Ethics

All the supplemental reading for this class may be downloaded from this page. I encourage you to print double-sided, and to skip page 1 for the documents that begin with a title page. Most of the papers are in PDF format, so you will need Adobe Acrobat (or some other PDF reader) in order to look at them. Many of the links will only work if you are logged in through NU library. If you are printing the papers from a computer cluster you do not have to worry about this. If you are attempting to view or print the papers at an off campus location you will need to make sure you are logged in. Some of the files are password protected. Please contact me about any problems downloading the papers.

   

Introduction-What is Ethics?

 
Monday 8/28 First Day of Class: Introductions 
Wednesday 8/30 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.7: Psychological Egoism A discussion of the view that humans can't act unselfishly.
Friday 9/1 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.8: Ethical Egoism A discussion of the view that it is wrong to act unselfishly.
Monday 9/4 NO CLASS: LABOR DAY 
Wednesday 9/6 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.19: Ethical Relativism A discussion of the view that the truths of ethics are relative to cultures or individuals.
Friday 9/8 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.20: Moral Nihilism A discussion of the view that there are no truths of ethics.
Monday 9/11 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.21: Eleven Arguments A discussion of the main arguments against the existence of objective truths about ethics.
Wednesday 9/13 Crimes and Misdemeanors (in class movie) Study guide distributed
Friday 9/15 Open Question/Discussion Session Please look over the study guide before class and come with questions.
Monday 9/18 FIRST EXAM 
   

The Four Main Moral Theories

 
Wednesday 9/20 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.9: Consequentialism I A discussion of the view that right acts are those that maximize the happiness or pleasure of everyone.
Friday 9/22 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.10: Consequentialism II Continued discussion and a critique of the view that right acts are those that maximize the happiness or pleasure of everyone.
Monday 9/25 Consequentialism, Cont. Continued discussion of Consequentialism
Wednesday 9/27 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.11: Kant I A defense of the view that right acts are those that it would be rational for everyone to do.
Friday 9/29 NO CLASS: SCP 
Monday 10/2 Shafer-Landau, The Fundamentals of Ethics, Ch.12: Kant II A defense of the view that right acts are those that appropriately recognize people's dignity and autonomy.
Wednesday 10/4 Kant, Cont. 
Friday 10/6 Aristotelian Virtue Ethics I A defense of the view that right acts are those that a virtuous person would perform.
Monday 10/9 FALL BREAK 
Wednesday 10/11 Aristotelian Virtue Ethics II Cont.
Friday 10/13 Natural Law Theory: Read Sections 1.0-2.3 A defense of the view that right acts are those that respond non-defectively to what is good for beings like us.
Monday 10/16 Timmons on Aquinas' Natural Law Theory A discussion of Natural Law Theory and the Doctrine of Double Effect. Study Guide distributed
Wednesday 10/18 Watchmen (in class movie) 
Friday 10/20 Open Question/Discussion Session Please look over the study guide before class and come with questions.
Monday 10/23 SECOND EXAM 
   

MORAL PROBLEMS

 
Wednesday 10/25 Thomson, A Defense of Abortion* An argument that some abortions are permissible even if fetuses have a right to life.
Friday 10/27 Reply: Brody* A critique of Thomson's Growing Child Argument.
Monday 10/30 Reply: Beckwith A critique of Thomson's Violinist Argument.
Wednesday 11/1 Debate: Whence Filial Obligations? 
Friday 11/3 Tooley, Abortion and Infanticide* An argument that fetuses and newborns do not have a right to life.
Monday 11/6 Reply: Carter** A critique of Tooley's claim that if someone has a right to something, then that person desires that thing.
Wednesday 11/8 Reply: Stevens* A critique of the Conceptual Possession Requirement: Tooley's claim that if someone has a right to something, then that person has a concept of that thing.
Friday 11/10 Debate: Do All Humans Have a Right to Life? 
Monday 11/13 Nozick, The Entitlement Theory An argument that (distributive) justice is historical, not patterned.
Wednesday 11/15 Reply: Goldman* An argument that historical conceptions of distributive justice are fundamentally unfair. (Remind me to email the Michael article)
Friday 11/18 Reply: Michael An argument that we do not own everything we make: that the fruit of our labor is sometimes less than the product of our labor.
Monday 11/20 Debate: Is Justice Historical or Patterned? 
Wednesday 11/22 NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING BREAK 
Friday 11/24 NO CLASS: THANKSGIVING BREAK 
Monday 11/27 Singer, Famine, Affluence, and Morality An Argument that it is grievously wrong to not give large amounts of money to charity.
Wednesday 11/29 Replies Read Arthur's piece for today, arguing against Singer's Greater Moral Harm Principle.
Friday 12/1 Read Slote's reply from the above packet. An virtue ethics argument that proximity is morally relevant.
Monday 12/4 Debate: Do We Have a Duty to Give All Luxuries to Charity? 
Wednesday 12/6 Open Question/Discussion Session Please look over the study guide before class and come with questions. PAPER DUE
Friday 12/8 FINAL EXAM at 12:10 Location TBA
* Off campus portal for these readings here. You'll need to search for the article by name once you log in.
** Off campus portal for these readings here. You'll need to search for the article by name once you log in.