Ethics Minor & Justice Minor

Ethics Minor & Justice Minor

Ethics Minor & Justice Minor

Students who are particularly interested in integrating the critical study of ethics and/or justice and the application of these things in one's career and life in general may want to consider the Ethics Minor and Justice Minor at Canisius.

Ethics Minor

The Ethics Minor provides you with opportunities to engage in analysis and reflection on modern moral concerns and to encourage applications of moral principles toward creating a more just world.

Engagement in moral conflict fosters in students an appreciation for ideas such as the common good, collective responsibility and solidarity. You will learn to advance beyond merely giving your opinion; you will be enabled to examine commitments to truth and the promotion of justice.

What is the minor in Ethics?

  • This minor encourages you to systematically cultivate your characters, not simply in an inwardly-focused way but rather outwardly in working to realize a more just world.  
  • It is ideal for you if you already have strong interests in making a curricular connection to extracurricular activities on campus such as local volunteering, service trips both national and international, and campus ministry programs. 
  • The minor is flexible in its requirements, allowing you to focus on your particular interests, such as ethical concerns relating to gender, the environment, health care or around religion's relationship to ethics.
  • The minor will provide you solid credentials when seeking employment or applying to graduate school because it compliments many majors in the humanities, business and education.

Requirements

You are required to complete a total of 16 credit hours, including 20 hours of service.  The four requirements of the minor are:

  1. Foundation course: 
    PHI 241 Ethics (offered every year by the Department of Philosophy)

    Three (3) credits

  2. Four three-credit hour ethics courses from a list of pre-approved elective courses, chosen for this program (see below).
  3. A one-credit hour independent research project including a paper of around 15 pages written in collaboration with a professor who teaches within the Ethics Minor Program.
  4. Twenty (20) hours of direct service (see program directors for details).

Elective Courses

You will take four courses from the following list.

N.B.: For information on relevant PHI courses being offered in Fall 2013, please click here.

Course 

Title 

Professor

CLS 300

Roman Law and Society

Williams

HON 355 

Religion's Public Role

Lynch & Kelly

PHI 242

Ethical Issues in Business

Pryba

PHI 243

Bio-Medical Ethics

Reed or Kelly

PHI 244

Environmental Ethics

Reed or Halady

PHI 245

Animal Ethics

Zeis

PHI 246

Ethics of Technology

Reed

PHI 247

Food and Agricultural Ethics

Pryba

PHI 252

Happiness, Virtue, and the Good Life

Reed or Forest

PHI 268

Catholic and Jewish Bioethics

Kelly

RST 340 

Moral Issues Today

Rourke

RST 342

Theological Ethics & Environmental Justice

Rourke

RST 345

Bio-Moral Problems

Rourke

ZPR 351

Contemporary Catholic Social Ethics

Lynch & Kelly


Courses only count toward the minor when taught by the professors noted above.  Courses taken retroactively may count.  Professors who wish their courses to be considered for the program should send full syllabi to program directors.  For questions, please e-mail program directors Tanya Loughead, PhD or Philip Reed, PhD.

Justice Minor

The Justice Minor provides you with opportunities to engage in careful analysis of and sustained reflection on contemporary moral concerns and to encourage applications of moral principles toward creating a more just world.

You will be able to participate in careful analysis and to cultivate moral imagination and thereby to enrich your capacities for moral discernment.  Engagement in moral conflict will give you an appreciation for ideas such as the common good, collective responsibility and solidarity.  You will learn to advance beyond merely giving your opinion and be enabled to examine your commitments to truth and the promotion of justice.

What is the minor in Justice?

  • This minor encourages you to systematically cultivate your characters, not simply in an inwardly-focused way but rather outwardly in working to realize a more just world.  
  • You will already have a strong interests in these areas additional avenues through a curricular connection to extracurricular activities on campus such as local volunteering, service trips, and campus ministry programs. 
  • The minor is flexible in its requirements, allowing you to focus on your particular interests, such as justice concerns relating to issues of race, sex, class, animals, international human rights or environmental justice.
  • The minor also provides you credentials when seeking employment or applying to graduate school with its liberal arts compliment to majors in the humanities, business and education.

Requirements

You are required to complete a total of 16 credit hours, including 20 hours of service learning.  The four requirements of the minor are:

  1. Foundation course: 
    PHI-240 Justice (offered every year by the Department of Philosophy)
    Three (3) credits.
  2. Four three-credit hour justice courses from a list of pre-approved elective courses, chosen for this program (see below).
  3. A one-credit hour independent research project including a paper of around 15 pages written in collaboration with a professor who teaches within the Justice Minor Program.
  4. Twenty (20) hours of direct service (see program directors for details).

Elective Courses

You will take four courses from the following list.

N.B.: For information on relevant PHI courses being offered in Fall 2013, please click here.

Course 

Title 

Professor

CLS 300

Roman Law and Society

Williams

ENG 319

Captivity Narratives

Desiderio

HIS 230

The Holocaust in Historical Perspective

Jones & Rosenbloom

HIS 347 

History of Marxism 

Jones

HIS 390

Civil Rights Movement

Dierenfield

HON 355 

Religion's Public Role

Lynch & Kelly

PHI 201

Philosophy of the Human Person

Halady

PHI 247

Food and Agricultural Ethics

Pryba

PHI 261

Philosophy of Law 

Djuth

PHI 267

Catholic Social Thought

Kelly

PHI 271

Philosophy of Human Rights 

Boger

PHI 272

Gender & Philosophy

Loughead

PHI 274

Social & Political Philosophy

Simmonds-Price

PSC 241

Human Rights & Globalization

Fajardo-Heyward

PSC 244

War: Causes and Consequences 

DiCicco

RST 234

Christians (En)Countering Injustice

Lawrence

RST 341

Catholic Social Ethics

Lynch


Courses only count toward the minor when taught by the professors noted above.  Courses taken retroactively may count.  Professors who wish their courses to be considered for the program should send full syllabi to program directors.  For questions, please e-mail program directors Tanya Loughead, PhD or Philip Reed, PhD.

Student Learning Goals

Goal 1: Students will demonstrate analysis of and reflection upon concerns of justice.  Students will:

  • Show competence and expertise in some concerns of justice.
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the relevant theories of justice and the ability to critically analyze and reflect on these theories.
  • Understand and reflect on the experience of some concerns of justice.

Goal 2: Students will be able to thoughtfully apply moral principles to cultivate their characters and to work towards realizing a more just world.
Students will:

  • Recognize and analyze some contemporary concerns where justice is at stake (such as environmental racism, or the abortion debate) and propose thoughtful solutions or approaches to these issues. 
  • Engage on a personal level some contemporary concerns where justice is at stake.
myCanisius