Syllabus

Philosophy 1100 Honors

Introduction to Ethics

Section 880                                                                                                                    Professor Michael Tooley
TTh  3:30-4:45                                                                                                              Hellems, Room 277
Hellems, Room 196                                                                                                       Office Hours:   TTh 12:30-2:00
                                                                                                                                       (Or immediately after class.)

Course Readings

        I have become rather dissatisfied with ethics textbooks, which seem to me generally overpriced – something that may be due in part to the fact that publishers are constantly coming out with new editions. As a result, I am currently experimenting with the idea of using readings that I shall place on E-Reserve.  (I would very much appreciate your feedback, as the semester progresses, on how you find this alternative to the use of a textbook.)

Classes

        Once we get over the introductory, background material on philosophy and ethics, and the critical thinking material, our classes will be a combination of lectures and discussion.  It is very important that people come to class prepared to take part in those discussions.  This means that you  should do the readings in advance, and then think about the issues, so that when an opportunity arises in a lecture to set out your opinion on the issue in question, you are prepared to offer a thoughtful view, along with your reasons for thinking that your view is correct.

       Class discussions will sometimes incorporate a mini critical thinking session, in which we briefly discuss some controversial issue.  When this is the case, the topic to be discussed will be announced in the preceding lecture, and you should come to class prepared to advance a view on the issue, and a reason for your view.

Course Work

       Your grade in this course will be based upon seven exercises, two essay-writing exercises (each involving two parts), and a final examination.

Instructions Regarding Assignments

         Please note the following very important points:

(1) All assignments are to be downloaded from the Philosophy 1100 Honors website, which is http://spot.Colorado.EDU/~tooley/Philosophy1100Honors.html.

(2) You should download Exercise 1, read through, and bring it to class on Thursday, August 25, so that we can discuss any questions that you have about that first assignment.

(3) All assignments are to be handed in at the class on the due dates listed below.

(4) The policy concerning late assignments is set out below.

(5) Whenever you hand in an assignment, you should bring a downloaded copy of the next assignment to that class, since that is when the assignment will be explained and discussed.


The Web Site for Philosophy 1100 Honors

       My home page is  http://spot.Colorado.EDU/~tooley/.  Course materials can be accessed either from my home page, by clicking on the link “Current Courses”,  or directly, by going to the following, Philosophy 1100 Honors web site: http://spot.Colorado.EDU/~tooley/Philosophy1100Honors.html

        Those course materials include the following:  (1) the exercises, and essay assignments and instructions; (2) a course syllabus; (3) a course overview; (4) lecture material relevant to the exercises; (5) lecture notes on several topics; (6) a final examination handout; and (7) some additional readings for the course.

Contacting Me Concerning Urgent Matters

        People tend to rely rather heavily on e-mail.  This is not a good idea in my case, since I sometimes get absorbed in my research, and then I do not check my email on a regular basis.  In addition, many matters can be dealt with much more quickly and effectively by a conversation.  So please contact me by telephone, rather than by email, especially if it is a matter of some urgency.

        My home phone is (303) 541-0933, and you will almost always be able to reach me between the hours of 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and on weekends as well, and in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.


                                                                Exercises
Exercise 1:  The Infallibility of the Bible.   (5%)
  
Due date:  Thursday, September 6

Exercise 2:  Morality and the Bible.   (5%)

Due date:  Thursday, September 13

Exercise 3:  Jesus and Christianity.   (5%)

Due date:  Thursday, September 20

Exercise 4:  Validity.       (5%)

Due date:  Thursday, September 27

Exercise 5:  Inference-Indicators and the Logical Structure of Arguments.  (5%)

Due date:  Thursday, October 4

Exercise 6:  Analyzing a More Complex Argument.       (5%)

Due date:  Thursday, October 11

Exercise 7:  The Technique of Counterexamples.   (5%)

