In order to achieve the objectives defined above, the instructor critically presents some central themes that are a question for ethics in terms of their connexion with the Christian faith. In this sense, he/she proposes a reflection about ethical choices and their justifications, about human beings in the world, about Christ and the way of life proposed in the Scriptures. The basic consciousness of the plurality of religious and laic approaches protects the discourse from close-mindedness, opening it to different traditions and to other approaches.
By the end of this course, the student should be able: - to confront him/herself in a personal and critical way with the topic of the course, and to argue his/her position, showing that he/she is conscious of the complexity of the questions at stake, also when confronted with various philosophical and religious traditions. - to clarify the fundamental categories of reflection on ethics and to show how these notions stand out when confronted with the experience of faith and with Christian reflection.
The contribution of this Teaching Unit to the development and command of the skills and learning outcomes of the programme(s) can be accessed at the end of this sheet, in the section entitled “Programmes/courses offering this Teaching Unit”.
At the end of this teaching series, the student will be asked to give their personal opinion, using a critical approach, with regards to one of the two issues we have looked at. This will be achieved by putting together a well-reasoned piece of work, which includes various elements presented during the course and refers to the resources offered by the Christian tradition, particularly using Biblical sources, and other religious and philosophical approaches.
Each group of four students will decide which issue they wish to cover. The group should aim to create a good environment for dealing with different points of view, where each member respectfully listens to the others.
The lecturer will check students' ability to enter into an ethical debate and to show complete and coherent reasoning, justifying their position, and rephrasing ' as honestly as possible ' a summary of their opinions on the matter.
The written work (10 ' 15 pages) should be submitted to the Faculty office by the last Thursday of term, and should include the full names of all the members of the group, as well as a description of the way in which the work was shared out.
Following a video documentary (see Bibliography) that will be presented in the first session, the lecturer will encourage the group to express various first impressions and questions. The aim will be to identify, as precisely as possible, the background against which our thinking will take place. Beyond our preconceptions and long-held ideas, we will need to establish (logically and critically) the consequences of the ethical approach.
The next lectures will look in more depth at the various elements covered in this introductory session. Using a more formal teaching style, together with some practical exercises, the lecturer will establish some concepts from philosophy, theology (especially Biblical evidence and in the central person of Jesus Christ) and from psycho-sociology. The aim for this part of the lecture series is to establish a framework for analysis and some criteria which will enable us to draw a suitable moral conclusion.
Then there will be a presentation of the two themes (euthanasia and environmental ethics); students will be invited to apply the analysis framework that we will have developed.
' Euthanasia is a subject that regularly appears in the news (including most recently with the extension of the Belgian Law of 2002 to minors and to those suffering degenerative conditions). The end of life (however painful) is something with which each one of us will find ourselves confronted sooner or later, in our personal and family lives, sometimes through very close relationships.
Among the architecture students on the Tournai campus, and also at Saint-Gilles, there are a considerable number of French students. Because of this, it will also be interesting to look at arguments forwarded by political representatives of various countries: those where euthanasia has been legalised (for instance, in the Benelux countries), and those where politicians have so far chosen not to allow it.
' Environmental ethics is a theme that may be of particular interest to future architects, who have a duty to consider the effects of their professional work on both individuals and society as a whole. Awareness of architectural ethics is growing and is dealing with matters beyond just technical and aesthetic questions. Why build? What place should the human occupy in megacities? What should we think of ecocities? How may we take into account the finality of human existence, the conditions for a high quality of life within society, personal and collective well-being, as well as the future of humanity?
For each of these themes, the lecturer will use a series of written documents or films (including interviews, analysis, news items etc...) from which students will be asked to find evidence to support their own point of view on the matter. The lecturer will encourage active student participation, although he will confirm, supplement, repeat and fine-tune the reactions and questions that are sure to arise within the various groups.
What is moral reflection? The lecture course will start with a general presentation of this particular approach: a summary of the great stages in the history of moral thought (the contribution of the major religious traditions, Kant, utilitarianism, Common Decency), the distinction between morals and ethics, establishing some fundamental ideas including: values, the Golden Rule, Natural Law and man-made law, the role of the conscience, characteristics of a moral action (intention, purpose, circumstances, consequences), freedom and responsibility.
The student will find that these ideas, when correctly distinguished from one another, make up a useful framework for analysis. This framework may be used to help position one's thinking when considering a variety of ethical questions. Two contemporary issues will be used to test the validity of the framework: euthanasia and environmental ethics.
Basic Morals
Books
- CASALFIORE Stephania, DEFAYS Claire, WIAME Bernadette, Cas de conscience. Construire une argumentation éthique (guide de l'enseignant) (collection « Passeurs d'humanité »), Bruxelles,Editions Lumen Vitae, 2012, 45 p.
