CC241204 Ethics

Hiroshima University Syllabus

Japanese

Academic Year 2026Year School/Graduate School School of Education

Lecture Code CC241204 Subject Classification Specialized Education

Subject Name 倫理学概説

Subject Name
（Katakana）リンリガクガイセツ

Subject Name in
English Ethics

Instructor KIRIHARA TAKAHIRO

Instructor
(Katakana) キリハラ　タカヒロ

Campus Higashi-Hiroshima Semester/Term 2nd-Year, Second Semester, 4Term

Days, Periods, and Classrooms (4T) Weds5-8：EDU L104

Lesson Style Lecture Lesson Style
(More Details) Face-to-face

Mainly lectures with text and handouts

Credits 2.0 Class Hours/Week 4 Language of Instruction J : Japanese

Course Level 1 : Undergraduate Introductory

Course Area（Area） 23 : Arts and Humanities

Course Area（Discipline） 02 : Ethics

Eligible Students

Keywords Junior high school social studies, High school civics, ethics, morals, ethics education

Special Subject for Teacher Education 　 Special Subject 　

Class Status
within Educational
Program
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced
Evaluation
(Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students) Program in Social Studies Education
（Knowledge and Understanding）
・With regard to civic education field in secondary social education, to have basic knowledge of its teaching contents.
（Abilities and Skills）
・To be able to collect, understand, analyze, and evaluate data and materials about studies related to social science.

Class Objectives
/Class Outline When studying "ethics" within the framework of social studies, it is necessary to understand "human beings" in relation to the structure of "society" and historical content (politics and economics). Therefore, in this class, we will first study the essence of the history of Western ethical thought, and then consider basic perspectives on understanding humans and applied ethics from the perspective of "social theories of morality."
The aim is to acquire the ability to research and develop teaching materials for social studies education and ethics education (or moral education).

Class Schedule lesson1:　Guidance (What is Ethics?)

lesson2:　Overview of Aristotle's Virtue Theory and Mill's Utilitarianism
lesson3:　Overview of Kant's Deontology
lesson4:　Overview of Habermas's Discussion Ethics
lesson5:　(Textbook) Introduction: The Frankfurt School and Applied Ethics - Theoretical Formation and Debate
lesson6:　(Textbook) Chapter 1: The Transformation of Adorno and Habermas's Interpretation of Kant's Ethics
lesson7:　(Textbook) Chapter 2: Social Theory of Morality - From Marxism and Sociological Theory to Adorno and Habermas's Theory of the Self
lesson8:　Continued

lesson9:　(Textbook) Chapter 3: Rawls and Habermas - The Debate Over the Universal Validity of Democracy

lesson10:　(Textbook) Chapter 4: "Translation" into Secular Language and Democracy - The Relationship Between Public Reason and Religion
lesson11:　(Textbook) Chapter 5: Critical Theory and Technological Theory

lesson12:　Continued

lesson13:　(Textbook) Chapter 6: Isolation or Incorporation of Nature? - The German Reproductive Medical Technology Controversy from the Perspective of Cultural Positioning

lesson14:　(Textbook) Chapter 7: Neuroscience and Free Will - Regarding Wolf Singer's Anthropological Question
lesson15:　Overall Review and Summary

"In relation to teaching contents taught in junior high school social studies and high school civics, contents of ethics will be explained and ethics teaching contents development will be studied. The contents of classes are as below:

【1】Guidance (1: About ethics)
【2】Overview of history of ethics ideas (2: Ideas in ancient Greek, 3: Christian ideas, 4: Buddhist ideas, 5: Ideas of ancient China)
The origin of Eastern and Western ideas which formed ethics and moral will be studied, and its key points will be outlined.
【3】Research of modern ethics theories (6: Introduction, 7: Utilitarianism, 8: Deontology, 9: Virtue ethics)
To nurture basic thinking about philosophical ethics, metaethics and normative ethics theories will be outlined.
【4】Applied ethics research (10: Modern society and ethics, 11: Individualistic liberalism, 12: Case study of applied ethics, 13: Case study of applied ethics)
Ethics is studied in line with specific cases. As the problem related to the contents of ethics education ""Ethics of modern people,"" 1) Students will think about what are ethics and moral in the modern society, and ""individualistic liberalism"" which is the core of modern ethics will be outlined. 2) Problems related to bioethics will be taken up as concrete cases. Due to time constraints, this subject cannot be covered in full detail, but ethical problems of cloning technology and genetic technology have been studied. 3) Others.
【5】Think about the possibility of religious education (14: Types of religious education, 15: Possibility of religious education) "

Text/Reference
Books,etc. Texbook; 教科書：桐原隆弘『フランクフルト学派と応用倫理学――道徳の社会理論』（Scheduled for publication in Fall 2026）
In addition, print materials, etc. will be used.

PC or AV used in
Class,etc. Text, Handouts

(More Details) VTR, DVD

Learning techniques to be incorporated

Suggestions on
Preparation and
Review Please read the textbooks and materials in advance.
The student who want to study more should utilize reference books put up on handouts."

Requirements After the class, fill out the response paper.

Grading Method Response papers and written tests will be comprehensively evaluated.

Practical Experience

Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it

Message We welcome students who are interested in ethics research and ethics education.

