Introductory Ethics, Spring 2008
Important Dates:
Fri. March 7. First test.
Wed. March 12. "The Trial of the Rich American."
Wed. April 16. Test #2
Fri. May 2. Test #3
Mon and Wed. May 5 and 7. The Trial of the Abu Ghraib soldier
Fri. May 9. Steve Stich "The Persistence of Moral Disagreement." 5 PM Imholt 109.
Reading Schedule
Fri, Jan 25. Russell, "The Value of Philosophy." (Slide 2)
Mon, Jan 28: Pryor. "Philosophical Terms and Methods." You have to click on each link individually to get all the material. Glossary recommended but not required. Slide 3
Wed. Jan 30: What is Ethics? AND Plato Crito. pp 1-14 in the text. Slide 4
Fri. Feb 1. Quiz on Philosophical Terms and Methods.
Mon. Feb 4. Plato Crito. Slide 5
Wed. Feb. 6. Plato "Why be Moral?" pp. 82-88 AND Taylor, "On the Socratic Dilemma." pp 88-93 Slide 6
Fri. Feb. 8. No class.
Mon. Feb. 11. Kavka, "A Reconciliation Project." Slide 7
Wed. Feb. 13. Kavka cont'd. Slide 8
Fri. Feb 15. Introduction to Utilitarianism Chapter, p. 178. Mill "Utilitarianism.' pp. 183-188. Slide 9
Mon. Feb. 18. Continue with "Utilitarianism" pp. 189-192. Slide 10
Wed. Feb. 20. "Utilitarianism." pp. 193-196. Slides 11
Fri. Feb 22. Nielson, "Against Moral Conservativism" Slides 12
Mon. Feb 25. Williams, "Against Utilitarianism." Slides 13
Wed. Feb 27. Singer. "Famine, Affluence, and Morality." Slides 14
Fri. Feb 29. Singer cont'd. Slides 15
Mon. Mar 3. Introduction to "Kantian and Deontological Systems" and Kant pp. 266-275 Slides 16
Wed. Mar. 5. Kant cont'd. Slides 17
Fri. Mar. 7. Test 1
Mon. Mar 10. Kant wrap-up and preparation for trial. Slides 18
Wed. Mar 12 Trial of the Rich American
Fri. Mar. 14. No class.
Mon. Mar. 24. Ross, "What Makes Right Acts Right?" (midterms come back) Slides 19
Wed. Mar. 26. Ross eont'd and Nagel, "Moral Luck." Slides 20
Fri. Mar. 28. Nagel cont'd and Colin, "No Offense, but You Don't Deserve Your Salary." Slides 21
Mon. Mar. 31. Nagel concluded and Colin. (paper topics included) Slides 22
Wed. April 2. Supplemental test question, introduction to virtue ethics, how to write a philosophy paper. Slides 23
Friday April 4. Rachels, "Ethics of Virtue." Slides 24
Mon. Apr. 7. Wolf. "Moral Saints." (textbook, p. 430) Slides 25
Wed. Apr. 9. Doris. "Persons, Situations, and Virtue Ethics" Slides 26
Fri. Apr. 11. Sayre-McCord "Moral Realism" (stop right before "Realism's Project in Prospect" p. 8 pdf, 16 in the text) Slides 27
Mon. Apr. 14. Sayre-McCord cont'd. Slides 28
Friday Apr. 18. Ayer, "Emotivism." p. 471 in the textbook Slides 29
Mon. April 21 Mackie, "The Subjectivity of Values." Up to (but not including) the section "Patterns of Objectification." Slides 30
Wed. Ap. 23. Harman, "Moral nihilism" up to the section Nihilism and Naturalism on page 521 Slides 31
Fri. Apr. 25. Greene, "From Neural 'is' to moral 'ought.' Finish Sayre-McCord. Slides 32
Mon. Apr. 28. Smith, "A Defense of Moral Realism." 562 textbook Slides 33
Wed. Apr. 30 Trial prep and test review Slides 34
Fri. May 2 Test #3 Study Questions
PAPER TOPICS 2 AND Writing Guide
Wed. May 7. Final Class Slides