Professor
Joseph M. Incandela
Saint Mary's
College
Religious Studies 240
"Catholic Social Thought"
This course examines Catholic positions on some of the most controversial
social, ethical, and religious issues of our day: abortion, birth
control, the
relation between official Catholic teachings and individual conscience,
reproductive technologies, cloning, physician-assisted suicide,
euthanasia, the
allocation of scarce health resources, the ordination of women priests,
capital
punishment, nuclear weapons, waging war vs. embracing peace, poverty and
the
United States economy, and the effect of being a member of the Church on
being a
citizen of the state. In each of these areas, we shall be trying to
determine
what specific difference the Catholic tradition makes for the way we
approach
these issues. The readings present a wide range of moral and theological
points
of view. Some of them will be critical of the official Catholic
position. But
listening to such critical voices is crucial for what we do here: for to
understand and evaluate the Catholic position better, we need to listen
to
non-Catholics; to understand and evaluate theological arguments better,
we need
to examine secular ones as well. And since many of these issues impact
rather
directly upon women, it is especially important to hear their voices.
I hope you will come away from the course better able to think
about
these matters and better able to articulate and defend what you think.
Because
there are different ways of doing ethics within the Catholic tradition,
we shall
examine and evaluate not only the conclusions that various writers have
reached
about these issues, but also the kinds of ethical reasoning they use to
reach
their conclusions. The goal of this course, ultimately, is not just to
enable
you to reproduce the positions of the Catholic Church, but to produce
positions
of your own that will enable you to find and evaluate your own place in
the
Catholic tradition. Note: Extensive use will be made of
computer assisted instruction that will include regular readings and
postings on the internet.
For a list of online resources for "Catholic Social
Thought," click here; and for a
recent syllabus, click here.