Human freedom comes in many different forms: economic freedom, educational freedom, political freedom, and cultural freedom, to name just a few. Since actions can conflict with the freedom and well-being of others, people need to come to agreements about how to behave toward one another. Searching for those agreements through reason and dialog is called ethical discourse. A democratic society tries to discover right and wrong actions by allowing everyone an equal opportunity to discuss the matter. The idea is that the closer to total agreement a society comes, the more likely it is that they are right about the goodness and badness of their actions. After all, why would a great majority of people choose to agree to practices that would cause themselves harm? Only by deceit, ignorance, violence, greed or desperation would a society commit itself to actions that are hostile to its own freedom and well-being. A democratic society depends upon its members' abilities to practice ethical discourse. This course aims to give you the knowledge and understanding to meet that challenge.