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
