Contemporary Conflicts of Morals

contemporary conflicts of morals

California State University, Fresno

Philosophy 120

Spring 2002

Study sheets

Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics [PDF]

Mill’s Utilitarianism [PDF]

Kant’s Deontologism [PDF]

Instructor:	Tim Black
My office:	Music Building, Room 112
My office hours:	MWF, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. TTh, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Other hours by appointment
My office phone:	559.278.4940
My e-mail address:	tblack@csufresno.edu

I invite you to visit me during my office hours and to talk with me via telephone and e-mail. I always welcome your comments and questions, and I am exceptionally happy to talk with you about the course material or about other philosophical or administrative matters.

Department office:	Music Building, Room 102, M-F, 8:30 a.m. – 12 noon, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.
Department phone:	559.278.2621

Aims of the Course: This course is designed to show you how to use the tools of philosophy when considering the moral issues that face us every day. It is not our aim to consider a great number of these issues. Instead, the issues that we will consider will provide us with a subject matter on which to practice philosophy. And we’ll be more concerned with practicing philosophy than with arriving at any particular conclusion or establishing as right any particular point of view. We are most interested in introducing to you the philosophical tools that can aid you in formulating your own thoughtful opinions and in thoughtfully evaluating the opinions of others. By the end of this course, you should be able to clearly express, both verbally and in writing, persuasive philosophical arguments for your own opinions and points of view. Here, then, are the goals of this course: (1) to examine some important contemporary moral issues as they are presented in philosophical texts, (2) to develop an ability to use the tools of philosophy in evaluating these texts and in considering these issues, (3) to develop an ability to use the tools of philosophy in formulating your own opinions about these issues, (4) to see how these issues are raised, not only in works of philosophy, but also in works of art, such as popular movies, and (5) to develop an ability to clearly and persuasively express both your philosophical opinions and your arguments for those opinions.

General Education: This course satisfies the General Education requirement for Integration in Area IC (new program) and for Breadth in Division 6 (old program). To be enrolled in this course you must have completed the General Education requirements for Foundation and those for Breadth in Area C.

Required Text: Olen, Jeffrey and Vincent Barry, eds. Applying Ethics: A Text with Readings, 7^th edition

Attendance and Participation: Since you are responsible for any and all material presented in class, regular attendance is essential to doing well in this course. Furthermore, philosophy is akin to, say, chemistry in that it is an activity and not simply a set of purported facts. So just as you cannot develop your abilities as a chemist without doing some work in the lab, you cannot develop your philosophical abilities without practice. And practicing philosophy means, among other things, discussing philosophical issues and arguments both in class and outside of class. Such discussion can benefit you in a number of ways: it will help you to gain a deeper understanding of the sometimes fairly difficult material and will thus help you to perform better on the assignments. Both class attendance and participation in the discussion of philosophical issues are therefore quite essential to doing well in this course. I subscribe to and will enforce the University’s policy on student absences as stated on page 44 of the California State University, Fresno 2001-2002 General Catalog.

Students with Disabilities: If you have a disability, please identify yourself to me and to the University so that we can reasonably accommodate your learning and the preparation and evaluation of the work that you must do for this course. Please contact Services for Students with Disabilities, Henry Madden Library, Room 1049, 559.278.2811.

Other Concerns: If you think that you might need help with writing, time management, note-taking skills, test anxiety, and the like, please contact either me or the Learning Resource Center, Lab School, Room 137, 559.278.3052. Visit the LRC online by clicking here. You might also take advantage of the English Writing Center, which is located in the Education Building, Rooms 184 and 186.

Evaluation: Your final grade in the course will be based on the following:

Exam

Tuesday, 26 February 2002

20%

Responses

At least four, and at most eight

80%

Grades: Letter grades are assigned according to the following system: 100-90% = A; 89-80% = B; 79-70% = C; 69-60% = D; 59-0% = F. If your final grade falls just short of some higher grade, the quality of your verbal participation will be considered as grounds for improving your final grade. I strongly encourage your verbal participation, which can come in lectures, in office hours, by phone, or by e-mail.

Cheating and Plagiarism: I consider academic dishonesty a very serious issue. If you are unclear about what constitutes academic dishonesty or about the possible repercussions of and penalties for acts of academic dishonesty, please consult page 36 of the Fall 2001 Schedule of Courses or page 486 of the California State University, Fresno 2001-2002 General Catalog. Moreover, I subscribe to and will enforce the Policies and Regulations of California State University, Fresno as they are stated on pages 483-486 of its 2001-2002 General Catalog.