Other

Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes.
Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Academic Year	2026Year	School/Graduate School	School of Education
Lecture Code	CC241204	Subject Classification	Specialized Education
Subject Name	倫理学概説
Subject Name （Katakana）	リンリガクガイセツ
Subject Name in English	Ethics
Instructor	KIRIHARA TAKAHIRO
Instructor (Katakana)	キリハラ　タカヒロ
Campus	Higashi-Hiroshima	Semester/Term	2nd-Year, Second Semester, 4Term
Days, Periods, and Classrooms	(4T) Weds5-8：EDU L104
Lesson Style	Lecture	Lesson Style (More Details)	Face-to-face
Mainly lectures with text and handouts
Credits	2.0	Class Hours/Week	4	Language of Instruction	J : Japanese
Course Level	1 : Undergraduate Introductory
Course Area（Area）	23 : Arts and Humanities
Course Area（Discipline）	02 : Ethics
Eligible Students
Keywords	Junior high school social studies, High school civics, ethics, morals, ethics education
Special Subject for Teacher Education		Special Subject
Class Status within Educational Program (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)
Criterion referenced Evaluation (Applicable only to targeted subjects for undergraduate students)	Program in Social Studies Education （Knowledge and Understanding）・With regard to civic education field in secondary social education, to have basic knowledge of its teaching contents. （Abilities and Skills）・To be able to collect, understand, analyze, and evaluate data and materials about studies related to social science.
Class Objectives /Class Outline	When studying "ethics" within the framework of social studies, it is necessary to understand "human beings" in relation to the structure of "society" and historical content (politics and economics). Therefore, in this class, we will first study the essence of the history of Western ethical thought, and then consider basic perspectives on understanding humans and applied ethics from the perspective of "social theories of morality." The aim is to acquire the ability to research and develop teaching materials for social studies education and ethics education (or moral education).
Class Schedule	lesson1:　Guidance (What is Ethics?) lesson2:　Overview of Aristotle's Virtue Theory and Mill's Utilitarianism lesson3:　Overview of Kant's Deontology lesson4:　Overview of Habermas's Discussion Ethics lesson5:　(Textbook) Introduction: The Frankfurt School and Applied Ethics - Theoretical Formation and Debate lesson6:　(Textbook) Chapter 1: The Transformation of Adorno and Habermas's Interpretation of Kant's Ethics lesson7:　(Textbook) Chapter 2: Social Theory of Morality - From Marxism and Sociological Theory to Adorno and Habermas's Theory of the Self lesson8:　Continued lesson9:　(Textbook) Chapter 3: Rawls and Habermas - The Debate Over the Universal Validity of Democracy lesson10:　(Textbook) Chapter 4: "Translation" into Secular Language and Democracy - The Relationship Between Public Reason and Religion lesson11:　(Textbook) Chapter 5: Critical Theory and Technological Theory lesson12:　Continued lesson13:　(Textbook) Chapter 6: Isolation or Incorporation of Nature? - The German Reproductive Medical Technology Controversy from the Perspective of Cultural Positioning lesson14:　(Textbook) Chapter 7: Neuroscience and Free Will - Regarding Wolf Singer's Anthropological Question lesson15:　Overall Review and Summary "In relation to teaching contents taught in junior high school social studies and high school civics, contents of ethics will be explained and ethics teaching contents development will be studied. The contents of classes are as below: 【1】Guidance (1: About ethics) 【2】Overview of history of ethics ideas (2: Ideas in ancient Greek, 3: Christian ideas, 4: Buddhist ideas, 5: Ideas of ancient China) The origin of Eastern and Western ideas which formed ethics and moral will be studied, and its key points will be outlined. 【3】Research of modern ethics theories (6: Introduction, 7: Utilitarianism, 8: Deontology, 9: Virtue ethics) To nurture basic thinking about philosophical ethics, metaethics and normative ethics theories will be outlined. 【4】Applied ethics research (10: Modern society and ethics, 11: Individualistic liberalism, 12: Case study of applied ethics, 13: Case study of applied ethics) Ethics is studied in line with specific cases. As the problem related to the contents of ethics education ""Ethics of modern people,"" 1) Students will think about what are ethics and moral in the modern society, and ""individualistic liberalism"" which is the core of modern ethics will be outlined. 2) Problems related to bioethics will be taken up as concrete cases. Due to time constraints, this subject cannot be covered in full detail, but ethical problems of cloning technology and genetic technology have been studied. 3) Others. 【5】Think about the possibility of religious education (14: Types of religious education, 15: Possibility of religious education) "
Text/Reference Books,etc.	Texbook; 教科書：桐原隆弘『フランクフルト学派と応用倫理学――道徳の社会理論』（Scheduled for publication in Fall 2026） In addition, print materials, etc. will be used.
PC or AV used in Class,etc.	Text, Handouts
(More Details)	VTR, DVD
Learning techniques to be incorporated
Suggestions on Preparation and Review	Please read the textbooks and materials in advance. The student who want to study more should utilize reference books put up on handouts."
Requirements	After the class, fill out the response paper.
Grading Method	Response papers and written tests will be comprehensively evaluated.
Practical Experience
Summary of Practical Experience and Class Contents based on it
Message	We welcome students who are interested in ethics research and ethics education.
Other
Please fill in the class improvement questionnaire which is carried out on all classes. Instructors will reflect on your feedback and utilize the information for improving their teaching.

Back to syllabus main page