PHI-241 -- Ethics

Syllabus

 

Roger Rigterink

Office: C-208 (Classroom building)

Home page: http://www.fdl.uwc.edu/faculty/rrigteri

e-mail: roger.rigterink@uwc.edu (office)

rrigteri@vbe.com (home)

 

Week

Topic

Reading

Utilitarianism

Week #1

Into Thin Air

Jeremy Bentham - The Hedonistic Calculus

pp. 147-53

Week #2

Bentham (Primary source reading)

pp. 170-71

John Stuart Mill - Quality vs. Quantity

Mill (Primary source reading)

pp. 158-62:

PP. 172-73

Week #3

The Ones Who Walk Away (Narrative)

PP. 179-80

Criticisms of utilitarianism

pp. 153-57

Mill's Vision

pp. 162-67

Week #4

Act vs. Rule utilitarianism

pp. 167-69

TEST

September 23

Deontology

Immanuel Kant - The Good Will

pp. 184-87

Week #5

Kant - The Categorical Imperative

pp. 188-92

Kant - Persons

pp. 196-204

Abandon Ship! (Narrative)

pp. 207-08

Week #6

Kant's Kritics

pp. 192-96

Personhood

pp. 215-22

Rights

pp. 222-27

Week #7

Criminal Justice 235-40

pp. 235-40

TEST

October 14

Virtue Theory

The classical approach to ethics

pp. 253-56; 317-21

Week #8

Aristotle - Excellence and Happiness

pp. 295-98: 304-05

The Experience Machine

Aristotle - The golden mean

pp. 298-304

Week #9

The Prince of Darkness

Modern virtue theory

pp. 321-26

Can Virtue Be Taught

e-handout

Week #10

Compassion

pp. 441-49

TEST

November 4

Relativism and Egoism

Ethical Relativism

pp. 75-83

Week #11

Ruth Benedict (Primary source reading)

pp. 98-100

Ethical universalism

pp. 83-92

Cultural diversity

pp. 92-97

Week #12

Multicultural education (Primary source reading)

pp. 101-04

Ethical egoism

pp. 116; 126-28

Ayn Rand (Primary source reading)

pp. 135-38

Week #13

Criticisms of egoism

pp. 128-35

TEST

November 25

Feminist Ethics

Week #14

Early feminism

pp. 365-74

Two versions of feminism

374-87

In a Different Voice (Primary source reading)

pp. 388-90

Final Narratives

Week #15

Stories as survival mechanisms

pp. 489-96

Star Trek: Voyager, "Prime Factor" (Narrative)

pp. 496-99

Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Narrative)

pp. 499-501

Week #16

Into Thin Air