Master of Arts in Moral Sciences

Studying Ethics has two crucial cornerstones: mastering the theories on ethical behaviour and thought, and gaining insight into ethical ideas, reasoning and behaviour of individuals and groups. Ethicists always strive for specific results, either to participate in values debates or to apply to upbringing, education, training, aid and assistance, politics … Specialization is achieved by means of the Master’s dissertation and a wide range of electives.

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Master's Programme

1 year 60 credits

Faculty of Arts and Philosophy

Dutch

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Programme summary

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Full programme

(version 5 )

Course schedule 1st semester Course schedule 2nd semester Print

1 General Courses 30

Course	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Issues in Contemporary Ethical Theory	1	sem 1	nl	Seppe Segers	5

Global Ethics	1	sem 1	en	Sigrid Sterckx	5

In-Depth Study of Moral Scientific Problems	1	sem 2	nl	Seppe Segers	5

Bio-ethics	1	sem 1	nl	Sigrid Sterckx	5

Advanced Study of Issues in Social and Political Philosophy	1	sem 1	nl	Sigrid Sterckx	5

Sexual and Relational Ethics	1	sem 2	en	Tom Claes	5

2 Elective Courses 10

Subscribe to 10 credit units from the study programmes of a university of the Flemish Community (including the Ghent University Elective Courses). Subject to approval by the faculty.

List of Ghent University Elective Courses

3 Master's Dissertation 20

Course	Ref	MT1	Semester	Language	Instructor	Crdt
Master's Dissertation			year	nl	Maarten Van Dyck	20

Learning outcomes

Competence field 1: Competences in one/more scientific discipline(s)

To master advanced knowledge of the moral sciences and to creatively apply it to ethical and moral analysis of complex ethical problems.
To critically and independently include relevant components of auxiliary sciences into ethical and moral analysis of complex ethical problems (multidisciplinarity).
To be able to analyze the structure of complex and controversial ethical problems and to develop strategies for argumentation and assessment in order to underpin and assess different views on these problems.
To be aware of and understand various current debates within applied ethics (such as bioethics, global ethics and social ethics) and use these independently in applied ethical and moral anaysis of complex ethical problems.
To know and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the different schools, paradigms and research traditions within applied and meta-ethics.
To handle existing theories and insights in a constructive and innovative way for ethical and moral analysis of complex ethical problems.

Competence field 2: Scientific competences

To develop a research strategy for in the field of moral sciences and/or applied ethics, and to select the appropriate philosophical and scientific methods and perspectives independently.
To have a critical overview of relevant philosophical, ethical and scientific international research, and to use it in an innovative way.
To handle existing ethical and moral research and reflection methods in an innovative way, and to use them when analyzing and reflecting on ethical issues.
To develop the skills to report on the analysis and interpretation of one's own research in a scientifically correct way (in a report, thesis or article).
To be able to deal with changes of the research process within moral sciences and applied ethics, and to use this as a basis to adjust one's research and reflection process.
To independently choose an appropriate level of abstraction, taking into account the stage of applied ethical and moral research.

Competence field 3: Intellectual competences

To critically analyze complex ethical issues and debates independently.
To be capable of reasoning in an academically correct way, in order to take up a stance concerning a complex ethical issue, and to assess other ethical stances critically.
To be able to form an ethically and morally correct opinion on complex ethical issues.
To critically reflect on one's own thinking, learning, decisions and actions, and to use these critical reflections as a basis for lifelong learning.[

Competence field 5: Societal competences

To be able to incorporate societal (economic, public, cultural) and philosophical aspects into one's own work in the field of moral sciences and applied ethics.
To incorporate social responsibility, commmitment, cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity into moral and ethical research.