Course Syllabus
Philosophy 102 - Contemporary Moral Problems
Fall 2014
Instructor:
Tim Linnemann
timlinnemann@gmail.com
206-919-6934
Office Hours: B100A Monday 12:30-1:30 PM
Text:
All readings will be available electronically. I will be emailing
attachments with the reading selections which you can then print at
your discretion.
Ethics, along with Aesthetics, comprises Value
Theory – one of the three major areas of study in modern analytic philosophy
(the others being Epistemology and Metaphysics). Ethics divides further into
three branches: Meta-Ethics, Normative Ethics, and Applied Ethics. While all
areas of ethics are generally concerned with the normative questions of how to
act and what is good, the three branches explore separate levels to those
queries. At the bottom (and least abstract) is Applied Ethics which focuses on the
acts themselves – evaluating what is appropriate and not appropriate to do,
either as an individual (whether it is moral for a mother to get an abortion for
example) or as a society (should we make it legal for people to be able to get
abortions). Normative Ethics deals with the justifying principles behind our ethical
judgments – the different answers we give to the question: what is ethically
significant? To continue our example, Normative Ethics would ask if getting an
abortion is wrong, what is it that makes it wrong? Furthest up the ladder is MetaEthics which seeks to understand what we mean when we make ethical
judgments (semantics) and what the relationship is between ethics and the world
(metaphysics). Meta-Ethics would ask the question, what is happening when
someone judges that getting an abortion is wrong? This course will make its way
through all three areas, addressing some of the most significant contributions to
each. Taken together, Ethics studies one of the more peculiar aspects that arises
in our experience of the world: that things can have meaning and value and also
that we are the kinds of beings who are explicitly sensitive to such dimensions.
Course Description:
Objectives & Outcomes: This class aims to accomplish two things. First, to
familiarize you with some of the most prominent ethical thinkers (those
contemporary and the classical moral philosophers they build upon), their ideas,
and the tensions those ideas exert on each other. Second, this class attempts to
develop your ability to navigate and discuss ethical questions, quagmires, and
conflicts. Thus, class time will be split between discussion and lecture, with most
days involving both. Attendance and participation in discussion are important
aspects to this class and will be incorporated into your final grade. A short journal
entry on the material also will be expected on Mondays at the start of class. In
addition, there will be three short essay take-home tests to conclude each of the
three sections of the course material.
Grading:
Attendance/Participation
Reading Comments
Journal Response
Short Essay Prompts (3)
20%
15%
15%
50% (divided proportionately)
Reading Comments: These assignments will be composed of at least 3 questions or
comments you have prepared for class discussion. There will be one reading comment
assignment linked to every individual reading we’ll cover (with the occasional extra
assignment for our very long readings that cover more days). Consider them as possible
contributions you’d make in class – so about as much as you’d say if you raised your hand
in class to ask a question or respond to an idea being presented. Another analogy to help
you think about what I’m looking for here would be to just transcribe the kinds of things
you might write in the margins as notes to yourself as you’re working through the reading.
Comments on a reading will be due on the day we are planning to begin covering that
reading. I want these in hardcopy (typed or handwritten), turned in at the beginning of the
class. These do not need to be extensively explained, but they should be pursued
thoughtfully. Nor is it required that you actually share these contributions in class
discussion, but the hope is that in doing these short assignments as you work through the
reading, you may find it easier to make contributions in our class discussions since you
already know what you’d want to say.
Journal Entries:
Once a week you will be asked to write a short 1-2 page response
on the material for the week. The journals are intended to be a forum for you to explore
your ideas regarding the issues under consideration and have some practice in articulating
them in an argumentative style. These are informal and will be graded only on a simple
plus/check/minus system. The journals and class discussion go hand-in-hand and I will be
trying to cater discussions to the interests I see students expressing. I am willing to
comment on journal entries if students are interested – let me know if you don’t want them!
Journals are due on the Friday of each week (with some TBA exceptions I will indicate).
You have two options for turning these in: 1) hardcopy brought to class on Friday 2) email
by midnight Friday night. (Note: posting your journal to Canvas DOES NOT count as
turning it in! I appreciate you posting it there too, but because the Canvas post is optional,
I’m asking you use one of these two channels as the official submission).