Exam: The exam is designed to determine whether you understand the material discussed in class between 24 January and 19 February. The exam will consist of three parts. The first part of the exam will consist of a list of terms that we have encountered and employed. You will be asked to define—in one or two or three sentences—some of those terms. The second part of the exam will consist of a list of questions to which you must provide a short answer (a.k.a. short-answer questions). You will write about four or five sentences, or approximately one paragraph, in response to some of those questions. The third part of the exam will consist of a list of questions to which you must provide an essay-length answer (a.k.a. essay questions). You will write an essay in response to some of those questions. You may take a make-up exam only if either (a) you have received, prior to the scheduled date of the exam, my permission to do so or (b) you miss the exam due to a documented medical or family emergency. I will grade your responses to the exam questions on the basis of the accuracy of your claims about what the authors say.

Responses: You must write at least four responses, and at most eight. Eighty percent of your final grade will be divided evenly between your responses. (So, for example, if you submit four responses, each will count for twenty percent of your final grade. If you submit five, each will count for sixteen percent of your final grade. And so on.) Each of your responses is to be an essay that is no longer than 3 pages (or approximately 1,000 words) long. No response is to be longer than 3 pages. I will grade your responses on the basis of the quality of the arguments you provide in favor of your position. More specifically, I will grade your responses on the basis of the following criteria: Your responses (a) must be typewritten or computer processed in standard, 12-point type, double-spaced, and with one-inch margins, (b) must be well organized, succinct, clear and readable, (c) must demonstrate your ability to clearly and critically consider a serious philosophical issue, (d) must demonstrate your ability to present and defend your own reasonable and persuasive philosophical arguments, and (e) must demonstrate your ability to critically evaluate philosophical arguments. A Guide to Writing Philosophy Papers should come in handy as you write your responses. (Click here to see links to other guides to writing.) You may submit your responses at any point during the semester. There are no deadlines or due dates associated with the responses (other than this one, of course: you must have submitted at least four (4) responses by 14 May 2002).

Reading Questions: For each assigned reading, there is an associated set of reading questions. I have tried to design these questions so that their answers will underscore certain crucial points, bring out the central themes and arguments, and, in general, enhance your understanding of the selection. You may answer these questions as you will; you are not required to submit your answers.

Schedule:

	Topic	Readings	Assignment
24 January	Course introduction
29 January	Introduction to logic	Pages 49-70, “Good Reasoning”	Reading questions, set I
31 January	Introduction to logic (cont’d)
5 February	Ethics and morality: Introduction	Pages 3-23, “Moral Reasons”	Reading questions, set II
7 February	Ethics and morality: Relativism and egoism
12 February	Ethics and morality: Virtue theory	Pages 24-31, Aristotle, “Moral virtue”	Reading questions, set III
14 February	Ethics and morality: Utilitarianism	Pages 35-39, John Stuart Mill, “Utilitarianism”	Reading questions, set IV
19 February	Ethics and morality: Deontologism	Pages 31-34, Immanuel Kant, “Respect for Persons”	Reading questions, set V
21 February	Excerpts from The Matrix, and review for Exam
26 February	Exam
28 February	Abortion: Con	Pages 180-184, John T. Noonan, “An Almost Absolute Value in History” (For a more complete profile of Judge Noonan, click here.)	Reading questions, set VI
5 March
7 March	Abortion: Pro	Pages 196-206, Mary Anne Warren, “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion”	Reading questions, set VII
12 March	Episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation
14 March
19 March	Cloning: Con	Pages 275-287, Leon Kass, “The Wisdom of Repugnance”	Reading questions, set VIII
21 March	Cloning: Pro	Pages 287-298, Michael Tooley, “Moral Status of Cloning Humans”	Reading questions, set IX
26 March	Spring Break
28 March	Spring Break
2 April	Excerpts from Saving Private Ryan
4 April	Euthanasia	Pages 236-240, James Rachels, “Active and Passive Euthanasia”	Reading questions, set X
9 April	Euthanasia	Pages 240-255, Philippa Foot, “Euthanasia”	Reading questions, set XI
11 April
16 April	Excerpts from Dead Man Walking
18 April	Capital punishment: Pro	Pages 339-346, Ernest van den Haag, “On Deterrence and the Death Penalty”	Reading questions, set XII
23 April	Capital punishment: Con	Pages 347-354, Hugo Adam Bedau, “Capital Punishment and Social Defense”	Reading questions, set XIII
25 April
30 April
2 May	Episode of The Simpsons
7 May	Animal rights: Pro	Pages 459-471, Peter Singer, “All Animals Are Equal … or why supporters of liberation for Blacks and Women should support Animal Liberation too”	Reading questions, set XIV
9 May	Animal rights: Con	Pages 486-493, Bonnie Steinbock, “Speciesism and the Idea of Equality”	Reading questions, set XV
14 May

Note: Everything in this syllabus is subject to revision. I will announce any and all revisions in class and, in general, do my best to make sure that each and every student knows about revisions. If you miss class, you must nevertheless submit assignments according to any revisions that I make to the Schedule. You should either make sure that you don’t miss class or find a sure way of becoming aware of any revisions that I make to the Schedule or to the syllabus.