Professor: Samuel KersteinOffice: Skinner 1106Office Phone: 301-405-3119Office Hours: Mon. 1:30-3:00 or by appointmentEmail: [email protected] Moral Issues (Phil 140)Syllabus, Spring 2009Mon/Wed 12:00-12:50; SHM 2102This course explores currently debated issues concerning life and death. It introduces you to philosophical reasoning oncontroversial topics including abortion, euthanasia, and capital punishment. The course aims to help you to develop yourability to understand, evaluate, and construct arguments in the realm of applied ethics.Go to ScheduleTeaching Assistants Jason Christie Logan Fletcher Andrew KnollSections 0103, 0107, 0108 0101, 0102, 0109 0104, 0105, 0106Office Skinner 1121 Skinner 1118A Skinner 1107ATelephone 301-405-5841 301-405-5747Email [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Tues. 12-1:30 or byappointmentWed. 1-3 Tues. 11-1Web page:http://www.philosophy.umd.edu/Faculty/SKerstein/cmispring2009syllabus.htmlThis page will contain links to outlines of lectures, sample exam questions, paper topics, and so forth.The web page is the official syllabus for the course. Changes in schedule and readings will be noted on it. You areexpected to consult it regularly.Texts:All readings are available as PDF files on the ELMS (Blackboard) site for this course. There is no textbook.Requirements:Three examinations (including a final), two 3-page papers, and quizzesQuizzes 6 during semester 15% of grade 4 best scores countExam 1 February 16 15% of grade On Intro - Part 2Paper 1due March 615% of grade topics to be announcedExam 2March 3015% of grade On Parts 3-4Paper 2April 2215% of grade topics to be announcedFinal Exam Tuesday, May 19 8:00-10:00 am 25% of grade On Parts 5-8Academic integrity:The University of Maryland Honor Pledge reads: "I pledge on my honor that I have not given or received any1 of 4unauthorized assistance on this assignment/examination." The Pledge statement should be handwritten and signedon the front of your exams and papers. Students who fail to write and sign the Pledge will be asked to confer with theinstructor.The Student Honor Council identifies four types of academic dishonesty: cheating, fabrication, facilitating academicdishonesty, and plagiarism. It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes dishonesty of these four types.Please consult the Student Honor Council Website or speak to the instructor or a teaching assistant if you would likeany clarification (e.g., regarding what constitutes plagiarism).The teaching assistants and I take incidents of academic dishonesty very seriously. We will forward to the office ofjudicial programs any cases of it that come to our attention.Discussion sections:They are an integral part of this course. You are expected to attend them. (Note that several quizzes will be given indiscussion sections.)If your teaching assistant judges that you have performed well in discussion sections and your grade is on aborderline, then your assistant may push it upward.Exams:Exams will test your comprehension of material presented in readings, lectures, and discussion sections. They maycontain true/false or multiple choice questions, and they will contain essay questions. Please note that you will beexpected to understand details from the readings even if these details are not covered specifically in lectures.If you have a university-approved excuse for missing an examination, you may take a make-up. However, you mustalert your teaching assistant (by email or phone) that you will be absent prior to the exam, unless unusualcircumstances prevent you from doing so.Grading:Your final grade will depend on the percentage you earn of the total points possible in the class: A+: 98-100; A:94-97; A: 90-93;B+: 87-89; B: 84-86; B-: 80-83; C+: 77-79; C: 74-76; C-: 70-73; D+: 67-69; D: 64-66; D: 60-63.There will be no opportunities for extra credit. (But recall that if your teaching assistant judges that you haveperformed well in discussion sections and your grade is on a borderline, then your assistant may push it upward.)Failure to complete an assignment will result in your receiving no points (a zero) for that assignment.If you wish to contest your grade on a paper or exam, you must do so within two weeks of that assignment's beinggraded and made available to you. You must meet first with your teaching assistant. If you still do not find your gradereasonable, you may consult with Professor Kerstein. However, you should keep in mind that he will assign you thegrade he believes you deserve, even if it is lower than that orginally assigned to you by your teaching assistant.Papers:Paper topics will be distributed approximately 7 days before the papers are due.Unless accompanied by a university-approved excuse, papers will be penalized one full grade for each school daythey are late. For example, if your paper is due on Monday, you may turn it in on Tuesday, but then the highestgrade you could receive on the paper would be a B+.Papers will not be accepted via email.Quizzes:The two lowest of your six quiz scores will be dropped from your final grade. Only university approved excuses willenable you to make up a missed quiz.If you wish to make up a missed quiz, you must inform your teaching assistant no more than one week after the datethe quiz was given, unless extraordinary circumstances, e.g., extended illness, prevent you from doing so. It is yourresponsibility to determine whether a quiz was given during a session you did not attend.Quizzes, which last approximately 5 minutes, focus on details of the reading for the day of the quiz or prior readingsin the part of the course with which we are concerned on the day of the quiz. Suppose, for example, that we are onPart 3 of the course, namely Abortion. On one session during our study of this topic, we might have a quiz. Thatsession might be a Friday discussion. The quiz will focus either on the reading for this session (if there is any) orsome prior reading regarding abortion. You are responsible for doing the readings assigned for a particular daybefore coming to class.The dates for quizzes will not be announced in advance. Quizzes will often be given at the very beginning of class(including at the beginning of discussion sections). If you arrive late and miss all or part of a quiz, you will not bepermitted to make it up, unless, of course, you provide a university approved excuse for your lateness.2 of 4Religious Observances:You will not be