Goodbye to Yesterday...

Your grades are now posted. Happy New Year!


(Sorry, 9:00 class, I forgot to take your picture!)

Final Exam

Just a reminder that the final exam is on Friday, December 19th, in our normal classroom.

The exam is at our normal class period time: for the 9:00--9:50 a.m. class, it's at 9:00 a.m., and for the 10:00-10:50 a.m. class, it's at 10:00 a.m. The test will last 50 minutes.

Paper #2 Guidelines

Due Date: Wednesday, December 17th, 2008

Worth: 15% of final grade

Assignment: Write an argumentative essay on the topic below. Papers must be typed, and must be between 600-1200 words long. Provide a word count on the first page of the paper. (Most programs like Microsoft Word & WordPerfect have automatic word counts.)

Explain your conception of personhood as it relates to morality.

(1) First, briefly explain and critically evaluate the different conceptions of personhood that we have discussed in class. Be sure to explain each conception offered by Mary Anne Warren, Stephen Schwarz, James Rachels, and Roger Scruton.

(2) Second, explain how each of these authors uses their conception to attempt to settle the particular ethical debate he or she wrote about. (Warren on abortion, Schwarz on abortion, Rachels on euthanasia, and Scruton on animal rights).

(3) Third, explain your conception of personhood: do you agree with one of these authors’ conceptions, or do you have one of your own?

(4) Fourth, explain the solution that your conception of personhood gives to the ethical debates of abortion, euthanasia, and animal rights.

When considering your conception of personhood, be sure to answer the following questions: Which living creatures are persons, and which living creatures are not persons? Do you believe that you need to be a “person” in the moral sense in order to have moral rights (in particular, the right to life and the right to not suffer unnecessarily)? Can someone have moral rights before they have moral duties? Be sure to fully explain and philosophically defend each of your answers.

Group Presentations: 10:00 Class

Here are the group assignments for the 10:00 a.m. class. If you're not in a group yet, let me know as soon as possible so we can get you in one.

Team Stem Cells (1st on Wednesday, 12/10/08)
Felicia, Lisa

Team Prostitution (2nd on Wednesday, 12/10/08)
Andrew G., Emily, Justin, Stef, Tareq, Tina

Team Steroids (3rd on Wednesday, 12/10/08)
Brandon, Jared, Mike H., Matthew, Tom

Team Torture (1st on Friday, 12/12/08)
Brittany, Jeanine, Lawren S., Megan, Sabrei, Victoria

Team Death Penalty (2nd on Friday, 12/12/08)
Andrew K., Jess, Krista, Lauren B., Melina

Team Porn (1st on Monday, 12/15/08)
Anthony, Josh, Mike F., Rob, Walt

Team Egoism (2nd on Monday, 12/15/08)
Alex, Dennis, K.C., Stephan, Weston

Also, I mentioned this in class, but just in case...

Attendance is mandatory for the group presentations on Wednesday (12/10/08), Friday (12/12/08), and Monday (12/15/08). It's the only time I'll be a stickler for it. Basically, I want you to show respect for the other groups presenting.

If you don't attend on either the days your group isn't presenting (and your absence isn't excused), your own personal presentation grade will drop. Each day you don't attend will lower your grade by a full letter grade.

One last thing: be sure to keep the presentations under 15 minutes. A 10-minute presentation is ideal, so we can have time for a short question-and-answer session afterwards.

Group Presentations: 9:00 Class

Here are the group assignments for the 9:00 a.m. class. If you're not in a group yet, let me know as soon as possible so we can get you in one.

Team Juice (1st on Wednesday, 12/10/08)
Chris, Jamil, Jason, Peter, Vince

Team Stem Cells (2nd on Wednesday, 12/10/08)
Alicia, Bill, Jeff, Robin, Vanessa

Team Prostitution (1st on Friday, 12/12/08)
Chas, Kristina, Matt, Rebecca

Team Business Ethics (2nd on Friday, 12/12/08)
Ayla, Bridgett, Flavio, Joe, Kitty

Team Torture (1st on Monday, 12/15/08)
Bernard, Greg, Jonathan, Mike

Team Porn (2nd on Monday, 12/15/08)
Amber, Jaime, Jay, Mahamadou, Troy

Also, I mentioned this in class, but just in case...

