Baylor Launches New Ethics Major Through Honors College and College of Arts & Sciences
Beginning this fall, Baylor University students will have a new opportunity to pursue the study of Ethics through an interdisciplinary major jointly offered by the Honors College and the College of Arts & Sciences.
Available as a primary major within the Bachelor of Philosophy (B.Phil.) degree, the new Ethics major explores fundamental questions about human flourishing, moral responsibility and the meaning of a life well lived. Drawing on faculty expertise from multiple disciplines, the program provides students with an understanding of ethical thought while preparing them to think critically about enduring and contemporary moral questions.
"This new interdisciplinary major blends serious moral engagement with deep disciplinary understanding," Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences James R. Brockmole, Ph.D., said. "Students completing this program will leave Baylor equipped to drive ethical decision-making in public policy, healthcare, education, technology, culture, law, and many other fields. I'm thrilled for the College of Arts & Sciences and the Honors College to launch this innovative program to develop the leaders our world sorely needs."
Ethics majors complete 18 hours of required ethics coursework, 12 hours in a chosen concentration and six hours of ethics electives. As part of the B.Phil. degree, students also complete a secondary major outside the Honors College and graduate with an undergraduate thesis completed through the Honors Program.
"To study ethics is, in essence, to learn to live rightly, and for Christians, to live faithfully," Associate Professor of Ethics and Co-Program Director Paul Martens, Ph.D., said. "To study ethics at Baylor, therefore, is to learn the Christian faith and, at the same time, to learn the complexity of everyday life. For that reason, ethics at Baylor is committed to a robust interdisciplinarity that is rooted in the complexity of Christian tradition, in conversation with the historic and contemporary resources of other cultures and traditions, and firmly contextualized within the diverse and global communities in which we find ourselves."
Admission to the Ethics major is competitive and selective. Prospective students apply through Baylor's Elite Academic Programs Application within goBAYLOR. Each incoming cohort is intentionally small, allowing students to benefit from close faculty mentorship and a collaborative learning environment.
The new major reflects a collaborative partnership between the Honors College and the College of Arts & Sciences, bringing together faculty expertise from across disciplines to prepare students for ethical leadership in a wide range of professions and vocations.
"Who doesn't see the need for ethics?" Dean of the Honors College Douglas Henry, Ph.D., said. "And among the world's universities, where better than Baylor to study ethical understanding and action, and to grapple with big, life-changing questions about such issues as character, duty, happiness, pleasure and purpose? These matters of longstanding attention at Baylor are now, in the new Ethics major, receiving further focus and depth, along with the prospect of study and research in applied areas. We can expect great things from the collaborative vision and expertise brought to the Ethics major by stellar faculty from both the College of Arts & Sciences and the Honors College."
Students interested in learning more about the Ethics major, admission requirements and the Bachelor of Philosophy degree can visit the Honors College website.