Ethics and Justice Application Form – REVISION 5-2-2015
Name:
Course Number:
Course Title:
Department:
College:
Date submitted:
The semester when you first expect the course to be taught:
ETHICS AND JUSTICE
I. Description of Purpose and Content
LMU’s commitment to a tradition that values goodness, truth, and beauty is a compass
that orients the core and is the organizing principle for the inclusion of “Ethics and
Justice” in the Core Curriculum. These courses explore major philosophical,
theological, and spiritual traditions of ethics—especially those that have influenced and
shaped the Catholic intellectual traditions—in order to help students in their efforts to
articulate the good and to understand theoretical frameworks for the ethical analysis of
specific situations and cases.
“Ethics and Justice” courses emphasize a philosophical approach to ethics. By its very
nature, a philosophical approach seeks to articulate rational arguments that justify why
persons ought to act in certain ways. Such arguments are prescriptive and
fundamental, rather than descriptive and applicative. Furthermore, a philosophical
approach inquires into the nature of goodness, ethics, duty, and justice per se before
attempting to make claims about why specific actions, habits, processes, or systems
are moral or immoral, virtuous or vicious, just or unjust. “Ethics and Justice” courses
will address ultimate grounds of ethical claims, with openness to contemplative
awareness and discernment as sources of moral insight. These courses include
arguments about right and wrong, good and bad in specific areas of ethical concern,
such as media ethics, business
ethics, bioethics, environmental ethics, engineering ethics, research ethics, power and
privilege, economic justice, and others.
HOW DOES YOUR COURSE FIT THIS CATEGORY?
1. Please provide a course description and explain how your course fits the
overall purpose and content of this Core category. Include any learning
objectives specific to your course.
[BOX for text, limit 500 words]
2. Please provide a preliminary list of readings and/or textbooks for the course.
[BOX for text, limit 300 words]
3. Please describe possible assignments (or types of assignments) for your
course. For longer assignments, you may include an additional
attachment(s).
[BOX for text, limit 500 words]
Ethics and Justice Application Form – REVISION 5-2-2015
II. Learning Outcomes
HOW DOES YOUR COURSE ASSESS EACH LEARNING OUTCOME? How do
you measure whether and to what extent students have achieved the learning
outcomes below? Referring to the assignments your described in Part I, please
explain for those outside of your field how your course addresses each of this
Core category’s learning outcomes. (Please note that a single assignment may
address multiple outcomes, and that for learning outcomes asking that students
“value” particular issues or concepts, the course does not need to assess student
opinion or belief but level of engagement with that issue or concept.)
Course proposals will address the following student learning outcomes and briefly
describe how the specific course content relates to these outcomes:
1. Students will understand one or more of the major ethical theories—virtue ethics,
utilitarianism, deontology, natural law, various theories of justice, and so forth.
[BOX FOR TEXT, LIMIT 300 WORDS]
2. Students will understand the difference among ethical theories, by investigating
ultimate grounds of their validity.
[BOX FOR TEXT, LIMIT 300 WORDS]
3. Students will value the importance of striving to be virtuous, ethical, and just, as well
as the importance of rational reflection and engaged discourse with diverse
perspectives in such striving.
[BOX FOR TEXT, LIMIT 300 WORDS]
4. Students will develop ethical strategies for the analysis of complex situations.
[BOX FOR TEXT, LIMIT 300 WORDS]
PLEASE DESCRIBE YOUR GENERAL ASSESSMENT PLAN
Overall, how will you assess students in this course?
[BOX for text, limit 300 words]
III. Defining Characteristics
Course proposals for Ethics and Justice courses will:
1. Study major theories that offer rational arguments about the sources of ethical
norms— the grounds that one can use to justify why persons ought to act in certain
ways.
2. Study rational arguments addressing how persons should decide among
incompatible arguments about the sources of ethical norms.
3. Engage ethical theories with specific case studies or contexts, evaluating moral and
ethical responsibilities and claims about justice as these apply to a complex world.
HOW DOES YOUR COURSE MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS?
What do students do (e.g., solve, research, read, write, revise, practice,
Ethics and Justice Application Form – REVISION 5-2-2015
collaborate, review, study, perform) and what do you provide as an instructor
(e.g., in-class instruction, written feedback, reading/viewing assignments) to
address the characteristics above (you may use the numbers above to refer to
specific characteristics)? You may refer to assignments or readings listed in Part
I. Note that a single assignment or form of instruction (e.g., lecture, discussion,
group work) may meet multiple requirements.
[BOX for text, limit 500 words]
To submit your proposal, you should:
 Send the proposal electronically to newcore@lmu.edu
 CC your chair and Dean on the proposal. Your chair and dean can approve your
proposal by sending an e-mail message stating approval to newcore@lmu.edu.
 Once we receive your chair's and dean's approval, your course proposal will be
reviewed by the appropriate core area committee of the UCCC. No proposal will
be reviewed by a core area committee without both your chair's and dean's
approval.
 The core area committee may approve the proposal, request revisions (this is
very common), or reject the proposal. Rejections may be appealed to the full
UCCC.
 Once the course is approved, you will receive word from the UCCC, who will
copy your chair and dean.