- LEONARD André, Le fondement de la morale. Essai d'éthique philosophique (collection « Recherches morales ». Synthèses, n° 15), Paris, Editions du cerf, 1991, 383 p.
- PINCKAERS Servais (Th.) OP, Les sources de la morale chrétienne. Sa méthode, son contenu, son histoire (Etudes d'éthique chrétienne, n° 14), Fribourg ' Paris, Editions universitaires ' Editions du Cerf, 526 p.
Film
- « Planète + bac, la morale en philosophie », documentaire télévisé (50 min) réalisé par Yvan PIERRE-KAISER et diffusé le 15 juin 2013 sur la chaîne « Planète + »
* Concerning Euthanasia
Church documents
- CONGREGATION POUR LA DOCTRINE DE LA FOI, Iura et bona. Déclaration sur l'euthanasie du 5 mai 1980.
Source : http://www.croire.com/Definitions/Vie-chretienne/Euthanasie/Textes-du-Vatican-et-des-eveques-sur-l-euthanasie
- CONSEIL PERMANENT DE LA CONFERENCE EPISCOPALE FRANCAISE, Respecter l'homme proche de sa mort. Déclaration du 23 septembre 1991.
- EVEQUES DE BELGIQUE, "Soins palliatifs, oui ; euthanasie, non !". Déclaration du 16 mai 2002.
- EVEQUES DE BELGIQUE, " Peut-on euthanasier le lien social ? " Déclaration du 6 mars 2013.
- JEAN-PAUL II, Lettre encyclique Evangelium Vitae (...) sur la valeur et l'inviolabilité de la vie humaine, 1995.
Source :http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jpii_enc_25031995_evangeliumvitae_fr.html
Books
- FERRY Luc et KAHN Axel, Faut-il légaliser l'euthanasie ? (Collection « Penser la société), Paris, Odile Jacob, 2010, 143 p.
- FOURNERET Eric, Choisir sa mort : les débats de l'euthanasie (collection « Partage du savoir »), Paris, PUF, 2012, 233 p.
- FOURCADE Claire, 1001 vies en soins palliatifs (Collection « Christus), Paris, Bayard-Jeunesse, 2012, 238 p.
Papers
- INSTITUT EUROPEEN DE BIOETHIQUE, Euthanasie, dix ans d'application de la loi en Belgique, Les dossiers de l'IEB, avril 2012.
Films
- Edition spéciale « l'euthanasie », émission du 21 mars 2008, présentée en direct par Francis LETELLIER sur la chaîne « France 3 ». Source : www.ina.fr (l'Ina is a public organisation which looks after the safekeeping and transmission of the French audiovisual heritage).
* Concerning Ethics and the Environment
Books
- ALLEGRE Claude, Ma vérité sur la planète, Paris, Plon, Fayard, 2007.
- BEAUCHAMP André, Introduction à l'éthique de l'environnement (collection"Interpellations", n° 5), Montréal, Editions Paulines, 1993, 223 p.
- BOURG Dominique et ROCH Philippe (sous la direction de), Crise écologique, crise des valeurs ? Défis pour l'anthropologie et la spiritualité, Genève, Labor et Fides, 2010.
- Conférence des Evêques de France, La création au risque de l'environnement (sous la direction de Marc Stenger, évêque de Troyes), Paris, Bayard-Cerf-Fleurus-Mame, 2008
- DESJARDINS Joseph R., Environmental Ethics :an Introduction to Environmental Philosophy (5th ed. revised), United States (CA), Wadsworth Publishing Company, 2012, 304 p.
- FERRY Luc, Le Nouvel Ordre Ecologique, l'arbre, l'animal et l'homme, Paris, Edition Bernard Grasset, 1992, 275 p.
- PRADES José A., TESSIER Robert et VAILLANCOURT (de) Jean-Guy (sous la direction de), Gestion de l'environnement, éthique et société, Paris, Les Editions Fides, 1992, 308 p.
- PRADES José A., VAILLANCOURT (de) Jean-Guy et TESSIER Robert (sous la direction de), Environnement et développement: questions éthiques et problèmes socio-politiques, Paris, Les Editions Fides, 1991, 374 p.
- YOUNES Chris et PAQUOT Thierry (sous la direction de), Ethique, architecture, urbain, Paris, Editions La Découverte | Armillaire, 2000, 227 p.
Papers
- Écologie et Théologie, in Foi et Vie, n° 5-6, décembre 1974.
- L'Écologie, in Communio. Revue catholique internationale, n° 107, mai-juin 1993.
- Pas de ciel sans la terre, in Concilium. Revue internationale de théologie, n° 236, 1991.
- RIBAUT Jean-Pierre, DEL REY Marie-José, L'usufruit de la terre, Courants spirituels et culturels face aux défis de la sauvegarde de la planète, Dossier pour un débat, n° 73, janvier 1997.
- Sciences, techniques, éthique, in Foi et Vie, n° 3-4, juillet 1988.
