Ethics across the Curriculum: A Practice-Based Approach

Based on the results of their successful eight-year faculty seminar, Michael Boylan and James Donahue provide a practical framework and concrete suggestions for engaging questions of ethics in the university curriculum. This framework will enable college and university professors to address a full range of ethical issues as they arise in classroom discussion, both in the academic disciplines and in professional education. This book contains the insights of both a philosopher and a theologian as it draws on classic theories of ethics in multiple disciplines. It is designed for use by humanists and theists alike. The book provides means for educators and students to work through the following kinds of questions: What ought I to do when faced with ethical choices? What kinds of persons do we aspire to be? What are the ethical messages conveyed in our intellectual disciplines? How do the professions and professional choices reflect ideas of a good society? Ethics across the Curriculum: A Practice-Based Approach will be an essential guide for developing curriculum and pedagogical goals to meet the challenges of ethics education. It will be a great help for professors, school administrators, and all interested in ethics in the university context.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Ethics in the University Context 2 Introducing Ethics into Every Department: An Overview 3 The Use of Narrative and Character in Ethics Across the Curriculum 4 The Worldview Theory of Morality 5 The Embedded Values Approach 6 Ethics in Professional Education 7 Religion and Other Values 8 From Theory to Action: Ethics Across the Curriculum

About the Author :
Michael Boylan is Professor of Philosophy at Marymount University, Arlington, Virginia. James Donahue is President and Professor of Ethics at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, California.

Review :
Ethics across the Curriculum is a well constructed and insightful work. Intended for faculty and administrators, this text will also appeal to business ethicists, legal ethicists, and others seeking to better understand and apply ethics. It is nicely structured in a modular approach, so groups as well as individuals can easily put it to use. The presentation of concepts is clear and to the point. The applications and analyses benefit from the different perspectives of philosophy (Michael Boylan) and theology (James Donahue). Their thoughtful way of writing helps us see how ethics-as "the reflection on the good"-penetrates all disciplines. Though aimed at the assessment of university curricula, this book provides an overview of ethics and its benefit for different areas of our lives. The pedagogical aspects of the book, such as how to create vocational autobiographies, will be especially helpful. Boylan and Donahue show us how to move from the abstract (ethical theory) to the concrete (examples and exercises), while sharing with us insights they've gained working in the field. This well-crafted argument shows that ethics is not one voice on campus but the humane core of every discipline. It shows how every academic discipline and professional program is accountable to our humanity and the common good of society. Highly recommended for teachers and administrators who are committed to developing the whole student. Ethics across the Curriculum belongs in a tradition of liberal arts that goes back to the earliest American colleges. Even when ethics fell from its unique place in the curriculum, it gradually reappeared, asserting its importance to the development of the student's conscience and ways of knowing the good. As we now rethink the place of ethics in our colleges and universities, Boylan and Donahue's book will be an important guide for faculty who wish to pursue the critical inquiry into values in the classroom, and for administrators who wish to make ethics pervasive in the undergraduate or professional curriculum. This is a timely and significant contribution.