We are happy to announce that this fall term will include the first-ever class at Deer Ridge Correctional Institute (DRCI). Along with being our first class at DRCI, this class also marks another important step for our program: a further expansion across the state into Eastern Oregon.
This Philosophy 102 class will center around the topic of ethics, and will be taught by Prof. Caroline Lundquist. Together, Prof. Lundquist and the students will be approaching ethics through the works of many of our world’s greatest philosophical minds such as Nietzsche, Aristotle, and Camus.
From the course announcement:
The fundamental assumption behind this course is that reading, writing, thinking and talking about ethics can help us to become better people, live richer, more meaningful lives, and inspire us to work together to improve our world. Hence the chief purpose of this course is to foster an ongoing engagement with meaningful ethical questions.
We will begin by examining a selection of potential “threats” to ethics, including relativism, egoism, false consciousness and moral luck, and then consider whether or to what extent moral theories can help mitigate those threats and guide our ethical thinking. Along the way, we will consider numerous questions that have historically posed, and continue to pose, serious challenges to ethical philosophers and philosophical laypeople alike. We end by applying our tentative beliefs and conclusions to a selection of contemporary moral issues.
This class will include 25 students from Coffee Creek Correctional Facility as well as 5 students from DRCI.