DSST 
Ethics and Values
College · Professional · Leadership · DSST Ethics in America · Certificate available
210 lessons 1.8h runtime 9 units 408 links between lessons Test yourself · 9 quizzes, a mid exam, and a final
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Begin with Unit 1: Moral Reasoning Foundations. It sets the foundation for everything that follows.
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Unit 1: Moral Reasoning Foundations 24 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 24:25
- 001 Moral Claims
- 002 Descriptive Claims
- 003 The Fact-Verdict Confusion
- 004 The Reasons Requirement
- 005 The Feeling-as-Reason Error
- 006 The Minimum Conception of Morality
- 007 Impartiality
- 008 The Identical-Treatment Misreading
- 009 The Moral Community
- 011 Arguments
- 012 Factual Premises and Moral Premises
- 013 The Consistency Requirement
- 014 Special Pleading
- 015 Standard Form worked example
- 019 Two Sources of Moral Disagreement
- 020 The Disagreement Shortcut
- 021 Thought Experiments
- 026 Free Will
- 027 Determinism
- 028 Control and Blame
- 029 Compatibilism
- 030 Incompatibilism
- 031 The Universal Excuse
- 036 Locating a Disagreement worked example
Unit 2: Challenges: Relativism, Subjectivism, Religion 29 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 28:32
- 046 Cultural Relativism
- 047 The Cultural Differences Argument
- 048 Why the Argument Fails
- 049 No Criticizing Other Societies
- 050 No Criticizing Your Own Society
- 051 The Moral-Progress Problem
- 052 Belief Differences Beneath Value Differences
- 053 Values Every Society Shares
- 054 What Cultural Relativism Gets Right
- 056 Sorting Convention from Morality worked example
- 061 Simple Subjectivism
- 062 The Infallibility Problem
- 063 The Disagreement Problem
- 064 Emotivism
- 065 Expressing vs. Reporting
- 066 Emotivism's Reasons Problem
- 067 Proof in Ethics
- 069 The Is/Ought Gap
- 070 The Gap Misread as "Facts Don't Matter"
- 076 The Divine Command Theory
- 077 The Euthyphro Question
- 078 The Arbitrariness Horn
- 079 The Independent-Standard Horn
- 080 The Natural-Law Theory
- 081 Natural Law Meets the Gap
- 082 Scripture Still Needs Judgment
- 083 Morality on Shared Ground
- 086 Running the Euthyphro Test worked example
- 095 The Reformer's Case review
Unit 3: Egoism & the Social Contract 28 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 26:51
- 101 Psychological Egoism
- 102 The Reinterpretation Strategy
- 103 The Unfalsifiability Problem
- 104 The Want-Satisfaction Argument
- 105 Why Wants Don't Make It Selfish
- 106 The Good-Feelings Argument
- 107 The Byproduct Reply
- 108 Selfish vs. Self-Interested
- 113 Ethical Egoism
- 114 What Ethical Egoism Doesn't Say
- 115 Rand's Argument
- 116 The False-Dichotomy Reply
- 117 The Wickedness Objection
- 118 The Arbitrariness Objection
- 126 The State of Nature
- 127 Why the State of Nature Fails
- 128 The Social Contract
- 129 The Scope Objection
- 130 The Prisoner's Dilemma
- 131 Walking the Dilemma worked example
- 132 Enforcement Changes the Game
- 133 Locke's State of Nature
- 134 Rousseau's Social Contract
- 135 Civil Disobedience
- 136 Justice as Fairness
- 137 The Veil of Ignorance
- 138 Nozick's Entitlement Objection
- 145 The Free Rider review
Unit 4: Utilitarianism 24 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 24:25
- 151 Consequentialism
- 152 The Principle of Utility
- 153 Hedonism About Happiness
- 154 Epicurus: The Ancient Root
- 155 Bentham's Calculus
- 156 Everybody Counts for One
- 157 The Swine Objection
- 158 Mill's Quality Reply
- 159 Smith's Impartial Spectator
- 163 Act Utilitarianism
- 164 Rule Utilitarianism
- 165 The Ignorance Objection
- 166 The Expected-Utility Reply
- 171 The Justice Objection
- 172 The Rights Objection
- 173 The Backward-Looking-Reasons Objection
- 174 The Too-Demanding Objection
- 175 The Partiality Objection
- 176 First Defense: The Cases Are Rigged
- 177 Second Defense: Revise Common Sense
- 178 Third Defense: Move to Rules
- 179 The Collapse Problem
- 185 Running a Utility Audit worked example
- 191 The Transplant Surgeon review
