Ethical and Evaluative Thinking (FD-EET) is one of the six Foundational Disciplines that are part of the WCAS bachelor's degree.

All human cultures have produced systems of thought and belief concerning ways of being in the world and relating to one another. Courses in this foundational area equip students to engage these systems and wrestle with central human questions. Courses explicitly consider questions concerning values or teach students to think within, appreciate the resources of, and critically reflect upon a particular tradition of thought. Completing this foundational area will help students recognize and reflect on ethical and evaluative questions, become aware of what standards they bring to bear in answering them, appreciate and respect their own and other cultural systems, and work through disagreements with others.

Learning Objectives for FD-EET

Course in Ethics and Evaluative Thinking are designed to foster the intellectual autonomy students will need to thrive as thinkers and agents in an increasingly complex world, by achieving a combination of the following learning outcomes:

• Attain the conceptual tools needed to recognize and understand prescriptive issues, questions, and claims, and to distinguish them from descriptive issues, questions and claims
• Identify the values presupposed by an outlook or discourse
• Recognize the complexity of many ethical issues and consider a variety of alternative resolutions and the reasons for holding them
• Appreciate the insights available in one or more intellectual or cultural traditions
• Reflect upon one's own answers to evaluative questions, the presuppositions informing them, and the reasons for supporting them
• Engage in respectful, rigorous and constructive dialogue concerning evaluative issues and communicate thoughtfully and clearly about them

FD-EET Courses

Courses approved for the 2024-2025 academic year.