PHIL3088: Ethics and Dragons

What you'll do in this course:

• Learn to play Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), and use the game to explore concepts and debates
• Discover foundational questions in ethics and moral reasoning
• Work with middle-school-aged children in small groups, in a public-library setting, to model the skills you're concurrently developing

Try this course if you:

• Are curious about--or have prior experience with--D&D
• Are interested in games, theatre, philosophy, law, or early- to middle-childhood education
• Ever wanted to go behind the scenes at your library's storytime as a kid

All of the world’s complex problems can’t be solved without people having the requisite moral reasoning, dialogue and decision making skills to solve those problems. This course develops those skills in the students who take the course, and together we develop those skills in the students we serve at libraries all over Cincinnati.

If you haven't played D&D, or taken a philosophy class, before--don't worry! This course is designed as an accessible introduction to role-playing games and ethical questions alike.

This course is a service-learning course in which students learn how to play and incorporate moral dilemmas into Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) adventures. Using the mechanics of role-playing games, students will engage with key ethical dilemmas, discuss moral reasoning, and apply moral theories to their reasoning in game scenarios. Students will also participate in a service-learning component, where they serve as assistant Dungeon Masters (DMs) or model players for middle school students in local libraries, helping those students develop critical moral reasoning and dialogue skills by navigating ethical questions in a D&D setting.

UC News recently highlighted the Ethics and Dragons seminar, describing its growth out of an internship program run in partnership between the Cincinnati Ethics Center and the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library.