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UCSD PHIL 13 - Introduction

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1INTRODUCTORY HANDOUT PHILOSOPHY 13 FALL, 2001INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY---ETHICS revised 10/11/01(Revisions--In Wed. of week 3 reading and in Arneson's office hours)Professor: Richard Arneson. TAs: Luke Robinson and Jeff Stedman.Lecture MWF 11:15-12:05 in Center 109.The final exam for this course will take place on Wednesday, December 5, from 11:30a.m. to 2:30p.m. If you enroll in this class, you must be free to take a regular final exam for this course at thistime.People disagree about moral issues. Are some opinions about what is morally right correct andothers incorrect, or do notions of correctness and incorrectness fail to apply to moral claims?This course for the most part examines two types of proposal that hold that reason can determinewhat actions individuals ought morally to choose and what social policies and laws societiesought morally to uphold. One family of proposals is consequentialist: the point of morality is topromote good outcomes. In the nineteenth century, J. S. Mill argued for a utilitarian version ofconsequentialism. According to Mill, individual actions and social policies are morally better orworse, depending on the extent to which they promote or reduce the happiness of all humans(and other animals). We study Mill’s utilitarianism in part by considering its implications for suchissues as the morality of suicide and euthanasia, the limits of our moral obligations to help distantstrangers, the morality of terrorism in the sense of deliberate infliction of harm on innocentpersons to further political goals, and the ethics of eugenic projects involving interventionsdesigned to improve the genetic makeup of present and future persons. Another family ofproposals holds, in a slogan, that the right is prior to the good: We should respect persons byconstraining our conduct toward them in certain ways, and we are permitted to pursue ourconception of what is good only within the limits set by these moral constraints. According toImmanuel Kant, these constraints on permissible conduct are set by pure practical reason andapply to all of us, regardless of our culture, upbringing, or personal desires. Kant seems to rejectconsequentialism and holds that there are some things we may not do whatever theconsequences. We look at writings by contemporary authors including J. J. C. Smart, BernardWilliams, Thomas Nagel, Amartya Sen, and Thomas Hill to clarify what is at stake in the conflictbetween consequentialist and nonconsequentialist ethics. At the end of the class we brieflyexamine “a new kid on the block,” an alternative to consequentialist and Kantian perspectivesknown as virtue ethics. Virtue ethics seeks to characterize the motives and character of thevirtuous agent, and according to the bolder versions of this doctrine, what it is morally right to dois fixed by specifying the motives that it is admirable for an agent to have (right action is whatemerges from virtuous motives).The aims of the course are (1) to improve our skills at reading and understanding difficult writingsand thinking clearly about complex issues and (2) to become more aware of the structure of ourown moral views and of moral positions opposed to our own. COURSE TEXTS: J. S. Mill, Utilitarianism; J. J. C. Smart and Bernard Williams, Utilitarianism Forand Against; Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals; Marcia W. Baron, PhilipPettit, and Michael Slote, Three Methods of Ethics; and a course reader available from Cal Copy,3251 Holiday Court #103 (turn east from Villa La Jolla Drive one block above La Jolla VillageDrive, across the street to the east from El Torito restaurant). COURSE REQUIREMENTS: A midterm exam (Friday of week 6), a short writing assignment, fiveto seven pages in length, topics to be assigned in class, and a regular comprehensive finalexamination. On your exams and the writing assignment you will be graded according to theclarity of your prose, the cogency of your arguments, and the soundness of the understanding ofcourse materials that you exhibit. The final examination will comprehend all course materialsincluding required readings, lectures, and handouts distributed in class.GRADING: If you are taking the course on a PASS/NOT PASS basis, you must get (1) a C- orbetter on the final examination as well as (2) an overall C- average on all course work in order to2achieve a PASS grade, with one exception: If you have an A- or better average on the midtermexam and writing assignment, and are enrolled on a PASS/NOT PASS basis, you need not takethe final exam in order to earn a PASS grade.The midterm exam counts for 30 per cent of your final course grade, the writing assignment for 30per cent, and the final examination for 40 per cent.Only medical excuses certified by a note from your physician or a comparable certified excusewill be accepted for late submission of the writing assignment or absence from the midterm exam,or to justify the assignment of an Incomplete course grade.DISCUSSION SECTIONS. A discussion meeting for each section will occur once a week andstudents are expected to attend. Your attendance and performance in section will affect yourcourse grade in borderline cases (e.g., if the average of your grades is on the border between A-and B+). Apart from grades, the discussion sections are essential to the learning processbecause they provide the opportunity for a structured dialogue in which your opinions on ethicalissues can be expressed, debated, and clarified.SCHEDULE OF LECTURES AND READINGSWeek 1. September 17-23FRI: Introduction. Moral Puzzles. Reading: None.Week 2. September 24-30MON: Introduction to utilitarianism. Reading: Mill, Utilitarianism, chapter 1 and paragraphs 1-10of chapter 2.WED: Happiness and human good. Reading: Mill, Utilitarianism paragraphs 1-10 of chapter 2again; J. J. C. Smart, pages 12-27 of Utilitarianism For and Against; and Robert Adams, "Well-Being and Excellence" (in Cal Copy reader).FRI: Same topic continued.Week 3. October 1-7MON: Utilitarianism and moral rules. Reading: Mill, Utilitarianism, chapter 2: WED: Act and rule utilitarianism. Reading: J. J. C. Smart, pages 3-57 of Utilitarianism For andAgainst.FRI: Act and rule utilitarianism. Reading: John Rawls, “Two Concepts of Rules” (in Cal Copyreader).Week 4. October 8-14MON: Morality and motivation; Mill’s proof. Reading: Mill, Utilitarianism, chapters 3-4.WED: Utility versus justice. Reading: Mill, Utilitarianism;


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UCSD PHIL 13 - Introduction

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