MA in Ethics: Theory and Practice

In association with the UCD Centre for Ethics in Public Life (CEPL), UCD School of Philosophy is offering an MA that provides philosophical training in Ethics, as well as enabling students to experience a context for professional Ethics through inter-disciplinary elements of the programme.  Ethics is understood broadly as the study of how to behave well and includes elements of moral philosophy and political/social theory.  As graduates of this module, you will be well-placed to understand and help deal with ethical issues in areas such as government, healthcare, business, agriculture, planning, education, law, and journalism. But you will also have had the opportunity to develop a theoretical understanding of the nature of Ethics and its place in human life more generally.  Having an understanding of Ethics, both at the level of theory and in its practical contexts is of obvious benefit in a very wide variety of career paths.

The programme is available over 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time. Students must take the following six modules:

(i) One flagship module:

         Spring semester

• PHIL14510 Ethics: Theory and Practice (Silvia Panizza)

(ii) Three modules from the following list of 'philosophical ethics' modules:

         Autumn semester

• PHIL41280 Feminist & Gender Theory (Katherine O'Donnell)
• PHIL40320 Topics in Continental Philosophy (Danielle Petherbridge)
• PHIL41810 Critique & Destruction (Joseph Cohen)
• PHIL41840 Invention of the Modern Self (Dragos Calma)

         Spring semester

• PHIL40960 The Cultural Mind (Meredith Plug)
• PHIL41240 Newman: A Philosophical Perspective

(iii) One other module from among all those offered by the School of Philosophy:

• PHIL40250 Merleau-Ponty
• PHIL40410 Philosophy & Literature
• PHIL40840 Autonomy as a Philosophical Problem
• PHIL40960 The Cultural Mind
• PHIL40970 Consciousness, Agency & the Self
• PHIL41280 Feminist & Gender Theory
• PHIL41320 Topics in Continental Philosophy

(iv) One module from these offered by other disciplines or two of the 5 credit modules:

          Autumn semester

• POL30780 Justice in Education
• MKT 30150 Responsible Marketing (5 credits)
• PSY40270 Ethics in Psychological Research (5 credits) 

          Spring semester

• EDUC41250 Children's Rights and Participation
• EQUL40070 Human Rights Law and Equality
• GEOG40970 Critical Geographies
• IS30370 Information Ethics (5 credits)
• MKT30150 Responsible Marketing (5 credits)
• POL41030 Theory of Human Rights
• PSY40270 Ethics in Psychology (5 credis)

Finally, all students must complete a 12-15,000-word dissertation by mid-August.

For eligibility criteria, please see the postgraduate admissions page.

For further information, please contact the programme co-ordinator Dr Danielle Petherbridge (danielle.petherbridge(opens in a new window)@ucd.ie(opens in a new window)).

All administrative enquiries should be sent to the School Manager:

UCD School of Philosophy
Newman Building
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland

Email: (opens in a new window)philosophy@ucd.ie
Tel: +353 1 716 8186