FVP:UVSSPUK026 Ethics in social work and publ - Course Information

UVSSPUK026 Ethics in social work and public administration

Extent and Intensity

0/0/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).

Teacher(s)

Mgr. Petr Slováček, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)

Guaranteed by

Mgr. Petr Slováček, Ph.D.
Institute of Public Administration and Social Policy – Faculty of Public Policies in Opava
Contact Person: Ing. Lucie Kamrádová, Ph.D.

Prerequisites

The course will be concluded based on the completion of a seminar paper.

Course Enrolment Limitations

The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with

• Social Work in Public Administration (programme FVP, SPVS)

Course objectives

The course is aimed at the space in which ethics (as a philosophical discipline) interacts with social work and public administration, from two directions. Firstly, the explanation will strive to clarify the basic concepts and questions related to ethical issues (ethics, morality, moral pre-understanding, justification and its forms, meta-ethics, etc.). Secondly, the course will outline the position of professional ethics with special regard to the professional ethics of social work and public administration, along with an assessment of their specific values ​​and specific problems that fall particularly within the scope of the professional ethics of public administration or social work.

Learning outcomes

Objectives of the course The objective of the course is: a) to equip students with the basic conceptual tools of ethics as a philosophical discipline; b) to problematize the uncritical approach to ethics by introducing them to the ways of justifying value judgments; c) to make students more receptive to ethical issues; d) to apply such a well-founded ethical perspective to the professional fields of social work and public administration through the relevant codes of ethics. Target competencies The student understands what ethics, morality, moral pre-understanding are. The student understands the issues related to the special logical-semantic status of value judgments, and on this basis, the student understands the relatively broad issues of justifying value judgments. The student also knows the basic ethically relevant documents of social work and public administration, understands specifically professional values ​​and knows what sources they are based on and what the difference is between professional and personal ethics.

Syllabus

• The course is aimed at the space in which ethics (as a philosophical discipline) interacts with social work and public administration, from two directions. First, the explanation will strive to clarify the basic concepts and questions related to ethical issues (ethics, morality, moral pre-understanding, justification and its forms, meta-ethics, etc.). Second, the course will outline the position of professional ethics with special regard to the professional ethics of social work and public administration, along with an assessment of their specific values ​​and specific problems that fall particularly within the scope of the professional ethics of public administration or social work. Learning objective The learning objective is: a) to equip students with the basic conceptual tools of ethics as a philosophical discipline; b) to problematize the uncritical approach to ethics by introducing them to the ways of justifying value judgments; c) to make students more receptive to ethical issues; d) apply such a well-founded ethical perspective to the professional areas of social work and public administration through the relevant codes of ethics. Target competencies The student understands what ethics, morality, moral pre-understanding are. The student understands the issues related to the special logical-semantic status of value judgments, on this basis the student understands the relatively broad issues of justifying value judgments. The student also knows the basic ethically relevant documents of social work and public administration, understands specifically professional values ​​and knows what sources they are based on and what the difference is between professional and personal ethics. 1. Basic definition of ethics, the origin of ethical thinking, the relationship of ethics to philosophy and tradition; the nature of ethical norms; the division of ethics 2. Basic concepts of ethics and their relationships - moral (moral) pre-understanding and its categories (good/evil), moral evaluation, conscience, voluntariness, responsibility, justice, human value, autonomy, values, virtues, dilemmas, etc. 3. Ethics and other disciplines 4. Basic ethical concepts I  ancient and medieval concepts: virtue ethics, hedonism, natural law 5. Basic ethical concepts II  modern and modern concepts: social contract, utilitarianism, ethics of justice, ethics of duty 6. Basic ethical concepts III  intuitionism, emotivism, decisionism, 7. Professional ethics – development, motivation and sources of professional ethics 8. Ethics in social work and public administration  specifics of ethics in social work in the space given by the client, environment and social worker, ethics of care; specifics of ethics in public administration 9. Codes of ethics in social work  significance and development of codes of ethics in history. Code of Ethics for Social Workers in the Czech Republic 10. Code of Ethics in Public Administration  Code of Ethics for Public Administration Workers 10. Specific Values ​​of Professional Ethics – Freedom, Equality, Impartiality, Professionalism, etc. 11. The Individual, His/Her Autonomy and Dignity  The Dimension of Partnership in Social Work 12. Human Rights Context of Social Work and Public Administration  The Concept of Human Rights as the Most General Basis of Codes of Ethics

Teaching methods

Lecture and seminar.

Language of instruction

Czech

Further comments (probably available only in Czech)

Information on the extent and intensity of the course: 10př/sem.

Teacher's information

Povinná literatura BLAŽKOVÁ, M. Dějiny etických koncepcí od Kanta po pragmatismus. Praha: Karolinum, 2020. HLAVINKA, P. Dobro a ctnost pohledem etických a náboženských koncepcí. Brno: Triton, 2014. SHIRRMACHER, T. Morální odpovědnost. Tři rozměry morálního rozhodováná. Praha: Návrat domů, 2016. SMILANSKY, S. Deset morálních paradoxů. Praha: Academia, 2019. SOKOL, J. Etika, život, instituce. Praha: Vyšehrad, 2014. Doporučená literatura DAWKINS, R. Největší show pod sluncem: důkazy evoluce. Argo/Dokořán, 2011. HRUBEC, M. Etika sociálních konfliktů: Axel Honneth a kritická teorie uznání. Filosofia, 2019. PETERSON, J. B. 12 pravidel pro vedení života. Argo 2019. PINKER, S. The Better Angels of Our Nature. Penguin Books, 2011. SAPOLSKY, R. Why Zebras don´t get Ulcers. St. Martin´s Griffin, 1998.

• Enrolment Statistics (Winter 2024, recent)
  
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