Ethical Foundations of Transcultural Communication 4: Political and Social Ethics

The course opens up the debate about the ethical issues related to the organization of human society, especially in the political and social spheres. The course focuses on the analysis and comparison of systems, formulation and analysis of the ethical aspects of political and social life.

The aim of the course is to learn the basic ethically relevant political and social sectors and themes. The course will also introduce the principles and current issues to be discussed, as well as a familiarization with different politico-philosophical schools and argumentative procedures. Another objective of the course is to teach students to work in teams towards the processing of scientific texts and to develop their presentation skills. Complementing the course is an optional film seminar where thematically relevant images will be screened and then analysed.

Topics: 1. Ethics, political and social ethics – an introduction, conceptual and content determination, solution. 2. Personality and Society – Introduction, characteristics. 3. Sub-systems of society. 4. The principles of social ethics. 5. Politics and political ethics. 6. Law, political and social justice. 7. Freedom and equality – a different approach. 8. Human rights. 9. The internal Ethics of politics. 10. Ethics of economic and social politics. 11. Globalization and contemporary world – selected current topics such as the challenges for contemporary political ethics.

FURGER, F. Christliche Sozialethik in pluraler Gesellschaft. Münster 1997.

HÖFFE, O. Wirtschaftsbürger, Staatsbürger, Weltbürger: politische ethik im Zeitalter der Globalisierung. München 2004.

REESE-SCHÄFER, W. Politisches Denken heute: Zivilgesellschaft, Globalisierung und Menschenrechte. München 2007.
RENÖCKL, H. et al. (ed.) Rudern auf stürmischer See: sozialethische Perspektiven in Mitteleuropa. Wien – Würzburg 2006.
SCHWEIDLER, W. Der gute Staat: politische Ethik von Platon bis zur Gegenwart. Stuttgart 2004.