Due date:  Thursday, October 18


The Essay-Writing Exercises

First Essay:  An essay of four to five pages in length (or about 1000-1250 words), on a topic chosen from a list of topics.  Full instructions, including a list of topics, can be found on our class website at  http://spot.colorado.edu/~tooley/FirstEssayExercise.html  (20%)

Sub-assignments:

(a) Your basic thesis, your central supporting argument, and one important objection that you will address.  (5%)

Due date: Thursday, October 25

(b) The completed essay.  (15%)

Due date: Thursday, November 8

Second Essay:  An essay of four to five pages in length (or about 1000-1250 words), on a topic chosen from a list of topics.  Full instructions, for this second essay, including a list of topics in a variety of areas, can be found at  http://spot.colorado.edu/~tooley/SecondEssayExercise.html  (20%)

Sub-assignments:

(a) Your basic thesis, your central supporting argument, and one important objection that you will address.  (5%)

Due date: Thursday, November 15

(b) The completed essay.  (15%)

Due date: Thursday, December 6

Final Examination

        There will be a two and one-half hour, closed book essay-style examination on Thursday, December 20th, at the (not entirely agreeable!) time of 7:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. in Hellems 196. (25%)

Policy on Late Assignments

(1) If you are not going to be able to hand in an assignment by the due date, you need to contact me about this, either in person or by telephone, or by e-mail (Michael.Tooley@Colorado.edu),  so that I can determine whether there is an adequate reason for late submission. 

(2) This should be done no later than the time at which the assignment is due.

(3) If there is an adequate reason for late submission, supporting documentation – such as a medical note – will generally be needed, and it should be provided as soon as possible.

(4) If there is no adequate reason why you were unable to complete the assignment by class on the due date, the assignment may be handed in later, but it will receive only three-quarters credit.



The University Library’s E-Reserve

       The main readings  for the course are all available on the University Library’s E-Reserve system.   To get electronic copies from E-Reserve, proceed as follows:

(1) Go to http://libraries.colorado.edu/search/p

(2) Enter the name “Tooley”

(3) Select the course PHIL 1100  (The password for the course is “phil”.)

(4) You will see a list of all of the readings that are available.



Topics and Required Readings

        The topics to be covered in this course, if time permits, along with the required readings, are given below. You should attempt to complete a significant part of the readings assigned for a given topic before the first class in which that topic is covered.  (It’s not possible to specify dates in advance in a course like this, so I’ll let you know when we are close to moving on to the next topic.)

I.  Introductory Material:  Critical Thinking, Meta-Ethics, Philosophy, and Religion                               

Tom Regan, section 1 of chapter 1 - "Introduction" - of Matters of Life and Death, pages 1-2.

Tom Regan, "Meta-Ethics" - sections 2 through 6 of chapter 1 of Matters of Life and Death, pages 3-12.

II.  Classical Theories in Normative Ethics       

Tom Regan, "Normative Ethics" - sections 7 through 20 of chapter 1 of Matters of Life and Death, pages 12-29.

John Stuart Mill, Chapters 1 and 2 of Utilitarianism.

John Rawls, Sections 1 to 5 of Chapter 1, “Justice as Fairness”, of A Theory of Justice (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971), pages 3-27.

Aristotle, selections from Books 1 and 2 of his Nicomachean Ethics.

Immanuel Kant, selections from Chapters 1 and 2 of the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals.

Aristotle, selections from Books 1 and 2 of his Nicomachean Ethics.

III.  Sexual Morality                   

Readings from the Bible: Exodus, chapters 20-23; Leviticus, chapters 18-20, Deuteronomy, chapters 21-22; 1 Samuel, chapter 15; Matthew, chapter 5, verses 27-32; chapter 15, verses 19-20; chapter 19, verses 3-12; Mark, chapter 10, verses 2-12; Ephesians, chapter 5, verses 21-33; Romans, chapter 1, verses 18-32.