Attendance is mandatory for the group presentations on Wednesday (12/10/08), Friday (12/12/08), and Monday (12/15/08). It's the only time I'll be a stickler for it. Basically, I want you to show respect for the other groups presenting.

If you don't attend on either the days your group isn't presenting (and your absence isn't excused), your own personal presentation grade will drop. Each day you don't attend will lower your grade by a full letter grade.

One last thing: be sure to keep the presentations under 15 minutes. A 10-minute presentation is ideal, so we can have time for a short question-and-answer session afterwards.

Paper #1 Guidelines

The first paper is due at the beginning of class on Friday, October 17th. It's worth 5% of your final grade. Here's the assignment:

Assignment: Write an argumentative essay on one of the topics below. Papers must be typed, and must be between 300-600 words long. Provide a word count on the first page of the paper. (Most programs like Microsoft Word & WordPerfect have automatic word counts.)

Paper Topics:
1. Out of the eight ethical theories that we have studied—cultural relativism, God ethics (divine command), happy ethics (utilitarianism), Kant, Aquinas’s natural law, Aristotle’s virtue ethics, Kohlberg’s moral development, and Gilligan’s ethics of care—which do you think is best? Why? What are some (at least two) seemingly good objections that someone might make to that theory? How would you reply to those objections? Explain & defend your position.

2. Provide a detailed criticism of one of the ethical theories we’ve discussed in class. First, explain the theory, and present a charitable argument (what you take to be the best argument) in its favor. Then critically evaluate the argument. What are good objections to the argument? Consider how a proponent of the theory might respond to your objections, and explain why these responses are unsuccessful.

3. Which do you think is more important in determining whether an action is morally right or wrong: the consequences of the action (what happens as a result of the action), or the motivations behind the action (the reasons why someone chooses that action over other actions)? Why?

-Describe an ethical theory that we have studied that care more about the consequences of an action.
-Then describe an ethical theory that we have studied that care more about the motivations of actions.
-In arguing for one side over the other, describe a specific moral dilemma in which these theories would give different decisions based on the action’s consequences vs. its motivations. Be sure to fully explain and defend your position.

[NOTE: I’m not looking for one right choice here. You can choose either side, as long as you defend it with a well-reasoned argument.]

4. In class, we’ve discussed the “Hitler Intuition”: Hitler’s actions don’t just seem wrong for you or me; they seem objectively wrong. Many have used this intuition to support the claim that there must be an objective morality of some kind. Examine this intuition.

-If you agree that it is solid evidence for objective morality, explain exactly how this intuition works. What makes it objectively true that Hitler was immoral? What is the basis of your judgment? In other words, what grounds objective morality? Which ethical theory we’ve discussed do you think this supports? Explain and defend all your answers.
-If you do not believe that this intuition is solid evidence for objective morality, you are probably a relativist. Explain why this intuition doesn’t provide enough evidence for the existence of an objective morality. Why is it OK to say that Hitler’s actions weren’t universally bad? How is it that Hitler is simply bad to me, but not objectively bad?

5. Within the parameters of ethical theories discussed in class, write on a topic of your choosing. (Sean must approve your topic by Friday, October 10th.)

Quiz #1

Quiz #1 will be held at the beginning of class on Friday, September 26th. You will have about 25 minutes to take it. There will be a section on evaluating arguments, and 4 short answer questions on the topic of ethical relativism (the Herodotus, Ruth Benedict, and Thomas Nagel readings). The quiz is worth 7.5% of your overall grade.

Feel free to insult me in the comments for putting you through the terrible ordeal of taking a quiz on a Friday.

Email Subscriptions

So why does this course have a blog? Well, why is anything anything?

A blog (short for “web log”) is a website that works like a journal – users write posts that are sorted by date based on when they were written. You can find important course information (like assignments, due dates, reading schedules, etc.) on the blog. I’ll also be updating the blog throughout the semester, posting interesting items related to the stuff we’re currently discussing in class. I used a blog for this course last semester, and it seemed helpful. Hopefully it can benefit our course, too.

