1
PHL 133, #9535 (On-line) Contemporary Moral Issues
FALL, 2005
via http://pgcconline.blackboard.com
A note on using a syllabus: read it through carefully, and follow it. Not following the
instructions regarding assignments (format, due dates, and the like) invites the suspicion
that you are careless in your work.
Losing your syllabus is not a valid excuse for not having your assignments
done on time or appropriately. Go again to the website and download another copy. You
will find it in the ACourse Information@ area.
==============================================================
=======
AThere is a frozen sea within us. Philosophy is an ax.
AEverything you believe is questionable. How deeply have you questioned it? The
uncritical acceptance of beliefs handed down to you by parents, teachers, politicians and
religious leaders is dangerous. Many of these beliefs are simply false,. Some of them are
lies designed to control you. Even when \what has been handed down is true, it is not
your truth. To merely accept anything without questioning it is to be somebody else=s
puppet, a second hand person@
Daniel Kolak and Raymond Martin, The Experience of Philosophy, fifth edition,
Wadsworth, 2002, p.1.
The reason you are taking this course is to ultimately hone your mastery of the greatest
tool that humans have: your mind.
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 1
7/16/2016
2
ATo the degree that he masters his tools, he can invest the world with his meaning; to the
extent that he has been mastered by his tools, the shape of the tool determines his own
self-image.@ Ivan Illich, Tools for Conviviality, Marion Boyars, London, 1990: pg. 21.
Thus, if you let your Acommon sense@ or your beliefs or the computer or the television set
or the books master you, then you have become a slave of the tool rather than making
those tools serve you.
==============================================================
======
FOUR ADVISORIES:
1) This is a completely on-line course.
To succeed in it you will need at least average college reading, comprehension, writing and
file management skills. If you are taking developmental writing or reading, this course will
prove to be a major headache for you. If you are taking an introductory course in computer
literacy, or just starting to get familiar with your computer and software, you may find it
easier to wait until your feel comfortable using a computer and the internet before trying this
class.
You will need access to a computer, full scale word-processing software (WordPerfect or
Microsoft Word: any version). [Microsoft Works is not acceptable.] and an ISP (internet
service provider).
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 2
7/16/2016
3
All of the lessons will be posted at http://pgcconline.blackboard.com
Note: there is no
Awww@ in the URL, and trying to get to the course from Ablackboard.com@ by itself will
give you a course taught by me some years ago, but it is not the one that we are using
now. You will be given access to the site on or about August 26th, I strongly
recommended that you take some time exploring the site. For instructions on how to
access the site, follow the directions there, or the directions from my web page: AGetting
in@
2) This is a course which requires you to manage your time well. You need to schedule
doing the lessons and replying to the weekly questions with the same or greater rigor as
you would for an on-campus course. Usually students find the distance learning courses to
be more time consuming (even allowing for the time saved in not commuting to campus)
than an on-campus course.
3) The college must report those who are not Ain class@ to state and federal funding
agencies. In this course, not being Ain class@ means that you have not turned in the work
that had been due by the reporting date (usually four to five weeks into the semester), so
do not procrastinate on those first lessons. If you have not done the work required in those
early weeks, you will be dropped from the class and assigned a AQ@ grade. The AQ@
does not impact on your grade point average, but it does remove you from the class and
may then impact on your enrollment status.
4) As an electronically delivered course, there is always a danger that a computer virus
could infect your machine. Be sure that your virus protection is up to date (I know that
both McAfee and Norton update their virus protection files every week) and turned on. It
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 3
7/16/2016
4
also helps to be sure that Word=s AMacro Virus Protection@ is turned on (checked) - go to
ATools, 0ptions, General@
You will not need to have your own computer to do this course - you can use any
computer with web access, including the college's computers in the Bladen computer lab, to
access the Blackboard site, just remember to bring your own disks to download the lessons
and to upload your responses. Access to these labs may not be available at all times
(especially when the College is closed for a holiday), thus it is a lot more convenient if you
have regular access to a computer and the WEB at home or work. If you are using
multiple computers (home, work, school, friends=) one of the easiest ways to keep your
work with you is to store it on the Blackboard web site in your ADigital Drop Box@
Only
you have access to that location, and you can put the files you are working on there,
download them to the computer you happen to be using to continue the work, and upload
them back to the drop box. The files do not move out of your control until you send the
file to your instructor.
