This introductory course focuses on the history and foundations of bioethics as a field of inquiry and practice, including key bioethics concepts, theories, methods of ethical reasoning, and applications in healthcare, health research, and public health. Key theoretical approaches to be examined in this course include: utilitarianism (consequence-based theory), Kantianism (duty-based theory), virtue ethics, casuistry, principle-based approaches, and critical epistemologies in bioethics. Students will also explore the nature of ethical judgment, the basis of moral authority, the fundamentals of ethical argumentation and justification, critical thinking in bioethics analysis and inquiry, and the role and limits of theory in applied bioethics practice.