The Revised Standard Version of the Bible is available at
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/r/rsv/browse.html

The King James Version of the Bible is available at
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/kjv/browse.html

"The Vatican Declaration on Sexual Ethics" (1975)

    The copy on electronic reserve contains section headings that I have added to make it easier to locate quickly passages dealing with specific topics.  A copy without the added headings is available online at
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19751229_persona-humana_en.html


Roger Scruton, "Sexual Morality", a selection from Sexual Desire (1986)

    The second page of this selection contains the table of contents of Scruton’s book, so that you will have an idea of the content of the book as a whole. This is followed by the first two pages from chapter 11 – pages 322 and 323 – which I have included to give you an overview of that chapter as a whole.  I have then omitted pages 324 through 335, and the material that we will be discussing starts with the second paragraph on page 337 (“We must now attempt . . .”).

Alan H. Goldman, "Plain Sex", Philosophy & Public Affairs 6/3 (1977): 267-87


IV.  Homosexuality                   

Michael Levin, "Why Homosexuality is Abnormal", The Monist 67 (1984): 251-283

Timothy F. Murphy, "Homosexuality and Nature: Happiness and the Law at Stake", Journal of Applied Philosophy, 4/2 (1987): 195-204.

“Homosexual behavior in animals”, Wikipedia,

“List of animals displaying homosexual behavior“, Wikipedia,

    Updated versions of the preceding two Wikipedia articles may be available at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexual_behavior_in_animals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_animals_displaying_homosexual_behavior


V.  Pornography                       

Pornography – Introduction and Overview, from Jeffrey Olen and Vincent Barry (eds.), Applying Ethics, 4th ed., (Belmont, California: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1992), pages 119-29.

Walter Berns, "Beyond the (Garbage) Pale, or Democracy, Censorship and the Arts", in Applying Ethics, 4th edition, pages 133-136.

Ann Garry, "Pornography and Respect for Women", in Applying Ethics, 4th edition, pages 137-144.

Judge Jerome Frank, "Dissenting Opinion in United States v. Roth", in Applying Ethics, 4th edition, pages 145-154.

David A. J. Richards, "The Moral Theory of Free Speech and Obscenity Law", in Applying Ethics, 4th edition, pages 155-165.

VI.  Prostitution                   

Lars O. Ericsson, “Charges Against Prostitution: An Attempt at a Philosophical Assessment”, Ethics, 90/3 (1980): 335-366.

Carole Pateman, “Defending Prostitution: Charges Against Ericsson”, Ethics, 93/3 (1983): 561-65.


VII.  Suicide and Euthanasia               

A.  Suicide

Tom Beauchamp, "Suicide" - chapter 3 of Matters of Life and Death, pages 69-120.

David Hume, “Of Suicide.”  (Translated into contemporary English by Jonathan Bennett, Early Modern Texts)
 
Michael Cholbi, “Suicide,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

A revised version may be available at http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/suicide/


B.  Euthanasia                           

Paula Span, “The Right to Choose a Fatal Fast,” New York Times, August 30, 2011, pages 5 and 7.

J. Gay-Williams, "The Wrongfulness of Euthanasia", Intervention and Reflection: Basic Issues in Medical Ethics, 5th ed., Ronald Munson (ed.) (Wadsworth, 1996), pp. 168-171.

Richard Brandt, "A Moral Principle about Killing", in Marvin Kohl (ed.) Beneficent Euthanasia (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1975)

James Rachels, "Active and Passive Euthanasia", The New England Journal of Medicine 292/2 (1975):78-80

James Rachels, "Euthanasia, Killing, and Letting Die", in John Ladd (ed.) Ethical Issues Relating to Life and Death, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 146-163.

Philippa Foot, "Euthanasia", Philosophy & Public Affairs 6/2 (1977): 85-112

James Rachels, "Euthanasia" - chapter 2 of Matters of Life and Death, pages 30-68.

Michael Tooley, "Decisions to Terminate Life and the Concept of a Person", in John Ladd (ed.) Ethical Issues Relating to Life and Death, New York: Oxford University Press, 1979), pp. 62-93.

