Philosophy 6100: Seminar in Ethics: Welfare
Readings
August 22: Introduction to the philosophy of welfare
Heathwood, "Welfare," from The Routledge Companion to Ethics (Routledge, 2010).
Sumner, "The Concept of Welfare," from Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Parfit, "What Makes Someone's Life Go Best?" from Reasons and Persons (Oxford University Press, 1984).
August 29: The Subjective/Objective Distinction in Welfare; Objective Theories
Sumner, "Welfare and Subjectivity," from Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Sumner, "Objective Theories," from Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Hooker, "Does Moral Virtue Constitute a Benefit to the Agent?" from R. Crisp (ed.), How Should One Live?: Essays on the Virtues (Oxford University Press, 1998).
September 12: Objective Theories: Perfectionism
Hurka, Perfectionism (Oxford University Press, 1996), chapters 1-4.
Dorsey, "Three Arguments for Perfectionism," Noûs 44 (2010): 59-79.
September 19: Hedonism
Sumner, "Hedonism," from Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Nozick, "The Experience Machine," from Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974).
Feldman, "What We Learn from the Experience Machine," forthcoming in The Cambridge Companion to Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia.
September 26: Hedonism
Feldman, Pleasure and the Good Life (2004), chapters 2-3.
Crisp, "Hedonism Reconsidered," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 73 (2006): 619-645.
October 3: Hedonism
Feldman, Pleasure and the Good Life (2004), chapters 4-5.
October 10: Desire Theory
Sumner, "The Desire Theory," in Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (OUP, 1996), pp. 113-137.
Sidgwick,"Good," ch. IX of Bk. I of The Methods of Ethics (1907), pp. 105-15. Also available here (starts on §1; read through §4). Pay special attention to §3.
October 17: Desire Theory
Adams, "Well-Being and Excellence," in Finite and Infinite Goods (OUP, 1999), pp. 83-101.
Heathwood, "The Problem of Defective Desires," Australasian Journal of Philosophy 83 (2005): 487-504.
October 24: Internalism
Rosati, "Internalism and the Good for a Person," Ethics 106 (1996): 297-326.
Velleman, "Is Morivation Internal to Value?" in C. Fehige and U. Wessels (eds.), Preferences (Walter de Gruyter, 1998).
October 31: The Repugnant Conclusion
Parfit, "Overpopulation and the Quality of Life," in J. Ryberg and T. Tännsjö (eds.), The Repugnant Conclusion (Kluwer, 2004). You can skip §4.
November 7: Happiness
Sumner, "Welfare and Happiness," in Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Feldman, "Whole Life Satisfaction Concepts of Happiness" plus Appendix A, in What Is this Thing Called Happiness? (Oxford University Press, 2010).
November 14: Welfarism
Sumner, "Welfarism," in Welfare, Happiness, and Ethics (Oxford University Press, 1996).
Keller, "Welfarism," Philosophy Compass 4 (2009): 82-95.
November 28: Paper Workshop
Find and read readings relevant to your term paper topic.
One-page paper proposal due today. Bring your proposal to class, and discuss your ideas with some of your classmates. Email them to me in advance, as Microsoft Word attachments. I welcome them anytime during the semester, but the deadline is Sunday, November 27.
December 5: Heathwood's Theory
Heathwood, "Subjective Desire Satisfactionism," unpublished ms.