What is a good life and how should it be lived? How does our identity shape our morality? What does ethics mean in the face of power, violence, and cruelty?

These are big questions, among life’s most important. Duke University’s Ethics Certificate Program offers undergraduates an opportunity to examine these issues in depth—to test their convictions, deepen their knowledge, and explore their ambitions. It’s a rigorous course of study designed to prepare students for life—both personally and professionally.

Participants begin with our Gateway Course, The Challenges of Living an Ethical Life. They continue through six more courses chosen from the Certificate Program curriculum, which offers opportunities to explore such areas as philosophical, religious, and practical ethics; contemporary ethical controversies; and ethics in historical and cultural context. They finish with the Capstone Course, a research seminar in ethics, where they complete a research project that combines the perspectives and tools of their major with a focus on ethical inquiry. Along the way, participants become part of an energetic community of students and faculty who will challenge them to think and to act, to take their ethical commitments out of the classroom and into the world.

“The Ethics Certificate Program has challenged and developed my core beliefs, both in the classroom and at related events and discussions.” – Poorav K. Rohatgi, ’10