AZA3939 - Ethics and the modern world

The unit adopts a global perspective but looks at issues through a South African and African lens. The theories of utilitarianism and deontology will be examined within the South African context and judged according to ethical dilemmas that arise within the country. Key to this examination will be a discussion of the role of friendship and family within ethical decision-making. A major focus of discussion is the opposition between consequentialist theories, such as utilitarianism, which judge rightness and wrongness solely in terms of consequences, and the Kantian theory of deontology which judges rightness and wrongness according to whether the act is in accordance with rational will. The question that will guide this discussion is whether these theories can account for the agent-centred reasons which arise from relations of love and friendship and which seem to have the potential to conflict with impartial moral requirements?