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PHIL 221 – Ethical Theory (3 Credits) Course Description

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PHIL 221 – Ethical Theory (3 Credits) Course Description PHIL 221 – Ethical Theory (3 credits) Course Description: This course focuses on theories of morality rather than on contemporary moral issues (that is the topic of PHIL 120). That means that we will primarily be preoccupied with exploring what it means for an action—or a person—to be “good”. We will attempt to answer this question by looking at a mix of historical and contemporary texts primarily drawn from the Western European tradition, but also including some works from China and pre-colonial central America. We will begin by asking whether there are any universal and objectively valid moral rules, and chart several attempts to answer in both the affirmative and the negative: relativism, egoism, virtue ethics, consequentialism, deontology, the ethics of care, and contractarianism. We will consider the relationship between morality and the law, and whether morality is linked to human happiness. Finally, we will consider arguments for and against the idea that moral facts actually exist. Schedule of Readings Week 1 Introduction What are we trying to do? Charles L. Stevenson – The Nature of Ethical Disagreement Tom Regan – How Not to Answer Moral Questions Week 2 Relativism What counts as good depends on the moral standards of the group doing the evaluating. Mary Midgley – Trying Out One’s New Sword Martha Nussbaum – Judging Other Cultures: The Case of Genital Mutilation Plato – The Myth of Gyges (Republic II) Week 3 Egoism What’s good is just what’s good for me. Mencius – Mengzi (excerpts) James Rachels – Egoism and Moral Skepticism Week 4 Virtue Ethics Morality depends on having a virtuous character. Aristotle – Nichomachean Ethics (excerpts) Confucius – Analects (excerpts) Bernardino de Sahagún – Florentine Codex (excerpts) Week 5 Consequentialism Morality hinges on goodness of outcomes. John Stuart Mill – Utilitarianism (excerpts) Julia Driver – Consequentialism Ursula K. LeGuin – The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas Week 6 Deontology Morality hinges on intent and conformity to moral duties. Immanuel Kant – Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals (excerpts) Julia Driver – Deontology Week 7 Ethics of Care Morality supervenes on care in interpersonal relationships. Arthur Schopenhauer – On the Basis of Morality (excerpts) Annette Baier – The Need for More than Justice Hilde Lindemann – Standard Moral Theories from a Feminist Perspective Week 8 Contractarianism Moral norms have their origin in social contracts. Thomas Hobbes – Leviathan (excerpts) John Locke – Two Treatises on Government (excerpts) Week 9 Morality and the Law Is there a necessary connection between morality and the law? Thomas Aquinas – Summa Theologica (excerpts) H.L.A Hart – Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals Week 10 The Ethical Life How should we live? Laurence Thomas – Morality and a Meaningful Life Week 11 Meta-Ethics: Moral Realism Ethical facts exist! G.E. Moore – Principia Ethica (excerpts) Geoffrey Sayre-McCord – The Many Moral Realisms Week 12 Meta-Ethics: Moral Anti-Realism Ethical facts don’t exist! John Mackie – Ethics (Part 1) Gilbert Harman – The Nature of Morality (Ch. 8) Week 13 Meta-Ethics: Evolutionary Debunking Does evolution help the case for realism, or challenge it? Sharon Street – A Darwinian Dilemma for Realist Theories of Value .
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