Since I’ll be updating the blog a lot throughout the semester, you should check it frequently. There are, however, some convenient ways to do this without simply going to the blog each day. The best way to do this is by getting an email subscription, so any new blog post I write automatically gets emailed to you. (You can also subscribe to the rss feed, if you know what that means.) To get an email subscription:

1. Go to http://ccc08ethics.blogspot.com.

2. At the main page, enter your email address at the top of the right column (under “EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION: Enter your Email”) and click the "Subscribe me!" button.

3. This will take you to a new page. Follow the directions under #2, where it says “To help stop spam, please type the text here that you see in the image below. Visually impaired or blind users should contact support by email.” Once you type the text, click the "Subscribe me!" button again.

4. You'll then get an email regarding the blog subscription. (Check your spam folder if you haven’t received an email after a day.) You have to confirm your registration. Do so by clicking on the "Click here to activate your account" link in the email you receive.

5. This will bring you to a page that says "Your subscription is confirmed!" Now you're subscribed.

If you are unsure whether you've subscribed, ask me (609-980-8367; slandis@camdencc.edu). I can check who's subscribed and who hasn't.

Course Schedule

September 3—5: Intro to Class/Relativism
Wednesday: Introduction to Class (no reading)
Friday: Doing Philosophy (no reading)

September 8—12: Relativism/Divine Command
Monday: Relativism: Herodotus, Benedict (VV 134 -143)
Wednesday: Relativism: Nagel (VV 174 – 178)
Friday: Divine Command: Mortimer (VV 79-83)

September 15—19: Divine Command Theory/Utilitarianism
Monday: Divine Command: Arthur (VV 83-91)
Wednesday: Utilitarianism: Mill (VV 95-100)
Friday: Utilitarianism: Williams (VV 100-107)

September 22—26: Utiliarianism/Deontological Theory
Monday: QUIZ #1; Utilitarianism: group work (no reading)
Wednesday: Deontological Theory: Kant (VV 113-123)
Friday: Deontological Theory: group work (no reading)

September 29—October 3: Deontological Theory/Natural Law
Monday: Deontological Theory: Taylor (VV 128-133)
Wednesday: Natural Law: Dimock (DTRT 43-59)
Friday: Natural Law: group work (reread Dimock [DTRT 43-59])

October 6—10: Virtue Ethics
Monday: Virtue Ethics: Aristotle (VV 193-208)
Wednesday: Virtue Ethics: Rachels (VV 251-265)
Friday: Virtue Ethics: group work (catch up on the week’s readings)

October 13—17: Ethics of Care/Social Contract Theory
Monday: Ethics of Care: Kohlberg’s Moral Development (handout)
Wednesday: Ethics of Care: Gilligan’s Ethics of Care (handout)
Friday: PAPER #1 due; Social Contract: Rawls (DTRT 464-483)

October 20—24: Social Contract Theory/Review
Monday: Social Contract: Rawls (DTRT 464-483)
Wednesday: review for Midterm (no reading)
Friday: MIDTERM

October 27—31: Abortion
Monday: Abortion: Warren (DTRT 183-189)
Wednesday: Abortion: Schwarz (DTRT 190-208)
Friday: Abortion: group work (catch up on the week’s readings)

November 3—7: Euthanasia
Monday: Euthanasia: Rachels (DTRT 255-267)
Wednesday: Euthanasia: Chamberlain (DTRT 268-283)
Friday: Euthanasia: group work (catch up on the week’s readings)

November 10—14: Euthanasia/The Death Penalty
Monday: Euthanasia: Quill (DTRT 284 -288)
Wednesday: Death Penalty: Pojman (DTRT 361-370)
Friday: Death Penalty: Bedau (DTRT 371-383)

November 17—21: The Death Penalty/World Hunger
Monday: Death Penalty: group work (catch up on readings)
Wednesday: QUIZ #2; World Hunger: Singer (VV 365-374)
Friday: World Hunger: Arthur (VV 375-380) & Shikwati (VV 381-384)

November 24—26: World Hunger
Monday: World Hunger: group work (catch up on readings)
Wednesday: PAPER #2 due; work on group presentations (no reading)
Friday: THANKSGIVING BREAK (no class) (woo?)