There are three important instructions for these journals. First, just pick one thing
to talk about – a claim, argument, position, etc. You don’t need to try to cover the entire
week – don’t try! I prefer a deeper treatment of a smaller scope over a superficial treatment
of a broad area. Second, the first half of your journal should be spent explaining the idea
you want to discuss. Describe it as though you were presenting it to someone not in the
class as much as possible. In other words, don’t write it for me! Be sure to not spend more
than half the journal doing this. Lastly, the second half of the journal should see you
responding to and evaluating the idea you presented. Tell us what you think of this idea –
it is useful? Misguided? Needs fixing? Be sure to not just register your opinion, but to
argue for it. Defend your stance as much as possible. This is the work of the philosopher
and I’d like to see you getting into the game!
In addition, I’ll be making available online forums on our Canvas site for you to post
your journals publically if you are inclined to do so. These posts will be open for comment,
so I encourage you to check out your classmates’ ideas and get into wonderful dialogue
and discussion!
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Short Essay Prompts:
As we complete each section of the course there will be a
short take-home writing assignment targeting the material we covered in that section. Most
of the essay questions will involve presenting, in your own words, the contributions of one
of the philosophers we have read, or comparing and contrasting a couple of them. These
essays are primarily focused on evaluating your ability to demonstrate understanding of
the material. I will require your answers to the test prompts to be turned in to me
electronically via email within a week from when they were assigned.
I will be talking more in class about these as they get closer to help you prepare,
but I’m also happy to be providing ALL of the essay prompts to you from the beginning of
the quarter! You can find them posted on the Canvas website.
Class Participation: I am making participation part of your final grade to emphasize the
importance of philosophic engagement in its social dimension. I will be striving to create a
classroom atmosphere where these debates can be pursued productively and
comfortably, but I will need your help in realizing this project. Three things will be of
particular advantage: mutual respect as a standard for discussion, careful listening, and
critical engagement.
For our purposes, respect must not be a conclusion, but rather a premise.
Disrespectful engagement is unprofessional and unphilosophical regardless of whether it
is offensive. As an example, to consider a certain line of thinking is indicative of a lack of
intelligence does nothing to provide a reasonable argument for why we should consider
such reasoning philosophically problematic. The disrespectful attitude does nothing to add
to the debate (whatever else it does contribute).
Careful listening and critical engagement are very closely connected. To properly
respond to an idea, one must first understand it as thoroughly as possible. But just
understanding the point of someone’s idea is also not enough – we must analyze its virtues
and deficiencies. Our discussions will always be oriented toward gauging the strength of
proposed ideas, and in as much as we will contribute ideas of our own, we will be
assessing how well our attempts fare as well. When engaging in this way with one another
an open audience is as crucial as a critically invested audience – respect helps prepare
us for both.
Finally, back by popular demand, if you have 7 or more absences you will
automatically fail the course! A lot of this course happens in the classroom, and you’ve
got to show up!
Discussion Labs: I am super excited to announce that starting this quarter I will be
holding an optional discussion lab once a week on Fridays starting at 12:30. I pledge to
stay for at least an hour, but I don’t want to necessarily limit ourselves to that! Location is
TBA.
These labs are intended to be another useful supplement to the coursework. They
will be an opportunity for you to ask more questions about the ideas in the readings, and
to have more extended discussions about those ideas in a more informal setting. I’m quite
open to adapting the format to suit the needs and preferences of those students who
attend, but I’m hoping that two goals are getting met no matter what we do: 1) that students
who want to increase their mastery of the material achieve that goal and 2) that students
have the opportunity to engage more directly in conversation and debate with each other
(and not necessarily with me!). I encourage this in the classroom too of course, but
sometimes a more informal setting is more conducive for this.
If the time doesn’t fit with your schedule and you want to attend, please let me
know!
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Student academic conduct: The principle of academic honesty underlies all that we do
and applies to all courses at Bellevue College. One kind of academic dishonesty is
plagiarism, which may take many forms, including, but not limited to, using a paper
written by someone else, using printed sources word-for-word without proper
documentation, and paraphrasing or summarizing the ideas of others without
acknowledging the source. Plagiarism can also occur when non-written ideas are taken
without documentation--using someone else's design or performance idea, for
example. In short, plagiarism is passing off someone else's ideas, words, or images as
your own; it amounts to intellectual theft--whether or not it was your intention to
steal. Bellevue College instructors have access to commercial plagiarism detection
software, so please be advised that any work you submit may be tested for plagiarism.
