Is physician-assisted suicide a morally defensible practice? Is the death penalty a morally acceptable type of punishment? Is society justified in enacting laws that limit the access of consenting adults to pornographic materials? The answers people give to such moral questions and the social policies adopted in keeping with these answers will directly affect people’s lives. This course provides an analysis of ethical issues that arise in relation to a variety of controversial public issues including the death penalty, abortion, euthanasia, sexual morality, pornography and censorship, economic justice, torture, the environment and world hunger.