progression of ethics from as early as Confucius and as late as John Stuart Mill. The PDF is a carefully-edited volume that is easily navigable with bookmarks and an interactive table of contents.