==============================================================
======
INSTRUCTOR
Clyde Ebenreck
Philosophy Department
Prince George's Community College
301 Largo Road
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 4
7/16/2016
5
Largo, MD 20774
Office: Marlboro 3023
(Campus Mail Box: Marlboro 3072)
Distance learning office hours will be posted on-line under the ACourse
Information@ area. I am teaching courses on campus as well as on-line this
semester and so will also be available in my office at times other than those posted.
Phone: 301-322-0947 (office hours are announced on the phone. I am often on
campus at other than announced times, but try my home number also)
301-855-1064 (home, no calls before 8 am or after 8 pm, has answering machine)
e-mail is the best way to get in contact with me: cebenreck@pgcc.edu
(This is also the address to and from which any e-mail communications from within
the
Blackboard site are sent)
On an e-mail message (even from within Blackboard) clearly indicate PHL
133 in the "subject" or "topic" area, otherwise I may not recognize your
name and delete the message unread and unanswered. I usually check daily
on weekdays, at least once on weekends, so you can expect a reply within
24 - 36 hours.
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 5
7/16/2016
6
TOOLS FOR THE SEMESTER
During this semester there will be a variety of resources at your disposal:
FIRST: your own curiosity and interest which brought you to this course in the first place.
No book, teacher or web site can substitute for your own desire to know.
SECOND: The textbook: particularly useful in understanding the background of both the
ethical theories and the ethical problems presented during the semester:
Jeffrey Olen and Vincent Barry, Applying Ethics: a Text with Readings, seventh
edition, Wadsworth, 2002.
There are twelve chapters in the book (to give you a sense of what the
course will be touching on):
1: Moral Reasoning (chapters 1 and 2)
2: Sexual Morality and Pornography (chapters 3 and 4)
3: Abortion, Euthanasia, Human Cloning, Capital Punishment (chapters 5, 6,
7, 8)
4: Welfare, Social Justice and Job Discrimination (chapters 9 and 10)
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 6
7/16/2016
7
5: Animal Rights and Environmental Ethics (chapters 11 and 12)
THIRD: an additional required book:
Anthony Weston, A Rulebook for Arguments (third edition), Hackett, 2000, 087220-552-5
This is a brief introduction to rational arguments and how to build them, it is
a crutch to use if you have never had a logic course (and even if you have
had logic, it reviews that material briefly and clearly).
FOURTH: The web site (note that each week there is some kind of required written
response):
Here is where the course happens (it is a combination classroom, library and lounge)
1) It includes an e-mail function in which you can privately communicate with anyone
else in the class including the instructor.
2) a file transmission location (ADigital Drop Box@) where you will post your
responses to the instructor, send him rough drafts, and receive files in return.
Use Word file formats A.doc@ (Works formats seem to create problems on
the site. If you have Works, but you MUST use the Asave as@ command and save
the file as a A.doc@ file and not a A.WPS@ [Works]: the site almost always botches
up the WORKS files) As a college student you may well want to invest in the full
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 7
7/16/2016
8
scale and more usable WORD or WORDPERFECT processing tools.
When submitting a file, please first store your file using the following FILE
NAMING convention:
R for Aresponse@
XXXXXX B your user ID on Blackboard.
Followed by a hyphen
133 for the course (I am teaching two other online philosophy courses, so you need
to tell me which course you are in)
lesson number: 01, 02, etc
[If, for some reason, you hand deliver a hard copy of the answers to my
office, they need to be in by noon on the due date. (If you deliver your responses to
my office and the door is locked, just slide the answers under the door with my
name on your paper.) If you entrust them to the post office, they must be
postmarked two days earlier than the due date.]
There is a strong temptation to use words already available on the web. A
cut and paste process is not plagiarism, IF you give an accurate citation for each
pasted element. But such a cut and paste process does not yet count as a
philosophy paper: it would present various alternate views which would then need to
be evaluated and analyzed in your own words with your own thinking.
Philosophy is thinking, it is not copying.
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 8
7/16/2016
9
If I find that you have plagiarized the content of your work (claiming that the
work of another was your own work), that particular assignment receives no grade
(zero points) and your semester total is reduced by ten percent for each time that
such dishonesty occurs. (And a note: I have easy access to a site which checks
papers for their originality: that is, it compares your paper to its very extensive data
base which covers almost all web sites and other electronic text locations. I do not
always submit your papers to this site but I will if I find your wording suspicious.)
You may certainly work with and consult your friends/classmates on an
assignment, but be very sure that you use your own words in what you turn in. If I
find assignments which are essentially verbally identical, each one who turns in such
an assignment receives the penalty: it does not make any difference which of you
actually wrote it - permitting another to use your words is also dishonest.
