Ethics as applied to law

ldroi1309  2017-2018  Louvain-la-Neuve

Ethics as applied to law
3 credits
30.0 h
Q1
Teacher(s)
Lazaro Christophe;
Language
French
Main themes
The objective of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the complex entanglements between ethics, law, and political institutions within contemporary liberal societies. It aims at introducing students to the methodology, concepts and specific issues of applied ethics as a subfield of legal studies.
The main goal of the course is to familiarize students with the key ethical theories that law practitioners mobilize either explicitly or implicitly in contemporary legal debates and procedures. It will provide students with the main tools of ethical inquiry and will help them to think critically and independently about norms and values. To this end, the course will develop a problem-oriented approach based on the analysis of concrete case studies, drawn from case law and/or legislation. This practical approach will give students the opportunity to deepen and master the tools, the concepts and theories of applied ethics.
The case studies tackled during the course encompass a variety of themes such as: body, technologies and health, environmental protection, animal welfare, social justice, equality and non-discrimination, etc. 
Aims

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1

After having successfully completed the course the student is expected to be able to:

-       Distinguish different types of arguments (empirical, ontological, normative, etc.).

-       Master the categories of ethical thinking, the conceptual tools and the key theories (utilitarianism, deontologism, virtue ethics, etc.).

-       Tackle legal issues from a larger social and normative perspective.

-       Develop autonomous and critical thinking on ethical issues inherent to legal practices.

 

The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
Teaching methods
The teaching method of the course combines lectures with occasional debates prepared by students in order to familiarize themselves with ethical argumentation on controversial topics in various legal fields.
The course is designed to foster active participation of students on the basis of compulsory readings (articles, courts decisions, legislations). The links to these documents are to be found on i-campus along with a detailed bibliography for each theme analyzed during the class. 
Evaluation methods
The final evaluation will take the form of a written exam. The exam will focus on the compulsory readings as well as on the materials presented in class. 
Faculty or entity
BUDR


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Aims
Bachelor in Law