Center for Ethics Education

In this era of increased need for ethical discourse in academic, professional, and public spheres, the Center activities draw upon theological, philosophical, scientific and other areas of inquiry to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and scholarship on moral values and ethical issues of contemporary social import. The Center embodies the University's commitment to intellectual excellence by offering educational and research opportunities and public programming enriched through moral values, religious concerns, scientific and scholarly study, and active engagement in creating a caring and just world.

Founded as an interdisciplinary, cross-university unit, the Center sponsors national conferences, professional workshops, and ethics seminars that create synergy among scholars, scientists, religious leaders, community advocates, industry leaders and policy makers for exploring rigorously and respectfully grounds of individual and collective moral thought and action. Through its funded research programs (including the Fordham HIV and Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics Training Institute) the Center provides opportunities for faculty and students to engage in empirical and theoretical study of ethical issues in health care, science, and public policy. The Center’s academic programs (including the Master's Program in Ethics and Society, Advanced Certificate in Health Care Ethics, and the Undergraduate Minor in Bioethics) affirms the complementary roles of faith and reason drawing upon courses in theology, philosophy, social and physical science, law, economics, political science, business and other fields to provide multidisciplinary education to advance the common good.

 

For more information about the academic programs offered by the Center for Ethics Education, please visit our page on the Fordham website.

Requirements

To apply for the Center of Ethics graduate programs include:

  • Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university
  • Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • Coursework, experience, or training in at least one of the core areas of ethics scholarship (philosophy, theology, or the social or natural sciences)

Application Documents and Materials

  • A statement of intent detailing both your academic aims and interests at Fordham (1-2 pages)
  • GRE General Test scores* and, for all nonnative speakers of English, TOEFL scores
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Resume or CV
  • Application Fee (currently $70)
  • Official degree transcripts confirming prior degree conferral are required for all applicants, regardless of matriculation status. These should be ordered at least one month prior to the application deadline for your program of interest, and should be sent directly to the Office of Admissions via secure electronic delivery. If electronic delivery is not available, please request that your transcripts be submitted directly via post, in a sealed envelope, to: Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Office of Admissions, Fordham University, 441 E. Fordham Rd., Bronx, NY 10458. Please note: you may upload unofficial copies of your transcripts to your application while the Office of Admissions awaits receipt of your official transcripts.

*The GRE requirement may be waived for some applicants, including those who have been out of school for more than 6 years and/or are working in a job related to their chosen field of study or department.

 

For more information about admissions to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, please visit their page on the Fordham website.

 

CEED 5050. Ethics and Society: Cross Disciplinary Perspectives. (3 Credits)

This introductory course will present methods of ethical inquiry from different disciplines and will demonstrate how these disciplines interactively and independently apply these methods to issues of contemporary social import. Relevant moral and ethical frameworks will be introduced, along with background on issues of current social importance. The intent of this course is to provide students with an introduction to the knowledge and critical thinking skills that will enable them to identify and understanding the ethical decisions that affect the welfare of individuals and society and the integrity of their professions.

Attributes: HECH, HECS, HUHR, PMMA, PSIC, PSJH.

CEED 5100. Healthcare Ethics. (3 Credits)

The aim of this course is explore issues in healthcare from the point of view of ethical theory. Some of the issues to be examined are the role of the medical practioner within the context of healthcare currently, medical experimentation, informed consent, ethical questions surrounding life and death, and justice in the healthcare system.

Attributes: HECS, PSIC.

CEED 5200. Philosophy of Medicine: Practioners, Conscience, and Moral Responsibility. (2 Credits)

The aim of this course is to examine the role of the medical practitioner within the context of current medicine. First, we will consider the history of the medical profession and the role of bioethics in medicine. Next, we will consider the ethical practice of medicine and the role of conscience. Finally, we will take up questions of moral responsibility in medicine, focusing on two challenging practical situations.

CEED 5250. Special Topics and Case Studies in Contemporary Bioethics. (3 Credits)

This course will provide students with interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary issues in bioethics and medical ethics. Class readings and discussions will provide students an understanding of the fundamental principles of bioethics, and their application to a range of pressing issues and case studies in public health and health sciences, technology, research, and/or clinical practice.

Attributes: BIOE, CEMP, HECH.

CEED 5367. Ethical Din. of Financial Risk. (3 Credits)

This course will provide a critical, historically-informed introduction to ethical theories and their relevance for financial risk management. The course will introduce students to the theoretical foundations and practial implications of ethics-related concepts in so far as they are relevant to financial risk management; for example the notion of fiduciares and fiduciary relationships.

CEED 5600. Special Topics in Ethics and Society. (3 Credits)

This course will provide students with interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary issues in ethics and society across the humanities and the social and natural sciences. Class readings and discussions will provide students with the tools to apply ethical principles, theories, and decision-making to issues of social import across diverse contexts and populations.

Attributes: CETH, PSIC.

