Philosophy - What is Justice?

Start date: 06 November 2025
Day: Thursday
Course length: 6 Week Course
Time: 10:00 to 12:15
Folk House

Course code: BM04

Full fee: £129.00 | Over 65s: £116.10 | Benefit: £103.20

Tutor: Jim Mepham


Courses description

How do you decide what is good and bad? What is right and wrong? What is fair?

Is it simply about using your intuition or do you follow moral rules or principles? Are personal or religious beliefs important?

These are all ethical questions. What do they really mean and can philosophy shed some light on these questions?

This course will explore some key ideas on the philosophy of Justice. We will look at some examples of famous ethical dilemmas and some key principles that can be adopted to help us make decisions. We will examine and challenge the theories of utilitarianism and deontology, as well as the ideas of Plato on the nature of Justice.

This course is ideal for those who like to discuss and reflect on these important ethical questions and how they relate to our world today.

More detailed outline of sessions:

Week 1 What is ethics? Exploring ethical dilemmas.

Week 2 What is Utilitarianism? Introducing the philosophers Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. Exploring hedonism and the pleasure-pain principle. How does this relate to justice?

Week 3 The strengths and weaknesses of Utilitarianism. How relevant is this theory to modern day issues?

Week 4 What is Deontology? Introducing Immanual Kant and his view of ethics. How does this view relate to justice? The strengths and weaknesses of Deontology. How relevant is this theory to modern day issues?

Week 5 What does Plato say about Justice? What are the strengths and weaknesses of these ideas? How relevant are they to modern day issues?

Week 6 Applied Ethics. Applying the theories to some contemporary issues of justice- including lying, stealing, animal rights and war.

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