This course surveys some of the main roots and thinkers of the Western ethical tradition, focusing on virtue ethics, deontology, and consequentialism. Texts include Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, and Mill’s Utilitarianism. A selection of contemporary readings are also included to illustrate recent developments in ethical theory. Topics include the places of reason, emotion, culture, happiness, and care in ethics, friendship, and whether morality is relative or objective.