CEED 5800. Moral Foundations of Capitalism. (3 Credits)

This course will provide an interdisciplinary examination of alternative- and largely incompatible-twentieth-century defenses of the morality of capitalism, with a concentration on economic, Objectivist, and Christian arguments, considered historically, economically, politically, and philosophically. Readings from Adam Smith, Karl Marx, authors for and against slavery, John Maynard Keynes, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Austrian School economists, Milton Friedman, Dinesh D’Souza., and George Gilder. The course will include a reading of Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and conclude with an application of studies theories to a few recent public policy issues.

Attribute: PSIC.

CEED 5900. Ethics and Society Field Practicum. (3 Credits)

The goal of practicum is to provide an opportunity for advanced students in Fordham's Master's in Ethics and Society to spend one day per week during a semester for "shadowing" professionals who ae engaged in services that require ethical decision-making. Students selected for the practicum will first be required to complete relevant ethics and society coursework and/or possess relevant experience. Throughout the semester, students will meet with the director of the master's program on a bi-weekly basis to discuss their experiences. Enrollment is by special permission only.

Attribute: CETH.

Prerequisite: CEED 5050.

CEED 6000. Health Care Ethics Capstone. (3 Credits)

CEED 6010. Research Ethics and Soc Justic. (3 Credits)

This course will examine approaches to responsible research practices in socio-behavioral research, with particular attention to research involving human participants. The course will provide foundations in research ethics and methods in research ethics decision-making that exemplify scientifically valid and ethically sound research method planning, implementation, and dissemination.

Attribute: URSG.

CEED 6015. HIV/Drug Abuse Prevention Research Ethics. (3 Credits)

This course will introduce students to ethical issues and solutions encountered in social science, public health, and medical research on HIV and drug abuse involving vulnerable populations in the United States and developing countries. Lectures are taught by an interdisciplinary faculty. Topics informed consent, confidentiality and disclosure, assessing population sensitive risks and benefits when using qualitative, survey, epidemiological in-person and online methodologies.

Attributes: CENS, PSYC.

CEED 6100. Theories and Applications in Contemporary Ethics. (3 Credits)

This intensive, three-day, graduate-level course is designed to provide cross-disciplinary perspectives on moral theory and applied ethics. Using a team-teaching approach, this course brings together faculty from at least six different disciplines to provide foundational knowledge about moral theory with contemporary applications. In addition to seminars on foundations in moral philosophy, moral theology, and moral psychology, the course features lectures and case discussions on issues of current social importance. Previously, students have focused on the following topics: decisions at the end of life, economic social justice, and responsibility in conducting research with vulnerable populations. Course requirements include a mastery of the reading materials, active participation, and topic-oriented thought papers during the three-day workshop. In addition, successful completion of the course requires a post-workshop paper summarizing the integration of course material into the students’ graduate work.

Attribute: PMMA.

CEED 6290. Health Disparities and Social Justice in Research and Practice. (3 Credits)

This course focuses on the psychosocial correlates and consequences of health disparities involving individuals and groups that have been historically marginalized by society and in some cases by the health sciences and professions. Readings and class discussions will examine the relationship of contextual factors such as poverty, racial/ethnic discrimination, environmental hazards, incarceration, institutionalization, and public policy to social and health inequities faced by children and adults with HIV/AIDS, mental illness, intellectual disabilities, and substance abuse disorders. The role of psychology in the emerging health and human rights paradigm in the United States and globally will also be explored.

Attributes: CENS, HECS, PSIC, URST.

CEED 6322. Natural Law: The Nature, Foundations and Content of Justice. (3 Credits)

This course will examine the theoretical foundations and practical implications of natural law theory. Because "natural law theory" is often taken to mean many different things, one of the course's first aims will be to establish a common vocabulary for identifying and distinguishing the various kinds of natural law theory(e.g. "natural law theory" as a kind of moral thoery, as a kind of legal theory, and as kind of theory about human rights). Our ensuing discussion will open onto a series of questions that will guide us through the rest of the course: "What is the nature of justice?" "What are the different kinds of justice and what does it mean to have a right?" "What do rights and justice have to do with one another?" "What is the nature of law?" "What is the difference between positive law and natural law?" "Is law reducible to the will of the strongest, or is it the case-as the natural law traditions holds-that unjust law is no law at all?" "What is meant by 'the good' and 'the common good'?" "What is the nature,scope, and justification of authority(both legal authority and other kinds of authority)? "What is the nature and purpose of punishment?" "And how are we to make sense of the natural law tradition in light of our contemporary understandings of autonomy, governmental neutrality, and reasonable pluralism?" The course will not only introduce the classical natural law tradition (based mainly on the thought of Aristotle and Aquinas), but will place this classicall traditon in dialogue with contemporary thinkers. The ultimate aim of the course will be to achieve an understanding of the natural law traditon and its relevance for a variety of contemporary legal issues. No prior acquaintace with philosophy or jurisprudence is assumed; the relevant concepts will be developed in class.

Attributes: CEMP, HUHR.

CEED 8999. Independent Study. (1 to 4 Credits)