Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An introduction to the central problems of ethics: for example, the nature of right and wrong, the objectivity or subjectivity of moral judgments, the relativity or absolutism of values, the nature of human freedom and responsibility. The course will also consider general moral views such as utilitarianism, theories of rights and specific obligations, and the ethics of virtue. These theories will be applied to particular moral problems such as abortion, punishment, distributive justice, freedom of speech, and racial and sexual equality. Sometimes the course will also focus on important historical figures such as Plato, Aristotle, Kant and Mill. Open to all students. Students with credit for PHIL 120 may not take this course for further credit. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

In this course, we will consider both very abstract and very particular questions that arise in the course of asking about the nature of morality and what it is to lead a good life. For example, we will ask what the ultimate basis of morality is. Rationality? Pleasure? Something else? We will consider whether you can ever have any moral reason to choose in favor of family, friends and compatriots rather than distant and unknown people whom you might nevertheless affect positively through your actions. We will wonder whether abortion is ever morally permissible and what the moral status of animals is. We will consider whether freedom is a precondition of morality. We will ask whether moral value is the ultimate or fundamental value in the world – or are there other competing values? And, finally, we will consider whether moral systems are worth adopting in the first place.

This course will proceed by reading a mixture of classic pieces in moral philosophy and contemporary articles on difficult and interesting moral questions. We shall begin by reading Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, in which Kant argues that moral value is ultimately to be found in the nature of moral agency. We shall then consider J.S. Mill’s classic Utilitarianism, in which he argues that is an action’s consequences – and nothing more – that determine its moral worth. Finally, we will read Nietzsche’s Genealogy of Morality, in which Nietzsche offers a profound critique of morality itself. Along the way, we will read articles that extend the thought of these philosophers in interesting ways or constitute direct critiques of them.

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

PHIL 120W may be applied towards the Certificate in Liberal Arts, the Writing Requirement, and the Breadth-Humanities Requirement.

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: