Philosophy 234

Ethics
Spring 2002
Rockefeller Hall, Room 304
TR 10:30-11:45 AM

Mr. Van Norden

Office: Rockefeller Hall 401A
Office Hours: Thursday 3-4 and by appointment
Office Phone (and voice mail): 437-5538
Email: My username is "brvannorden" at host
WWW: http://faculty.vassar.edu/~brvannor
"vassar.edu".

Course Description:
Ethics is divided into three branches: meta-ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Normative ethics is concerned with how we determine what is the right action to perform, and what is good, generally speaking.
The three major normative ethical views are rule-deontology, according to which right action is determined by adherence to moral rules of some kind, consequentialism, according to which right action is determined by
the consequences of the action, and virtue ethics, which gives conceptual priority to living well. Applied ethics, as the name suggests, discusses what we should do, and what has value, regarding particular issues (e.g.,
drug-testing of employees) or areas of concern (e.g., medical ethics). Meta-ethics is concerned with foundational issues, such as whether ethics is objective of subjective. This course will focus on meta-ethics, but with
extensive discussion of normative ethics, and only minor attention given to applied ethics. Our readings are almost all classic texts of philosophy. These are works that well-read people should be familiar with, and works
that philosophy majors especially should know. One disadvantage of my choice of readings, though, is that we will give very little attention to twentieth-century ethics. There will be a brief discussion of comparative
ethics at the end of this course.

Required Texts:
Iris Murdoch, The Sovereignty of Good and Other Essays.
Immanuel Kant, Ethical Philosophy, 2nd ed. (Hackett Publishing).
David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (Viking).
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism (Hackett Publishing).
Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on Happiness (University of Notre Dame Press).
Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on the Virtues (University of Notre Dame Press).
Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue, 2nd ed. (University of Notre Dame Press).
Philip J. Ivanhoe, Confucian Moral Self Cultivation, 2nd ed. (Hackett Publishing).
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty (Hackett Publishing).
Henry Hardy, ed., The Proper Study of Mankind (Farrar Straus & Giroux).
B.W. Van Norden, ed., Course Packet for Philosophy 234.

Written Assignments and Grades

This class is "writing intensive." This means that we will devote special effort to teaching you the mechanics and craft of good writing. You will write six brief written assignments (each worth 15% of your grade) for this
class. On the Thursday meeting before an assignment is due, I will post on this syllabus a question, on which you will write 200 to 400 words (about one page, double-spaced), which you will hand in the following
Tuesday. A substantial portion of your grade for these papers will depend on the quality of your writing and manuscript preparation. I will frequently refer to the "Rules of Usage" (in the Course Packet). Papers
may not be hand-written, and must be double-spaced. And, whatever else you do, proofread your papers before handing them in! (Remember: a spell-check program is no substitute for proofreading!)

Unexcused late papers will drop 1 letter grade per class meeting after the due date. (That is, an A paper that should have been handed in on a Tuesday will receive an B if it is handed in before the following Thursday, and
a C if it is handed in before the following Tuesday.)

Because there are so many papers in this class, I cannot accept rewrites.

The remaining 10% of your grade will be based on attendance and class participation, so make sure to sign the attendance sheet every class. There are no midterms or finals in this course.

Reading Assignments and Class Topics:

Bring with you to class whatever text(s) we are discussing that day. The readings should be completed before the class meeting under which they are listed, and then re-read after the class in which they are discussed.

Links to texts below will give you discussion questions for that text or, occasionally, the text itself.