Unit 5: Kantian Ethics & Absolute Rules 21 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 22:05
- 201 Absolute Moral Rules
- 202 Hypothetical Imperatives
- 203 The Categorical Imperative
- 204 Maxims
- 205 The Universal-Law Formulation
- 206 The Lying Promise Fails the Test
- 207 The Golden-Rule Misreading
- 208 Perfect and Imperfect Duties
- 211 The Humanity Formulation
- 212 Merely as a Means
- 213 Dignity and Price
- 214 The Utilitarian Theory of Punishment
- 215 Retributivism
- 216 Autonomy
- 221 The Inquiring Murderer
- 222 The Conflicting-Rules Objection
- 223 Kant's Responsibility Reply
- 224 Rules Without Exceptions, Almost
- 231 Running the Universalization Test worked example
- 232 The Maxim-Description Problem
- 241 The Whistleblower's Promise review
Unit 6: Virtue Ethics & the Ethics of Care 24 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 24:04
- 251 Virtue Ethics
- 252 What a Virtue Is
- 253 Eudaimonia
- 254 Virtue by Habituation
- 255 The Doctrine of the Mean
- 256 The Moderation Misreading
- 257 Courage Between Two Failures
- 258 Practical Wisdom
- 259 Socrates: The Examined Life
- 260 The Ring of Gyges
- 261 Epictetus: The Dichotomy of Control
- 266 The Guidance Objection
- 267 The V-Rules Reply
- 268 The Conflict Problem
- 269 The Local-Virtues Worry
- 270 The Human-Needs Reply
- 274 The Ethics of Care
- 275 Gilligan's Different Voice
- 276 Noddings: The Caring Relation
- 277 Partiality Reclaimed
- 278 The Strangers Problem
- 279 Care and Justice Together
- 287 The Virtue-and-Care Check worked example
- 295 The Friend's Reference review
Unit 7: Value Theory 18 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 19:47
- 301 Intrinsic and Instrumental Value
- 302 The Miser's Mistake
- 303 The Regress Argument
- 304 Well-Being
- 305 Values vs. Preferences
- 306 The Good Life and the Moral Life
- 311 Hedonism About Well-Being
- 312 The Experience Machine
- 313 The Evil-Pleasures Objection
- 319 The Desire Theory
- 320 The Base-Desires Objection
- 321 The Unknown-Satisfaction Objection
- 322 The Informed-Desire Repair
- 323 Objective-List Theories
- 327 Value Pluralism
- 328 Hard Choices
- 329 Ranking Without a Ruler worked example
- 335 The Two Offers review
Unit 8: Applied Ethics 35 lessons, 1 lecture part
Lecture: Watch · 32:59
- 341 The Applied Turn
- 342 The Strongest-Version Rule
- 345 Euthanasia: The Kinds
- 346 The Argument from Mercy
- 347 The Argument from Autonomy
- 348 The Sanctity Argument
- 349 The Slippery-Slope Argument
- 350 The Bare-Difference Argument
- 355 The Drowning Child
- 356 The Rescue Principle
- 357 The Demandingness Reply
- 358 The Entitlement Reply
- 359 The Difference Principle
- 364 The Equality Premise
- 365 Just and Unjust Laws
- 366 The Legality Defense
- 367 The Four Steps
- 368 The Rule-of-Law Objection
- 373 The Question of Punishment
- 374 The Deterrence Case
- 375 The Desert Case
- 376 The Rehabilitation Ideal
- 377 The Innocence Constraint
- 381 Pacifism
- 382 Just War: Going to War
- 383 Just War: Fighting Justly
- 384 Realism About War
- 389 Informed Consent
- 390 Research and the Mere-Means Line
- 391 Paternalism
- 396 The Responsibility Gap
- 397 Algorithmic Fairness
- 398 The Opacity Problem
- 402 Running a Case File worked example
- 406 The Last Ventilator review
Unit 9: Capstone Synthesis 7 lessons, 1 lecture part
Who this subject is for
- Students preparing for the DSST Ethics in America exam
- Business and healthcare professionals
- Supervisors and project leads
- Philosophy and humanities students
- Anyone who makes decisions that affect other people
Why Ethics and Values matters
Ethics gives you a vocabulary for decisions that have no easy answer. It applies to:
- Business ethics
- Healthcare ethics
- Professional codes of conduct
- Philosophy
- Leadership
Time to complete
- of lessons (210, measured)
- 1.8 h
- of lectures (9)
- 3.8 h
- learning hours on the certificate, with quizzes and the final
- 9 h
Times are measured from the recordings and the exam time limits. Go at your own pace; nothing expires.
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