PY2903 Matters of Life and Death
Academic year
2024 to 2025 Semester 1
Curricular information may be subject to change
Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.
Key module information
SCOTCAT credits
20
SCQF level
SCQF level 8
Availability restrictions
Available only to students on the Evening / Combined Studies Programme.
Planned timetable
Wed 6.30 - 9.30 pm
Module Staff
TBC
Module description
How should we think about moral problems concerning life and death? Choices about whose life to save, and whom to allow to die, must be made all the time, in the health service and elsewhere. How should such choices be made? Some actions that aim at good ends will endanger lives. Are such actions permissible? This module deals with some general questions concerning life and death, such as: Is death bad? Would it necessarily be a bad thing if humans went extinct? In virtue of what is life good? Should we care about the lives of people who will exist in the future, long after we are dead? What is it that makes killing bad, and is there a morally significant difference between killing and letting die? The module also deals with some applied issues and moral problems, such as: Is disability inevitably a bad-making difference? When, if ever, are abortion and euthanasia morally permissible? Should there be markets for human organs or reproductive labour?
Relationship to other modules
Pre-requisites
BEFORE TAKING THIS MODULE, YOU MUST HAVE PASSED ANY SOCIAL SCIENCE OR HUMANITIES EVENING DEGREE MODULE
Assessment pattern
Coursework = 100%
Re-assessment
1 or more essays totaling no more than 6,000 words
Learning and teaching methods and delivery
Weekly contact
1 x 2.5-hour session: lectures and tutorials