Ethical questions encompass a wide variety of moral concerns. What sorts of things really matter in life: pleasure, family, money, all or none of these? Suppose you could get away with stealing something you really wanted without anyone noticing. Are there good reasons for not stealing it? Would it be okay for us to sacrifice the happiness of a few people, if that sacrifice meant that many, many more people would be happy? In this class, we’ll look at ethical theories from the Western philosophical tradition that provide a philosophical framework for answering these and other ethical questions. We’ll begin with questions about living a flourishing life and how it might be connected to having a good moral character. From there, we’ll consider questions about the nature of right and wrong and the sources of moral value. Finally, we’ll end the class by considering a few contemporary moral problems. In past classes, we’ve explored topics like abortion, animal rights, climate change ethics, the moral responsibilities of scientists, and ethical consumerism.