KEEP A COPY of each of your responses, sometimes those responses have
gotten lost on their way to me. And KEEP ALL GRADED MATERIAL UNTIL THE
END OF THE SEMESTER IN CASE I FORGET TO RECORD YOUR SCORE OR
IN CASE THE WEB SITE CRASHES.
3} There is a live conferencing function (chat room/office hour) which allows you to
have real time interactions with whomever else is on line at that time.
In the past,
students have consulted with each other here as well as through e-mail and the
forum.
I will periodically hold optional on-line sessions in the chat room: check the
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 9
7/16/2016
10
announcements page of the web site for times.
4) There is a public forum (discussion board) where you can raise questions, post
comments, send wisecracks to everyone on the list. This is where you would raise
any questions about the course syllabus, work or assignments . . . including
questions about what a particular reading means. Asking me in private e-mail will
simply get the response APost your question on the discussion board@. . . private email are for private concerns, questions about the class are public and should be
posted publicly.
This is also the place where I will post regular problems for discussion. These
problems will be from current news sources but related to the content of the course.
My expectation is that you will check into the forum, read the problem and offer
your thoughts on the issue, then return to continue the discussion with those who
have responded to you..
5) your collaborative work may be facilitated by the AGroups@ area of the site:
under this area you will find a group specific discussion board, digital drop box, email and chat room. Only your group has access to these areas and it is where
your group would meet to fulfill your group tasks. Generally speaking, I limit the
groups to four people for the ease of coordinating your efforts with each other.
Whether or not there will be such groups will depend upon the size of the class.
Both individual and group assignments will be due in my drop box by noon of the due date.
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 10
7/16/2016
11
For each week there is a written assignment that is to be posted to me by way of the
Digital Drop Box, that assignment may be an essay, a group project, a discussion question
or a test.
There will be two quizzes/tests during the semester: the first will cover chapters 1 and 2,
the second will be at midterm and will be testing your ability to apply chapters 1 and 2 to
an issue. Each of those quizzes/tests will be worth fifteen points.
Beyond these periodic written assignments and tests, you are expected to do a final fifty
point paper
(this is an individual paper and you are strongly advised to select a topic
early in the semester that you want to work on, but you certainly would be wise to consult
with your group and/or the class as a whole) which takes on an ethical issue of some sort,
clearly shows why it is an ethical concern (what makes it ethical rather than - for example
- economic or psychological), why it is an issue (what are the conflicts involved), and how
you think it should be resolved (including the ethical principles needed for that resolution
and how your position is rationally better than those who would want to resolve it in a
different way). This final paper (double space, twelve to fifteen pages) is due at noon via e-mail or the digital drop box.
==============================================================
======
Grades for the semester will be determined by adding together all of your scores.
The total number of points that will be possible during the semester is 200, and thus an A
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 11
7/16/2016
12
= 180-200,
B = 160-179, C = 140-159, D = 120 B 139. Note that a fourth of the
grade depends upon your final paper and so it should receive an appropriate amount of
attention.
Calendar of due dates (which you can use to keep track of your scores) (Noon of the
day listed is the deadline): Details on the assignments will be on the Blackboard site
Lesson
Due Date
Score
On-campus orientation sessions, time and place: see the college=s course schedule,
August 25
Start of the semester, get familiar with the on-line system, meet your classmates and
teacher
1) On line exercises
09/01
________ (5) (the numbers
in parentheses are the possible scores you can get for each assignment/task)
2) First instructor posted topic for discussion:
3) Chapter 1,
09/08
___ (5) ___ (5)
Moral Reasoning
09/15
________
(10)
4) Chapter 2,
Good Reasoning
09/22
________ (15)
(collaborative assignment)
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 12
7/16/2016
13
5) First Quiz
09/29
_________(15)
6) Chapter 3,
Sexual Morality
10/06
7) Second instructor posted discussion topic on
________ (10)
10/13
___ (5) ___ (5)
Chapter 4 Pornography
8) Chapter 5, 6
9) Chapter 7,
Abortion, Euthanasia
Human Cloning
10/20
________ (10)
10/27
________ (10)
10) Second quiz (mid term)
11/03
________ (15)
11) Chapter 8, Capital Punishment
11/10
________ (20)
(collaborative)
12) Chapter 9, Welfare and Social Justice
11/17
________ (10)
[Nov. 22: last day to withdraw from the class to get a "W" - after this
date I will need to assign you the grade you have earned in the semester. The "W" does
not count against your grade point average, although if you accumulate enough "w's" it can
injure your academic standing: check with your counselor if you think you might be subject
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 13
7/16/2016
14
to this regulation.