Lect.
Topics: Course introduction, overview, and mechanics.
1
The Basics
Topic: Relativism. Read Mary Midgley, "Trying Out One's New
Lect.
Sword," in Course Packet, and B.W. Van Norden, " Good and Bad
2
Reasons to Be an Ethical Relativist."
Lect. Topic: Relativism. Continue discussing Midgley, "Trying Out," and
3 Van Norden, "Good and Bad Reasons."
Lect. Topic: Ethical and Psychologial Egoism. Read James Rachels,
4 "Egoism and Ethical Skepticism," in Course Packet.
Topic: Contemporary Kantianism and Utilitarianism. Read Thomas
Lect. Nagel, "War and Massacre," and Peter Singer, "Famine, Affluence,
5 and Morality," both in Course Packet. (Paper topic 1 is due next
class.)
Topic: Contemporary Virtue Ethics. Read Iris Murdoch, "The Idea of
Perfection," in The Sovereignty of Good, pp. 1-45. Optional
Lect.
additional reading: "The Sovereignty of Good over Other Concepts"
6
in The Sovereignty of Good, pp. 77-104. (The paper on topic 1 is due
this class.)
Lect.
Topic: Contemporary Virtue Ethics. Continue to discuss Murdoch.
7
What's Past is Prologue: Our Enlightenment Background
Lect.
In 2002, this class was cancelled due to professor's illness.
8
Topic: Ethical anti-rationalism. Read David Hume, sections 1.1.1-4
Lect. (that's Book 1, Part I, Sections 1-4); 1.1.7; 2.3.3; 3.1.1; and 3.1.2 all
9 in A Treatise of Human Nature, and "A Dialogue," in Course Packet.
(The paper on topic 2 is due this class.)
Lect.
Topic: Ethical anti-rationalism. Continue discussing Hume readings.
10
Topic: Objectivist Rule-Deontology. Read Immanuel Kant, "What Is
Lect. Enlightenment?" in Course Packet, and Grounding for the
11 Metaphysics of Morals, Preface, Part 1, and Part 2 (in Kant, Ethical
Philosophy), and "On a Supposed Right to Lie," in Course Packet.
Topic: Objectivist Rule-Deontology. Read Kant, Grounding, Part 3,
Lect.
and Metaphysical Principles of Virtue (both in Kant, Ethical
12
Philosophy).
Lect. Topic: Consequentialism. Read John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism.
13 (The paper on topic 3 is due this class.)
Lect.
Topic: Consequentialism. Read Mill, Utilitarianism.
14
Lect.
Topic: Applied Consequentialism. Read John Stuart Mill, On Liberty.
15
Lect. Topic: Overview of Twentieth-Century Ethics. Read to be announced.
16 (Paper topic 4 handed out, due next class.)
"Back to the Future": Virtue Ethics
Topic: The Virtue Ethics Revival. Read Elizabeth Anscombe,
Lect. "Modern Moral Philosophy," and Martha Nussbaum, "Moral
17 Particularism," both in Course Packet. (The paper on topic 4 is due
this class.)
Lect. Topic: The Virtue Ethics Revival. Read MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp.
18 to be announced. (Paper topic 5 handed out, due next class.)
Lect. Topic: The Virtue Ethics Revival. Read MacIntyre, After Virtue, pp.
19 to be announced.
Topic: Thomism on "Why Be Ethical?" Read Bryan W. Van Norden,
Lect.
"How to Read the Summa," in Course Packet, and Thomas Aquinas,
20
Treatise on Happiness (from Summa Theologiae I-II), QQ. 1-5.
Lect. Topic: Thomism on "Why Be Ethical?" Continue discussing Aquinas,
21 Treatise on Happiness, QQ. 1-5
Lect. Topic: Thomism on the Virtues. Read Thomas Aquinas, Treatise on
22 the Virtues.
Lect. Topic: Thomism on the Virtues. Read Aquinas, Treatise on the
23 Virtues. (Paper topic 6 handed out, due next class.)
What's Missing?
Lect. Topic: Confucian Approaches. Read Philip J. Ivanhoe, Confucian
24 Moral Self Cultivation, pp. ix-42 (Introduction through Xunzi).
Lect. Topic: Confucian Approaches. Read Ivanhoe, Confucian, pp. 43-104
25 (Zhu Xi through Conclusion).
Lect. Topic: Pluralism. Read Isaiah Berlin, "to be announced," in The
26 Proper Study of Mankind, pp. ?-?.
Topic: Last class meeting.

Topic: Pluralism. Read Isaiah Berlin, "to be announced," in The

Lect.
Proper Study of Mankind, pp. ?-?.
27
Course evaluations will be handed out today, so do not miss this
class!

Advice
It is impossible to understand philosophy (Eastern or Western) after one reading. Even professional philosophers must read a philosophical text at least twice in order to understand it. So make sure to read every
assignment in this course at least twice!

I do not recommend reading additional outside sources on the topics covered in this course. (Many secondary books and translations are very unreliable.) Just read, re-read, and re-re-read the assignments. You are
encouraged to discuss the readings, lectures and paper topics with other students and with the instructor. However, you must write up your papers by yourself. In addition, if you use any quotations, phrases or even ideas
in your papers that you did not come up with on your own, you must acknowledge this fact in a citation. Failure to do so is plagiarism (a serious offense). It does not make any difference whether the source is a book,
encyclopedia article, oral conversation, web site or anything else. Cite it!

My office hours are your time! Make use of them! In lecture, you are one of several dozen students. In my office hours, you usually get one on one attention. Take advantage of this opportunity!

Academic accommodations are available for students with documented disabilities. Please schedule an appointment with the instructor early in the semester to discuss any accommodation that may be needed for the
course. All accommodations must be approved through the Office of Disability and Support Services (437-7584) as indicated in their accommodation letter.

Last updated January 20, 2002.