VIII.  The Moral Status of Animals           

Peter Singer, "All Animals Are Equal", a selection from “Animal Liberation” (New York: New York Review, 1975): 1-23.

Alastair Norcross, “Puppies, Pigs, and People: Eating Meat and Marginal Cases,” Philosophical Perspectives, 18, 2004: 229-44.

A Catholic Dictionary, "Animal Have No Rights", in Tom Regan and Peter Singer (ed.) Animal Rights and Human Obligations, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976): 132-3.

Tom Regan, "The Case for Animal Rights", in Tom Regan and Peter Singer (ed.) Animal Rights and Human Obligations, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976): 105-14

R. G. Frey, "The Case against Animal Rights", in Tom Regan and Peter Singer (ed.) Animal Rights and Human Obligations, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976): 115-18.

Alan White, "Why Animal Cannot Have Rights", in Tom Regan and Peter Singer (ed.) Animal Rights and Human Obligations, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976): 119-21.

James Rachels, "Why Animals Have a right to Liberty", in Tom Regan and Peter Singer (ed.) Animal Rights and Human Obligations, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1976): 122-31.

IX.  Human Cloning                       

Leon R. Kass, "The Wisdom of Repugnance’ “The Wisdom of Repugnance.” New Republic Vol. 216 Issue 22 (June 2, 1997).

Michael Tooley, "The Moral Status of the Cloning of Humans," in Biomedical Ethics Reviews: Human Cloning, edited by James Humber and Robert Almeder, Humana Press, Totowa, New Jersey, 1998, 65-101.

Paul Lauritzen, “Stem Cells, Biotechnology, and Human Rights: Implications for a Posthuman Future”, in The Hastings Center Report, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Mar. - Apr., 2005), pp. 25-33.


X.  Abortion                       

Toby Ord, Toby, “The Scourge: The Moral Implications of Natural Embryo Loss,” The American Journal of Bioethics 8/7, 12-19.

Toby Ord, Toby, “Response to Open Peer Commentaries on ‘The Scourge: Moral Implications of Natural Embryo Loss’”, The American Journal of Bioethics 8/7 W1–W3, 2008.

Don Marquis, “Why Abortion Is Immoral,” The Journal of Philosophy 86/4 (1989): 183-202.

Mary Anne Warren, "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion", The Monist 57 (1973): 43-61.

Judith Jarvis Thomson, "A Defense of Abortion", Philosophy & Public Affairs 1/1 (1971): 47-66.

Michael Tooley, “Abortion: A Liberal View”, from James Sterba (ed.), Abortion: Three Perspectives (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pages 3-64.


Course Concerns and Plagiarism Policy

1.  Concerns Regarding this Course

        If at any point during the semester you have any concerns about the exercises, lectures, discussions, or anything else in this course, please talk to me about those matters.

        If you still have concerns after talking with me, or if you feel that the matter is one that you need to discuss with a third party, you should contact either Professor Wes Morriston, who is the Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Philosophy Department (Wes.Morriston@Colorado.edu, 303-492-8297), Professor Graeme Forbes, who is the Head of the Philosophy Department (Graeme.Forbes@Colorado.edu, 303-492-7120).

2.  Course Plagiarism Policy

        Each student is expected to submit his or her own original work for each exercise, essay, and final exam.

        The use of essays and other material downloaded from the Internet is obviously a serious case of plagiarism.  But, in general, any substantial use of material from any source must be clearly acknowledged, and any ideas should be expressed in one's own words.

        A first violation of this plagiarism policy, or the University Honor Code, or the Honor Code pledge shown below will result in a grade of zero for the relevant piece of work, and, in accordance with University requirements, will have to be reported.  In addition, if that first violation is especially serious – such as the copying of a whole document – the result will be a failing grade for the course as a whole.

        A second violation will result in a failing grade for the course as a whole.

        Honor Code Pledge

“On my honor, as a University of Colorado at Boulder  student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized assistance on this work.”