Day & Time: M,T,W,R 1:30-3:05pm
Location: 710 Main Building
Office hours: Thursday 3:10-4:00, 503N Main Building

This is an introductory course in moral philosophy. The course is divided into two sections: the first part of the course is devoted to discussions about the nature of morality and the main theories that try to answer the question "how should we live?". The second section (the last three weeks of classes) I want to discuss topics on applied ethics (abortion, euthanasia, death penalty, etc.). This second part is flexible and the topics and readings can be changed according to the interests of the students.

Below is the approximate schedule indicating what material will be covered in each class session. You are expected to have read the assigned reading before the day for which the reading is scheduled.
 

July  Week 1  5	Introduction
6	What is morality?	Rachels, EMP, chap. 1  Gilbert Harman, "The Nature of Morality", Ethics  Suggested: Kurt Baier, "The Point of View of Morality", Ethics
Week 2  10	Moral relativism	Rachels, EMP, chap. 2  Hugh LaFollette, "The Truth in Ethical Relativism"  (http://www.etsu-tn.edu/philos/faculty/hugh/relative.htm )
11	Subjectivism in ethics	Rachels, EMP, chap. 3  Stevenson, "The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms", Ethics
12	Does morality depend on religion?	Rachels, EMP, chap. 4  Plato, "Euthyphro", Ethics
13	Psychological and ethical egoism	Rachels, EMP, chaps. 5, 6  Feinberg, "Psychological egoism", Ethics
Week 3  17, 18	Utilitarianism	Rachels, EMP, chaps. 7-8  Mill, "Utilitarianism", Ethics  Suggested: Williams, "A critique of utilitarianism", Ethics
19, 20	Kantian ethics	Rachels, EMP, chaps. 9-10  Kant, "Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals", Ethics
		First paper due 07/24/00
Week 4  24	Contractarianism	Rachels, EMP, chap. 11  Hobbes, "Leviathan", Ethics
25	Rights	Feinberg, “The Nature and Value of Rights”, Ethics
26	Virtue ethics	Rachels, EMP, chap. 12  Aristotle, "Nicomachean Ethics", Ethics  Suggested: MacIntyre, "After Virtue", Ethics
27	Feminist ethics	Rachels, EMP, chap. 12  Held, "Feminist Transformations of Moral Theory", Ethics
Week 5  31, 1	Abortion	Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion", Ethics  Tooley, "Abortion and Infanticide", Ethics  Sterba, "Abortion, Distant Peoples, and Future Generations", Ethics
August  2, 3	Euthanasia	Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia", Ethics  Foot, "Euthanasia", Ethics
Week 6  7, 8	Death penalty	Van den Haag, “In Defense of the Death Penalty”, Ethics  Nathanson, “An Eye for an Eye: The Morality of Punishing by Death”, Ethics  Suggested: John Stuart Mill, "Speech In Favor of Capital Punishment"  "A Broken System: Error Rates in Capital Cases", by James Liebman
9, 10	Business ethics	Thomas Donaldson, "Values in Tension: Ethics Away from Home" Milton  Friedman, "The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits" Richard De George, "Corporations and Morality" and "American Capitalism: Moral or Immoral?"
Week 7  14, 15	Famine and poverty	Singer, "Famine, Affluence and Morality", Ethics  Arthur, "Famine Relief and the Ideal Moral Code", Ethics
		Second paper due 08/15/00

 

• James Rachels, The Elements of Moral Philosophy (EMP) Third edition, McGraw Hill, New York
• Steven M. Cahn and Peter Markie, Ethics. History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues, Oxford University Press, New York, 1998.

Regular attendance (no more than three absences). Participation in class (or in any e-mail discussion) is not required, but it may benefit your grade.

For those of you who haven't written philosophy papers before, here you have links to websites that
tell you how to write your first philosophy paper.

• Writing Philosophy
• Paper writing strategies for introductory philosophy courses
• Undergraduate Philosophical Writing

• http://www.epistemelinks.com/Main/MainClas.asp

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