Ethical Frameworks and Moral Reasoning

Introduce the three main ethical frameworks: consequentialism (judge actions by outcomes and overall welfare), deontology (judge actions by adherence to rules and duties regardless of consequences), and virtue ethics (judge actions by the character they reflect); apply each framework to real-world moral dilemmas: climate responsibility, AI ethics, civil disobedience, wealth inequality, healthcare rationing; understand the strengths and limitations of each framework; develop the capacity for careful moral reasoning — the ability to think through ethical questions systematically rather than relying only on intuition or group opinion