Harvard University’s program in ethics and health is an interdisciplinary program in bioethics that allows Ph.D. candidates to concentrate their degrees in ethical studies. Rather than focusing solely on ethical issues at the clinical level of healthcare, Harvard’s program explores ethical topics from a “population health perspective.” Such topics include the distribution of healthcare nationally and globally, inequalities in the system, socioeconomic and environmental factors, human rights issues and emergency interventions, and generational justice and global aging. Collaboration in the program comes from Harvard law and medical schools, the School of Public Health, the Kennedy School of Government, the Divinity School, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.
Through its Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University also boasts strong doctoral programs in applied ethics and bioethics. Ph.D. philosophy candidates interested in ethics must also study metaphysics, epistemology, and the history of philosophy. Additionally, the university offers joint degrees. Medical students can simultaneously earn a doctorate in philosophy specializing in clinical bioethics. Similarly, law students can add a Ph.D. in bioethics. The university’s philosophy department and law school routinely offer joint seminars on related topics.
Boston University’s Division of Religious and Theological Studies offers doctorate degrees, either Ph.D. or Th.D. (doctor of theology), with concentrations in social ethics. Students extensively study the sources of ethical reasoning, from the philosophical works of Plato and Aristotle, to those of John Locke and Thomas Hobbes. Coursework delves into the ethical teachings of Christianity and other world religions. Students also undertake a “social analysis” of globalization and explore the many social sciences that have contributed to modern ethical thought.
The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the most prestigious business schools in the country, offers a Ph.D. program in ethics and legal studies. The school’s website claims it’s the only doctoral program to focus on ethical and legal norms “relevant to individual and organizational decision-making within business.” Coursework draws from philosophy, law and social sciences. Topics include international business ethics and human rights, corporate governance, environmental law and policy, normative political theory, sports law and policy, and corporate criminal law, among others. Ph.D. students also work with the Zicklin Center for Research in Business Ethics.