Hi all. I was looking into doctor of philosophy in ethics and seems there are not many. I did find this link from this forum -> http://www.degreeinfo.com/general-distance-learning-discussions/25230-phd-ethics.html From doing some research, I do know that STBS offers Ph.D in Christian Ethics (which I am fine with), also Claremont Lincoln University offers Ph.D in Religion with emphasis in religion, ethics, and society. I do know that SATS offers a Ph.D in ethics as well. I am living in southern california, and there are some options here, but mainly looking for mostly DL studies. SATS would be the last choice. My goal with the ph.d would be to teach ethics or be an ethicist in a medical field (hospital, hospice, etc). Thanks.
There are a few programs in Bioethics. You might try using that specific search term an you might to use specifiers that isolate British schools. Here's one: Biomedical Ethics PhD/MSc by Research - University of Birmingham Good luck.
Thanks for the link. I wasn't quite sure on narrowing down the study to bioethics, but it is always a possibility.
Ethics is a branch of Philosophy and so the more general degree would be a PhD in Philosophy. You'll find very few programs that are restricted to ethics As for the bioethics, you're the one who brought it up.
I spoke to the department head of the PhD in Philosophy program (taught in English) from Sophia University as recently as a year ago. This may be an option for you. I settled on a second doctorate from a US school in the form of an EdD but I've reviewed syllabi sent to me, spoken to professors, and this is a great school with a top international reputation, with students from all over the English speaking world. https://www.uni-sofia.bg/index.php/eng/students/additional_opportunities_for_qualification_and_education/master_s_and_doctoral_studies_in_philosophy_taught_in_english_at_sofia_university
My wife wished to do a PhD in ethics. The six schools she considered* did not offer a degree in ethics per se, but had sufficient ethics courses and opportunities for independent study in ethics so that her PhD in Philosophy could be described as having a major or a focus or a concentration or a specialty in ethics. That is what she did -- and then taught ethics and bioethics for 15 years, until her retirement a couple of years ago. ______ *Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Vanderbilt, Loyola Chicago, Wisconsin
That is encouraging to know. I would prefer a philosophy approach, rather then narrowing my focus down to bioethics in specific. I think keeping it more open and somewhat general would be what I want to do. What school did your wife do her studies in?
Christian Ethics vs. Bioethics I took several bioethics courses at seminary (one co-taught by UC Berkeley faculty) and from conversations with faculty I learned there is a prejudice against "religious ethicists" in the field. To the point where seminary faculty, attending conferences, will trash their name tags because if they are associated with a religious school it is often hard to be included in conversations. Interestingly, hospitals do have ethics committees which are sometimes convened to deal with a specific patient situation. The ethics person is usually one of the hospital chaplains. As a Ph.D. ethicist it's doubtful you would be involved in any real time situations, but rather be involved in writing, teaching, and presenting papers. In other words, my understanding is, it is an academic not a clinical field. In one of the medical ethics courses I took in the late 1990's there was a student who was a retired Catholic Priest who remarked to the professor on the last day of class, "From everything you have said and everything I have read in this class, it seems to me about all you ethicists do is argue back and forth in academic publications about miniscule issues and have had no real effect on real people. You haven't really accomplished much of anything at all in the last 25 years." Some of the other students grumbled. The professor took a deep breath, thought for a minute, and said, "You're right, nice to know someone has been paying attention. Talking back and forth is what we do." If you want to work in a clinical setting and deal with ethics issues nearly every day become a hospital chaplain. Anyway ... if you remain interested there is a really interesting program in Medical Humanities at Drew University (don't know if any of it is online). Medical Humanities | Caspersen School of Graduate Studies | Drew University -lifelonglearner