You do not need my signature (although I would appreciate knowing the
reasons for your decision), but you do need to fill out an official form at the registrar=s
desk.
This is also the deadline for any catch up work (lessons missed during the semester).]
13) Chapter 10,
Job Discrimination
12/01
14) Third Instructor posted discussion on Chapter 11,
and Chapter 12 Environmental Ethics
________ (10)
Animal Rights
12/08
___ (5)
15) Major Paper - 05/11, noon, THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE DEADLINE,
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 14
___(5)
_________(50)
7/16/2016
15
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 15
7/16/2016
16
Avoiding Plagiarism
Brought to you by the Purdue University Online Writing Lab at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Academic writing in American institutions is filled with rules that
writers often don=t know how to follow. A working knowledge of these
rules, however, is critically important; inadvertent mistakes can lead
to charges of plagiarism or the unacknowledged use of somebody else=s
words or ideas. While other cultures may not insist so heavily on
documenting sources, American institutions do. A charge of plagiarism
can have severe consequences . . . .
Choosing When to Give Credit
Need to Document
*
When you are using or referring to somebody else?s words or ideas
from a magazine, book, newspaper, song, TV program, movie, Web
page, computer program, letter, advertisement, or any other medium
*
When you use information gained through interviewing another person
*
When you copy the exact words or a "unique phrase" from somewhere
*
When you reprint any diagrams, illustrations, charts, and pictures
*
When you use ideas that others have given you in conversations or
over email
No Need to Document
*
When you are writing your own experiences, your own observations,
your own insights, your own thoughts, your own conclusions about a
subject
*
When you are using "common knowledge@, folklore, common
sense observations, shared information within your field of study
or cultural group
*
When you are compiling generally accepted facts
*
When you are writing up your own experimental results
=============================================================================
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 16
7/16/2016
17
Making Sure You Are Safe
Action during the writing process
Appearance on the finished product
When researching, note-taking, and interviewing
* Mark everything that is someone else=s words with a big Q (for
quote) or with big quotation marks
* Indicate in your notes which ideas are taken from sources (S) and
which are your own insights (ME)
* Record all of the relevant documentation information in your notes
Proofread and check with your notes (or photocopies of sources) to
make sure that anything taken from your notes is acknowledged in
some combination of the ways listed below:
*
*
*
*
In-text citation
Footnotes
Bibliography
Quotation marks
* Indirect quotations
When paraphrasing and summarizing
* First, write your paraphrase and summary without looking at the
original text, so you rely only on your memory.
* Next, check your version with the original for content, accuracy,
and mistakenly borrowed phrases
*
Begin your summary with a statement giving credit to the source:
According to Jonathan Kozol, ...
*
Put any unique words or phrases that you cannot change, or do not
want to change, in quotation marks: ... "savage inequalities"
exist throughout our educational system (Kozol).
When quoting directly
* Keep the person=s name near the quote in your notes, and in your paper
* Select those direct quotes that make the most impact in your paper
-- too many direct quotes may lessen your credibility and
interfere with your style
*
Mention the person=s name either at the beginning of the quote, in
the middle, or at the end
*
Put quotation marks around the text that you are quoting
*
Indicate added phrases in brackets ([ ]) and omitted text with
ellipses (. . .)
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 17
7/16/2016
18
When quoting indirectly
* Keep the person=s name near the text in your notes, and in your paper
* Rewrite the key ideas using different words and sentence
structures than the original text
*
Mention the person=s name either at the beginning of the
information, or in the middle, or at that end
*
Double check to make sure that your words and sentence structures
are different than the original text
=========================================================================
Deciding if something is "Common Knowledge"
Material is probably common knowledge if . . .
*
You find the same information undocumented in at least five other
sources
*
*
You think it is information that your readers will already know
You think a person could easily find the information with general
reference sources
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following information must remain intact on every handout printed
for distribution.
This page is located at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_plagiar.html
Copyright 81995-2004 by OWL at Purdue University and Purdue University.
All rights reserved.
Use of this site, including printing and distributing our handouts,
constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use, available at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/fairuse.html.
To contact OWL, please visit our contact information page at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/lab/contact.html to find the right person
to call or email.
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 18
7/16/2016
19
Clyde Ebenreck
Page 19
7/16/2016