PHIL 3100 -- Ethical Theory
Fall 2015
MWF 1:00-1:50
Hellems 229

Professor
Chris Heathwood
heathwood@colorado.edu
Office: Hellems 192
Hours: Wednesdays 2:30-4:30, and by appointment

Course Description
We make moral and evaluative judgments – e.g., "You shouldn't litter," "It's unfair that some children have no health care," "Friendship helps make life worth living," "Abortion is wrong," "Martin Luther King was a great man" – all the time.  But what are we doing when we do this?  Are we describing an objective moral reality, or ultimately just expressing our feelings?  Are such statements ever true?  Can we ever know one to be true?  If there are moral facts, are they just a subclass of the natural facts about the world?  Assuming that we do have moral obligations, why should we care about them?  These are some questions in metaethics, to which the first part of this course will provide an introduction.

Then we will turn to normative ethics, where we attempt to figure out which moral claims – and, in particular, which fundamental moral principles – are actually true.  Our main questions will be, What makes an act right or wrong?, and, What makes a state of affairs good or bad?  Consequentialists believe that an act's rightness or wrongness is to be explained solely in terms of how good or bad its outcome would be.  We will explore this theory, as well as theories about what makes an outcome good or bad (and especially about what makes an outcome good or bad for someone).  Deontologists reject the view that consequences are all that matter.  They typically believe that we have special obligations (e.g., to our children, to people with whom we have made agreements) that are not explained by the value of outcomes, and that there are constraints against certain kinds of behavior (e.g., lying, harming the innocent) even when doing so would lead to the best outcome.  We will explore deontology as well.

This is a difficult class, especially for those not majoring in philosophy (but even for those who are).  You must have taken at least two courses in philosophy at the university level to be eligible to take this course.  But more experience than that is recommended.  Talk to me about it if you are unsure.

Course Website
The course website, which you should check regularly, can be found here:

     http://spot.colorado.edu/~heathwoo/phil3100/.

Here you will find:

• this syllabus
• course readings
• reading questions
• what we did each day (check this first if you miss a class)
• lecture slides and handouts
• study guides for exams
• guidance on papers
• paper guidelines and topics
• and more.

Readings
One book is required:

Michael Huemer, Ethical Intuitionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005). ISBN: 0230573746.

I ordered it at the CU Bookstore.  There will be many additional required readings, which are or will be linked to below on the course schedule.  Some of these require a password, which I will give you in class.

Class Mates
So that you will have someone from whom to get the notes and any other pertinent information should you miss class, introduce yourself to two classmates and get their email addresses and phone numbers.

Course Requirements
1. Technology.  You must have an email account and regular access to the internet, and you must check your colorado.edu email address and the course website frequently.

Text messaging during class is strictly prohibited.  First-time offenders will be asked to stop; repeat offenders will lose points.  When you get to class, please turn your cell phone OFF and put it away.

The use of laptops is also prohibited.  This is because students who use laptops in class do less well in college, as do those who sit near them.  (See also: "Why students using laptops learn less in class even when they really are taking notes" and "Attention, Students: Put Your Laptops Away.")

If you simply must communicate with someone from the outside world during class, that's fine; please just leave the room to do so.

2. Reading Quizzes (20%).  There will be quite a few "pop" quizzes throughout the semester.  These quizzes are designed to test that you are doing and understanding the readings, and to give you an incentive never to miss class (the quizzes are unannounced).  For each reading, there will be a set of Reading Questions posted on the website.  All of the questions on the pop quizzes will be taken directly from these reading questions.  Furthermore, these quizzes are open-note.  Thus, as you are doing each reading and taking notes on it, you should copy down each question in your notes and then write your answer to it, which you can find by studying the reading.  Then bring these notes with you to class.  All of the answers to the pop-quiz questions should then be right in your notes!  So, yes, there is no reason that you all shouldn't ace all of the reading quizzes.

You are permitted to use notes only that you yourself created from doing the reading; you cannot use or copy a classmate's notes.  Though the pop quizzes are open-note, they are not open-book or "open-reading."

Quizzes are not restricted to readings that were due on the day of the quiz.  They might cover readings that were due on earlier days.

There might be a couple of short homework assignments.  If there are, they will be lumped in with your quiz grades.

3. Two Papers (40%).  Two papers are required.  One will be due a third to a halfway through the term, the other close to the end of the term.  Exact due dates will be posted on the course schedule below.  For each paper, you will be given a set of paper topics.  You can choose one of those, or you can come up with your own topic.  Late papers will be penalized 1/3 of a letter grade per day late unless you have a legitimate, documented excuse.  I'll say more about the papers later on; in the meantime, you can look at my Philosophy Paper FAQ.

4. Two Exams (40%).  There will be two exams: a midterm exam and a non-cumulative final exam.  Each exam has two parts, and will take place over two class periods.  The first part of each exam will consist of very-short-answer questions (e.g., multiple choice or true/false questions); the second part will consist of short-answer questions (questions that can usually be answered in a sentence to a paragraph).  For the second part of each exam you'll need to bring a bluebook.  Both parts of both exams will take place in class, and will be closed-note and closed-reading.

To help you prepare, a study guide will be made available before each exam.  We will also have a review session (during class) before each part of each exam.  During these, I take your questions about the study guide or anything else related to exam preparation.  You must come prepared for these review sessions by having already written out your own answers to the questions on the study guide.

If you miss any part of any exam during the semester, you will be permitted to take a makeup exam only if you have a legitimate, documented excuse (e.g., non-trivial illness, death in the family, religious obligation).  If you need to miss an exam, you need to let me know in advance, by email.

Grading
Your final grade for the course is determined according to the following scheme: