Multicultural Conflicts and Ethics

The multicultural conflicts that manifest in modern societies are not merely between liberals and conservatives. There are tensions motivated by clashing values and ideologies that cuts across ethnic, national, religious, political and economic identities. Conflicting claims about how society should deal with disagreements about biotechnological and environmental issues arise within as they do between cultural groups. An important aim of this course is to discuss multicultural conflicts, in a broad sense, in philosophical/ethical perspective, from the background of different ethical positions (liberalism, communitarianism, and discourse ethics).
Main questions:
1. What are multicultural conflicts in biotechnology and environmental ethics?
2. How should we deal with multicultural conflicts according to liberalism, communitarianism, and discourse ethics?

The course will analyze three theoretical approaches to the question of how society should deal with multicultural conflicts—in a broad sense that cuts across cultural identities. It will explore the case of competing values in biotechnology and natural resource management as well as ways disagreements in these areas should be communicated and negotiated.

1) Knowledge: The course will give the students insight in current multicultural conflicts, with a particular focus on competing values in biotechnology and natural resource management.
2) Abilities: The course will train the students in critical assessment of arguments in current multicultural debates on the background of different normative theories.

Lectures, seminars and self-study. The course is taught joint with FI5207. Two supervisions pr essay. Information regarding the essay: Front page must contain course code, date and student ID. The essay should be 10-12 pages long (4000-4800 words) in 12 point Times New Roman, 1,5 line spacing. There will also be an additional oral exam.