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Ethics

Dowling College Spring 2002 CRN 24905 MW 1130AM-1250PM RC 421

Dr Christian Perring	Work phone: (631) 244-3349	Office Location:	330A RC
E-mail:	perringc@dowling.edu	Office hours:	MW 900-1000AM TR 1030-1130AM

Textbooks:

Moral Reasoning: A Philosophic Approach to Applied Ethics. Second Edition, by Richard Fox and Joseph DeMarco. Houcourt, 2001 [MR]

Applied Ethics: A Multicultural Approach, Third Edition, edited by Larry May et al. Prentice Hall, 2002. [AE]

This class has two main goals:

To introduce you to some important current debates in ethics, and to some of the most historically influential views in ethics. You should be able to understand the views and arguments of people on both sides of a debate, and to explain them to other people in your own words.
To develop your skills at forming your own moral views and making moral decisions as rationally and carefully as possible. This requires that you become able to understand arguments on both sides of an issue, and be able to explain why you take the view that you do and what you see as the weaknesses in the arguments for the views you have rejected.

The form of the teaching will be a combination of lecture and discussion. You must come prepared to class, having read the assigned readings and attempted the assigned exercises. If you found the reading or exercises difficult to understand, you should be able to ask questions about specific passages in the text to help end your confusion. If you did understand the text, then you should be ready to explain it to others.

There will be one 3-page paper (10 %), and one 5-page paper (25%). Attendance in class is worth 5% of your grade. If you attend all but one class, you get the full 5%, and for every class missed without legitimate excuse after that you lose 1%, and this can go into the negative. The midterm exam and the final exam are worth 20% each. The remaining 20% is assessed on your class preparation and contribution. Especially important will be your ability to answer questions on the exercises in MR and the readings in AE. Extra credit – up to 5%: Attend one of the talks in the Tuesday evening Philosophy Speaker Series and write a 2-page summary of the main argument of the speaker.

All writing assignments must be completed in order to pass the course. It is your responsibility to make sure you have your own copy of any draft or paper that you hand in, in case the copy you give me gets mislaid. Your written work should be in grammatical English, with correct spelling; persistent errors will reduce your grade. You are expected to read assignments before each class and be ready to discuss them. You may be called on in class to explain one of the readings. Out of class work should average about 15 hours per week.

All papers must be submitted electronically using http://turnitin.com. The class ID is 25290. I will tell you the class password in class.

Plagiarism and Cheating. All research for papers must be carefully documented and footnoted. Minor plagiarism will result in you receiving a zero grade for the work. Major plagiarism will mean you fail the class. All plagiarism will be documented and reported to the Dean of Students.

Schedule: (subject to change)

Feb 4: MR Ch. 1. The Nature of Morality.

Feb 6: MR Ch. 2. Critical Thinking in Ethics. Do exercises 1-5, pp 29-30, for class.

Feb 11: Do MR exercises 1–4, pp 47-48, for class.

Feb 13: MR The Levels of Moral Reasoning. Do exercises 1-3, p. 60 and exercises 1 & 2 p. 62.

Feb 18: AE. John Noonan, “An Almost Absolute Value in History,” pp. 499-504; Mary Anne Warren, “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion,” pp. 505-513.

Feb 20: MR Ch. 4. Obstacles to Moral Reasoning. Do exercises 1-4, p. 84.

Feb 25 & 27. No class.

Homework: Write 500-700 word paper, explaining the argument(s) of Haig Khatchadourian in “Terrorism and Morality,” AE p. 291. Due by March 3: submit through the Internet, using turnitin.com.

Mar 4: MR Ch. 5. Do exercises 1 a-c & 2 a-c, pp. 97-98 for class.

Tues March 5. Attend talk by Christina Hoff Summers, Hunt Room, 6-8 PM.

Mar 6: Do MR exercises 1 & 2, pp 107-8.

Mar 11: AE Peter Singer, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality,” pp. 224-233; John Arthur, “Rights and the Duty to Aid,” pp. 234-243.

Mar 13: AE Bernard Boxhill, “The Color-Blind Principle,” pp. 444-450; Shelby Steele, “Affirmative Action: The Price of Preference,” pp. 451-457. [Give out possible questions for midterm]

Mar 18: AE Howard McGary, “Psychological Violence, Physical Violence, and Racial Oppression,” pp. 330-338. Review.

Mar 20: Midterm. (open textbook)

Paper topics given out.

Midterm break

Apr 1: MR Ch. 6. Self-Realization, Natural Law, and Virtue Theory. Do exercises 1 a & b, 2 a- e, pp 126-7, for class.

Apr 3: AE Peter Kramer, Listening to Prozac, pp. 640-652; Sara Goering, “Gene Therapies and the Pursuit of a Better Human,” pp 653-663.

Apr 8: MR Ch. 8. Contemporary Ethical Theories, pp 165-181. Do exercises 1 a & b, p. 174, for class.

Apr 10: MR Ch. 8. pp 182-186. Do exercises 2 & 3, p. 186. AE. Sara Ruddick, “A Women’s Politics of Resistance,” pp. 309-317.

Apr 15: MR Ch. 9. Developing a Set of Principles. Do exercises 1-5.

Apr 17: MR Ch. 10. Applying Moral Principles. Do exercise 1a, p. 235-6.

Apr 22: AE James Rachels, “Active and Passive Euthanasia,” pp. 561-565; Bonnie Steinbock, “The Intentional Termination of Life,” pp. 566-573.

Apr 24: MR Ch. 11. Subordinate Moral Rules. Do exercises 1-3, p. 252.

Apr 29: MR Ch. 12. Critiquing and Implementing Rules. Do exercises 1 & 2, p, 267.

May 1: AE Carol Gilligan, “Images of Relationship,” p. 345-354; Joel Anderson, “Is Equality Tearing Families Apart?,” 365-375.

May 6: MR Ch. 13. Judging Individual Acts. Exercises 4 & 9, pp. 288-289.

May 8: Final exam

Paper due Monday May 13.