Chabot College
November 1993
Course Outline for Philosophy 2
INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY: ETHICS
Catalog Description:
2 - Introduction to Philosophy: Ethics
3 units
Problems of good and evil, right and wrong, individual and/or social action; principles, criteria or
starting points for these issues and decisions as discussed and developed in great writings of the
philosophical-literary tradition. 3 hours
Expected Outcomes for Students:
Upon completion of the course, the student should:
1. have read original writings concerned primarily with ethical action, its dilemmas, origins, and the
solutions suggested by great minds for these perennial puzzles of man;
2. have been acquainted with a broad spectrum of thinking on the critical issue of "starting points" for
individual action (own, others');
3. have been afforded the opportunity to study balanced, experienced views of those men who have
come to grips with the same need for critical judgment.
Course Content:
Works and authors to be studied will be drawn from the following list: Old Testament (books of Job,
Ruth, Exodus; Macchiavelli, The Prince; Nietzche, Beyond Good and Evil; Suetonius, The Twelve
Caesars; Voltaire, Candide; Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment; Melville, Billy Budd; Brecht, Galileo;
Dante, Divine Comedy; Sophocles, Antigone; E. Fromm, The Heart of Man, and any other pertinent
statements of ethical content.
Methods of Presentation:
1. As far as possible entire works will be read and analyzed.
2. The methods of presenting vexing ethical problems will be examined as well as the issues
themselves.
3. Class lecture-discussion will guide the student toward a recognition of the scope, originality, and
durability of the various "solutions" to ethical dilemmas by having him make judicious comparisons
between works and authors of different historical times and cultures.
Methods of Evaluating Student Progress:
1. The student will be graded according to their participation in the on-going class inquiry.
2. Occasional brief reading quizzes will assure the student that he is keeping up on the intensive
reading required.
3. A short essay will be assigned for each of three of the major ethical problems: "good and evil,
right and wrong, individual action."
4. A final examination-essay will allow the student a chance to demonstrate at greater length his
accumulated awareness of ethical action and its attendant problems.
Textbook(s) Typical:
Applying Moral Theories, C. E. Harris, Jr., Wadsworth
Special Student Materials:
None
AR:kh Phil2
Revised: 11/5/93