Ethics 105
Fall 2007
Instructor: Eric Lambert Location: OU 207
Email: lamber53@msu.edu/elambert@kzoo.edu Time: 2:40 – 3:55
Office: HH 202 Office hrs: TBA
Texts:
The
Practice of Virtue: Classic and Contemporary
Welchman (Hackett)
The Classic Utilitarians: Bentham and Mill, ed. John Troyer (Hackett)
Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, Immanuel Kant, trans. James W. Ellington
(Hackett)
The Plague, Albert Camus, trans. Stuart Gilbert
Course pack (available through coursepacks.com)
The objective of Ethics 105 is to become conversant with various influential moral theories in Western philosophy. Students will be introduced to the concepts, arguments, and criticisms animating classical and contemporary theories, and will be encouraged to view such positions historically, with a view to continuities and contrasts. You will reflect on questions concerning the nature of virtue, obligation, and value; what makes actions “right” or “wrong”; and differing approaches to moral reasoning and the justification of judgments. A chief goal of the course is to develop the ability to analyze and evaluate these theories, both in discussion and in your writing, and with regard both to primary texts and their application to contemporary phenomena.
So, during the first four weeks of class we will survey the foundational moral theories of Virtue Ethics (Aristotle), Deontology (Kant), and Utilitarianism (Mill). Then, after reading The Plague (Camus), we will spend the remainder of the quarter studying the contributions of Existentialism and Critical Social Theory to contemporary moral thought. Established shortly before WWII, these latter philosophical approaches illuminate – in distinctive ways – themes that will provide a background horizon to the course: namely, the centrality of empathy, communication, and reciprocal recognition to moral theory.
20% midterm exam
20% final exam
20% final paper (6-8 pp.)
10% peer review of rough draft of final paper (typed, min. 4-5 pp.)
10% participation
20% four (4) short papers (2-3 pp.), worth 5% each
Week 1
Sep 24: Introduction
Sep 26: Aristotle, The Practice of Virtue, 5-20
Sep 28: Aristotle, The Practice of Virtue, 20-37
Week 2
Oct 01: Hume, The Practice of Virtue, 84-107
Oct 03: Jacqueline Taylor, The Practice of Virtue, 182-202
Oct 05: Nietzsche, The Practice of Virtue, 112-133
Week 3
Oct 08: Bentham, The Classical Utilitarians, 8-38
Oct 10: Mill, The Classical Utilitarians, 95-122
Oct 12: Mill, The Classical Utilitarians, 122-147
Week 4
Oct 15: Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 1-49
Oct 17: Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, 49-69
Oct 19: Onora O’Neill, “Between Consenting Adults” (CP)
Week 5
Oct 22: Midterm exam
Oct 24: Camus, The Plague (sections I – III, pp. 3-168)
Oct 26: Camus, The Plague (sections IV and V, pp. 169-278)
Week 6
Oct 29: Sartre, “Existentialism is a Humanism” (available free at website, marxists.org)
Oct 31: de Beauvoir, “Freedom and Others (available free at marxists.org)
Nov 02: James, “The Moral Philosopher and the Moral Life” (CP)
Week 7
Nov 05: Hegel, “Master-Slave Dialectic” (available free marxists.org)
Nov 07: Raymond Guess, “Suffering and Knowledge in Adorno” (CP)
Nov 09: Honneth, “Adorno to Habermas” (CP)
Week 8
Nov 12: Habermas, “On the Pragmatic, the Ethical, and the Moral Employments of
Practical Reason” (CP)
Nov 14: Habermas, “Communicative Reason” (available free at marxists.org)
Nov 16: Honneth, “The social dynamics of disrespect: situating Critical Theory today”
(CP)
Week 9
Nov 19: Honneth, “Integrity and Disrespect” (CP)
Nov 21: Levinas, “Is Ontology Fundamental?” (CP)
* Thanksgiving Break *
Week 10
Nov 26: Final exam
Nov 28: Amery, “Torture” (CP)
Nov 30: Exchange and peer review of rough drafts of final paper