Riddles of Existence Syllabus: winter 2015

Instructor: David Barnett 203 Lamont House [email protected]

Office Hours: Wednesdays, 3pm - 6pm or by appointment Course Description: A traditional view holds that human life begins at conception, that an adult at the end of his or her life can be the same person that was once a child and who was before that that an embryo, and that this same person will go on to survive the death of his or her body. Does this traditional conception of human existence hold up to critical scrutiny? In this introductory course, we will address such fundamental questions of human existence as: When does life begin? When during the development of an embryo into an adult human being does one acquire moral rights? What is a mind, and what is the mind’s relationship to the brain? Do animals have minds? Could robots or computers have minds someday? Do you have an immaterial soul that is capable of surviving the death of your body and brain? When does life end, and why is it bad? Do human beings in a persistent vegetative state have the same right to life that most adult humans have? Is euthanasia ever morally permissible? No prior background in philosophy will be presupposed, although a willingness to ask difficult questions and develop careful and methodical reasoning in support of one’s answers will be essential. Readings: (K&S) Bioethics, 2nd Ed., edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer (H&D) The Mind’s I: Fantasies and Reflections on Self and Soul, edited by Douglas Hofstadter and Daniel Dennett !A Dialogue on and Immortality, by John Perry Additional readings will be made available on the course website. Website: www.davidjamesbar.net/?page_id=93 Academic Integrity: Students are encouraged to discuss assignments outside of class, but submitted work must be the original work of the student. All students are expected to uphold the Academic Honor Code. A full statement of Union’s Academic Honor Code can be found at: http://www.union.edu/ academic_depts/ethics/union/Honor%20Code.php Class Participation: Riddles of Existence is a discussion-based course, and 20% of each student’s final grade will be determined by the positive contribution he or she makes to classroom discussions. In-Class Debates: There will be two in-class debates: one on abortion on Jan. 19, and another on euthanasia on Grading: 20% class participation 15% in-class debate 10% argument analysis (1-2 pages, due Jan. 12) 25% midterm paper draft + revisions (6 pages, due Feb. 2 / Feb. 20) 30% final paper (6 pages, Mar. 13) ! Riddles of Existence Syllabus: winter 2015

Class Schedule

Week 1 Do fetuses have a right to life?

M (Jan 5) class introduction W (Jan 7) Mary Anne Warren, ‘On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion’ (website) F (Jan 9) Don Marquis, ‘Why Abortion is Immoral’ (K&S 4)

Week 2 The potentiality problem, fetal vs. maternal rights

M (Jan 12) Michael Tooley, ‘Abortion and Infanticide’ (K&S 2) W (Jan 14) Elizabeth Harman, ‘Creation Ethics: The Moral Status of Early Fetuses and the Ethics of Abortion’ (website) F (Jan 16) Judith Jarvis Thomson, ‘A Defense of Abortion’ (K&S 3)

Week 3 What has moral status?

M (Jan 19) In-Class Debate: Abortion Due: argument analysis W (Jan 21) Immanueal Kant, ‘Duties Towards Animals’ (K&S 62) Jeremy Bentham, ‘A Utilitarian View’ (K&S 63) Video: Jeff Sebo, ‘Moral Status’ (website) F (Jan 23) Peter Singer, ‘All Animals are Equal’ (K&S 64)

Week 4 What has a mind?

M (Jan 26) Terrel Miedaner, ‘The Soul of Martha, A Beast’ (H&D 7) Terrel Miedaner, ‘The Soul of the Mark III Beast’ (H&D 8) Brian Aldiss, ‘Super-Toys Last All Summer Long’ (website) W (Jan 28) Alan Turing, ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ (H&D 4) F (Jan 30) John Searle, ‘Minds, Brains, and Programs’ (H&D 22)

Week 5 Do we have immaterial souls?

M (Feb 2) Thomas Nagel, ‘What Is It Like to Be a Bat?’ (H&D 24) Due: midterm paper draft W (Feb 4) Rene Descartes, excerpts from Meditations on First Philosophy (website) Jeff McMahan, excerpt from The Ethics of Killing (website) Video: Alex Byrne, ‘Mind-Body Dualism’ F (Feb 6) Elisabeth of Bohemia, 1643 correspondence with Descartes (website) Karen Bennett, ‘Mental Causation’, sections 1 - 3 (website) Raymond Smullyan, ‘An Unfortunate Dualist’ (H&D 23) Week 6 Immaterial souls and divisible brains

M (Feb 9) Thomas Nagel, ‘Brain Bisection and the Unity of Consciousness’ (website) Video: Scientific American Frontiers, ‘Severed Corpus Callosum’ Riddles of Existence Syllabus: winter 2015

W (Feb 11) Greg Egan, ‘Learning to Be Me’ (website) F (Feb 13) John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, First Night

Week 7 Personal identity and the end of life

M (Feb 16) John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Second Night W (Feb 18) John Perry, A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality, Third Night F (Feb 20) , ‘What We Believe Ourselves To Be’ (website) Due: midterm paper revisions Week 8 Euthanasia and the sanctity of life

M (Feb 23) Ronald Dworkin, ‘Life Past Reason’ (K&S 37) Video: CBC News, ’Dementia victim Gillian Bennett takes her life after right-to-die plea’ Website: deadatnoon.com W (Feb 25) Jonathan Glover, ‘The Sanctity of Life (K&S 25) Video: CBS News, ’Brittany’s choice: 29-year-old reignites debate about aid in dying’ F (Feb 27) Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death, ‘A Definition of Irreversible Coma’ (K&S 35) Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ‘Declaration on Euthanasia’ K&S 26) Week 9 Is it wrong to kill? Is it bad to die?

M (Mar 2) James Rachels, ‘Active and Passive Euthanasia’ (K&S 28) Winston Nesbitt, ‘Is Killing No Worse Than Letting Die?’ (K&S 29) Helga Kuhse, ‘Why Killing is Not Always Worse—and Sometimes Better— Than Letting Die’ (K&S 30) W (Mar 4) In-class debate: Euthanasia F (Mar 6) Fred Feldman, ‘Epicurus and the Evil of Death’

Week 10 Is it good to be born?

M (Mar 9) Derek Parfit, ‘The Non-Identity Problem’ (website) W (Mar 11) Elizabeth Harman, ‘Can We Harm and Benefit in Creating?’ (website) F (Mar 13) Hyunseop Kim, ‘The Uncomfortable Truth about Wrongful Life Cases’ (website) Due: final paper