December 1—5: Animal Rights/Affirmative Action
Monday: Animal Rights: Rachels (VV 467-473)
Wednesday: Animal Rights: Scruton (VV 496-500)
Friday: catch up day (no reading)

December 8—12: Group Presentations
Monday: prepare for group presentations (no reading)
Wednesday: group presentations
Friday: group presentations

December 15—19: Group Presentations/Review/Final
Monday: group presentations
Wednesday: review for Final Exam
Friday: FINAL EXAM

Course Details

Introduction to Ethics
Camden County College, Blackwood Campus
Philosophy 131
Fall 2008
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Section 03: 9:00 a.m. – 9:50 a.m. in Madison Hall, Room 311
Section 01: 10:00 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. in Madison Hall, Room 311

Instructor: Sean Landis
Email: slandis@camdencc.edu
Phone: 609-980-8367
Course Website: http://ccc08ethics.blogspot.com

Required Texts
Vice & Virtue in Everyday Life, 7th Edition, Christina & Fred Sommers (VV)
Do the Right Thing, 2nd Edition, Francis J. Beckwith (DTRT)

About the Course
This course is split into two halves: theory and practice. During the first half, we will study several ethical theories that attempt to answer broad questions about the nature of morality. What are the various ways that philosophers describe the difference between things that are morally right and wrong? Are the consequences of what we do more important than the motivation behind our actions, or vice versa? Does morality require God? Are ethical theories nothing more than cultural constructions?

In the second half of the course, we will apply these theories to particular ethical problems. Topics include abortion, euthanasia, the death penalty, world hunger, and animal rights. The goal of this course is to develop a philosophical understanding of what underlies moral claims and apply this understanding to our own ethical beliefs.

Grades
90-100% = A
80-89% = B
70-79% = C
60-69% = D
below 60% = F

Midterm 15%
Final 25%
Quizzes (2) 7.5% each (15% total)
First Short Paper 5%
Second Short Paper 15%
Homework 5% total
Oral Report 15%
Attendance/Participation 5%

Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam. The midterm tests everything covered during the first half of the course, and will last the full period (50 minutes) on the scheduled day. The final exam is cumulative—that is, it tests everything covered throughout the whole course. The final will last 50 minutes, and will take place on the last day of class.

Quizzes: Unlike the exams, quizzes will not be cumulative. That is, quiz #1 will test you on everything covered during the first 4 weeks of class, and quiz #2 will test you on everything covered after exam #1 (weeks 7 through 9). Quizzes will last 20 to 25 minutes, and be held at the beginning of the period on the scheduled day.

Oral Report: The oral report will be a group project presented in front of the class toward the end of the semester. Each group of 3-5 students will research a topic in ethics not discussed in class, and present a 10- to 15-minute lesson on it to the rest of class.

Papers: There will be two papers, the first a short one on ethical theory and the second a longer one on one or more of the applied topics we discuss.

Homework: Homework assignments are due at the beginning of class the day they are due.

Attendance/Participation: Most of this will be based on your attendance. If you’re there every class, you’ll get full credit for your attendance grade. Also, there will be a lot of informal group work throughout the semester. Group work can impact your attendance grade.

Extra Credit: There will be some optional extra credit assignments available throughout the semester.

Classroom Policies
Academic Integrity: Cheating and plagiarism (using someone else’s words or ideas without giving credit to the source) will not be tolerated in the class. Students found guilty of either will definitely fail the exam or assignment—and possibly the entire class. FYI: I’m pretty good at catching plagiarism. I recommend not trying it!

Excused Absenses: Make-up exams, quizzes, in-class projects, and oral reports will only be rescheduled for any excused absences (excused absences include religious observance, official college business, and illness or injury – with a doctor’s note). An unexcused absence on the day of any assignment or test will result in a zero on that assignment or test.

Important Dates
August 29th: Last day to drop a course & receive a 100% refund.
September 15th: Last day to drop a course & receive a 50% refund.
September 15th: Late registration deadline.
September 22nd: Last day to sign up to audit a course.
December 3rd: Last day to withdrawal from Fall Classes.