Participating in academic dishonesty in any way, including writing a paper or taking a
test for someone else, may result in severe penalties. Dishonestly produced papers
automatically receive a grade of "F" without the possibility of make-up. The Dean of
Student Services will also be notified of such conduct, and repetition of the behavior will
result in progressively more serious disciplinary action (for example, an instructor may
recommend that the student fail the course for a second offense or even that a student
be expelled for a serious offense, such as stealing an exam).
Grades lowered for plagiarism or other forms of dishonesty may be appealed through
the regular channels, and any further disciplinary action taken by the Dean may also be
appealed through existing processes.
Information about Bellevue College's copyright guidelines can be found at:
http://bellevuecollege.edu/lmc/links/copyright.html
Disability Resource Center: The Disability Resource Center serves students with a
wide array of learning challenges and disabilities. If you are a student who has a
disability or learning challenge for which you have documentation or have seen
someone for treatment and if you feel you may need accommodations in order to be
successful in college, please contact us as soon as possible.
If you are a person who requires assistance in case of an emergency situation, such as
a fire, earthquake, etc, please meet with your individual instructors to develop a safety
plan within the first week of the quarter.
If you are a student with a documented autism spectrum disorder, there is an additional
access program available to you. Contact asn@bellevuecollege.edu or 425.564.2764.
ASN is located in the Library Media Center in
D125. www.bellevuecollege.edu/autismspectrumnavigators/
The DRC office is located in B132 or you can call our reception desk at 425.564.2498.
Deaf students can reach us by video phone at 425-440-2025 or by TTY at 425-5644110. Please visit our website for application information into our program and other
helpful links at www.bellevuecollege.edu/drc
Public Safety: Public Safety is located in the K building and can be reached at 425-5642400 (easy to remember because it’s the only office on campus open 24 hours a day—
2400). Among other things, Public Safety serves as our Parking Permits, Lost and
Found, and Emergency Notification center. Please ensure you are signed up to receive
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alerts through our campus alerting system by registering at
http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/alerts/?ref=footer
If you work late and are uneasy about going to your car, Public Safety will escort you to
your vehicle. To coordinate this, please phone ahead and let Public Safety know when
and where you will need an escort.
Please familiarize yourself with the emergency postings by the door of every classroom
and know where to go in the event of an evacuation. Your instructor will be asked if
anyone might still be in the building, so check in before you do anything
else. Emergency responders will search for anyone unaccounted for.
If a major emergency occurs, please follow these two rules:
1) Take directions from those in charge of the response - We all need to be working
together.
2) Do not get in your car and leave campus (unless directed to) - Doing so will clog
streets and prevent emergency vehicles from entering the scene. Instead, follow
directions from those in charge.
Please do not hesitate to call Public Safety if you feel safety questions or concerns at
any time.
Disclaimer: I reserve the right to make any changes to the course (content, grading, etc.).
Further, I reserve the right to establish procedures for grading of students in exceptional
cases. All and any modifications to this syllabus will be in accordance with the rules and
regulations of Bellevue College. This syllabus does not constitute a contract between any
combination of the student, the professor, or Bellevue College.
TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
1
Introduction to the Course:
What does Ethics concern?
A Little Bit of Logic
Nietzsche, The Gay Science
Damer, The Code of Intellectual Conduct
2
NORMATIVE ETHICS
John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism
Consequentialism
Utilitarianism
and
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Kantian Deontology and
Categorical Imperative
the Immanuel Kant, Grounding for a Metaphysics
of Morals
4
Virtue Ethics
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics (Books I, II, and
X)
5
Buddhism
Dhammapada
5
6
APPLIED ETHICS
Judith Jarvis
Abortion”
Thomson,
“A
Defense
of
Abortion
7
Torture
8
META-ETHICS
Don Marquis “Why Abortion Is Immoral”
Sussman, “What’s Wrong with Torture”
Plato, Republic (selections from Book II)
Why be moral?
9
Moral Realism
Russ
Shafer-Landau,
Moral
(selections)
10 Moral Evaluation and Psychology Thomas Nagel, “Moral Luck”
Realism
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