Tuesday, August 28, 2018

Another Term

It's the start of a new term, and I have been quite busy. I thought I'd put up the schedule of readings for one of my Ethics course, in case anyone's interested in what I do for it. The primary text for the course is Louis Pojman's Moral Philosophy: A Reader, so the page references are to that.

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The following schedule of readings is tentative and subject to change.

Week 1 (August 27)

M: FIRST DAY OF CLASS
Orientation

WARM-UP

W: Plato, Why Should I Be Moral? (60-68)
Plato, Allegory of the Cave (114-119)

Week 2 (September 3)

M: LABOR DAY: NO CLASS

W: Online Survey Due (if possible, do before readings)
Nozick, The Experience Machine (141-142)
Recommended: Thompson, The Trolley Problem (397-411)
Orientation email due

Week 3 (September 10)

CLASSICAL UTILITARIANISM

M: Jeremy Bentham, Classical Hedonism (120-122)
Bentham, Not Paul But Jesus Vol III  (PDF), Part I Chapter I (on asceticism)

W: John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (158-163)

Week 4 (September 17)

M: John Stuart Mill on the Art of Life (System of Logic Book VI, Chapter XII, Sections 1-8)
John Stuart Mill on Liberalism (On Liberty, Chapter 1; The Subjection of Women, Chapter 1)

W: Ursula K. LeGuin, The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas (will be provided in class)

Week 5 (September 24)

NATURAL LAW FORMS OF DEONTOLOGY

M: Thomas Aquinas, Natural Law (21-32); ST 2-1.90.4 and ST 2-1.94.6 (the latter two are important sections that for some reason are missing from Pojman)

W: Martin Luther King, Jr., A Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Week 6 (October 1)

M: Jacques Maritain, Communication with regard to a Draft World Declaration of Human Rights (PDF)

KANTIAN FORMS OF DEONTOLOGY

W: Immanuel Kant, The Foundations of Ethics (218-237)
Onora O'Neill, A Simplified Account of Kant's Ethics

Week 7 (October 8)
M: Practice with Formulations of the Categorical Imperative -- reread the Kant section!
Ethical Reasoning Paper Due

W: Kant on Beauty, Sublimity, and Ethical Monotheism

Week 8 (October 15)

M: Rae Langton, Maria von Herbert's Challenge to Kant (PDF)

VIRTUE ETHICS

W: Aristotle, Virtue Ethics (301-311)

Week 9 (October 22>)

M: Alasdair MacIntyre, The Nature of Virtue (323-338)

W: Thomas Aquinas on the Cardinal Virtues ( ST 2-1.61)

Week 10 (October 29)

M: Fourth Maccabees, Chapters 1, 5, and 6

W: Thomas Aquinas on the Capital Vices (ST 2-1.84)

Week 11 (November 5)

M: Dante Alighieri, Inferno Canto V
Thomas Aquinas on Lust (ST 2-2.153.5)

PARTICULAR TOPICS(These classes may be reduced as time requires)

W: FEMINIST ETHICS OF CARE: Nel Noddings, Caring in Education

Week 12 (November 12)

M: ANIMAL RIGHTS
ENVIRONMENTAL ETHICS

W: BUSINESS ETHICS (Ethical Crisis Management)
GOVERNMENT ETHICS (Conflict of Interest)

Week 13 (November 19)

M: DEONTIC LOGIC AND DEONTIC PARADOXES

W: Ethics review, catch-up, prepare for presentations

Happy Thanksgiving!

Week 14 (November 26)

M: PRESENTATIONS
Everyone must turn in at least a draft of the Service Learning Journal.

W: PRESENTATIONS

Week 15 (December 3)

M: PRESENTATIONS

W: PRESENTATIONS
Service Learning Journals Due
Don't forget to include required forms!


Week 16 (December 10)

M: Ethics Review

W: EXAM
LAST DAY OF COURSE