Spring 2014
Meets MW, 10-11:45, SGM 101
Office Hours: MW 8:30-9:30
& by appointment
Professor S.A. Lloyd
lloyd@usc.edu
MHP 205c
PHILOSOPHY 137GM: SOCIAL ETHICS FOR EARTHLINGS AND OTHERS:
Political Philosophy Through Science Fiction
In our increasingly pluralistic world, it is difficult to figure out how to organize our
collective society so that it works well for all of us, and is fair to all of us. Differences in
culture, ethnicity, gender, age, nationality, religion, philosophies, and interests and
capabilities seem to entrench us in parochial ways of thinking about social organization
and social justice that make it hard for us to generate any kind of social consensus or
mutually accommodating community. How can we get beyond our prejudices, to think
“outside the box” about social morality? This course taps the imagination of science
fiction to make more vivid the perspectives of others with whom we could or did not
antecedently identify, and considers what help the various classical political theories
available to us have to offer.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the course is to develop skills in critical thinking about social
issues. A secondary objective is to facilitate each student’s coming to his or her own
reasoned (if provisional) conclusion on some important social issues currently being
debated in our society, including whether we should try to “build a better human”, how to
treat the emergent artificial intelligences and new species we expect to create; whether
environments, both earthly and extra-terrestrial should be preserved for their intrinsic
value or the other species they support or rather developed for human use; whether our
criminal justice system should aim, in light of our increasing ability to predict criminal
behavior and to conduct surveillance, at deterring future crime rather than punishing past
offenses; whether desirable social positions should be awarded on the basis of a
conception of merit that uses genetic information to predict performance; whether
membership in the human species ought, as such, to confer special rights and privileges
against members of non-human species; and whether any moral norms of warfare apply
to enemies whose form of life and values are very different from our own.
This course fulfills the Diversity Requirement by focusing on four forms of difference:
species, economic class, degree of talent or native endowment, and enemy status.
Students will learn about speciesism, discriminatory meritocracy, and the ethical
treatment of those we classify as enemies by considering diverse forms of sentience and
intelligence, and competing theories of social justice and equality of opportunity.
COURSE ORGANIZATION
The course is organized around different answers to one of the basic questions of political
philosophy: What should be the goals and guiding values of our political society?
We will consider five attractive answers: To secure the greatest good for the greatest
number of persons (Bentham); to create fair opportunities for each person (Rawls,
Dworkin); to engage in autonomous self-government (Kant); to develop virtuous citizens
living well in a virtuous community (Plato, Aristotle); to develop individuality, and
enable progressive innovation (Mill). Can these goals be jointly satisfied, or do they pull
in different directions? What are their implications for our practical questions?
REQUIRED READINGS
All books are available in paperback at the campus bookstore. Additional required
readings are posted on the course Blackboard.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics
Immanuel Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty and Other Essays
Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake
Chris Moriarty, Spin State
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Please come to class and discussion section having read, and prepared to discuss, the
assigned readings for the week.
Short exercises (20%)
Midterm exam Wednesday, February 12th (15%)
First paper, approx. 1500 words, due Monday, March 10th (15%)
Second Paper, approx. 2000 words, due Monday, April 7th (20%)
Final Exam, Monday, May 12th, 8-10 a.m. (20%)
Regular and constructive participation in weekly discussion section (10%)
PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE OF TOPICS AND READINGS
Central Theme: What moral norms should structure a society’s organization and
legal requirements of its members?
Theory 1: The greatest good for the greatest number.
Week 1: Introduction to the course and to Bentham’s Act Utilitarianism.
Read Simmons (BB) and Bentham (BB)
Exercise 1 due 1/14
Week 2: Utilitarianism’s Hedonic Calculus
Read Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale, first half
Week 3: Utilitarianism as a social ordering principle, advantages and supporting
argument.
Read remainder of The Handmaid’s Tale
Exercise 2 due 1/31
Week 4: Objections to Utilitarianism and argument by counterexample
Exercise 3 due 2/4
Week 5: Midterm prep and midterm exam 2/12.
Theory 2: Fair opportunity.
Weeks 6 & 7: Meritocracy, Rawls’s Original Position, and Dworkin’s choice-reflective
view
Read the three Rawls excerpts, and articles on Meritocracy on BB
Paper 1 assigned 2/26
Theory 3: Autonomous self-government.
Week 8: Equal Respect and the Moral Law
Read Kant’s Grounding, First Section and Second Section
Read Copelston (BB)
Week 9: The Categorical Imperative Procedure; Kantian Fairness and the Rule of Law
Exercise 4 due 3/11
Begin theory of the moral standing of non-human animals
SPRING BREAK!
Week 10: Moral standing of artificial intelligences and of the environment
Read Singer, Frey, (BB)
Read Atwood, Oryx and Crake
Paper 2 assigned 3/24
Exercise 5 due 3/27
Theory 4: Virtuous character in a virtuous community
Weeks 11 & 12: Plato and Aristotle
Read Plato in (CR)
Read Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Books 2,3,4,7,8
Exercise 6 due 4/3
Paper 2 due 4/7
Theory 5: Individuality and progress
Week 13: J.S. Mill on liberty, individuality and community claims
Read Mill, On Liberty chapters III and IV, and Utilitarianism chapters II and V
Weeks 14 & 15: treatment of enemies in war
Exercise 7 due 4/29
Course Review
Final exam: Monday, May 12th, 8-10 a.m.
COURSE POLICIES
No recording or streaming of lectures is permitted. Internet posting of course materials
is prohibited. Please turn off your cell phones during class.
U.S.C.’s academic integrity standards will be strictly enforced for all assignments in this
course. Please be sure to observe all quotation and citation conventions. All written
work must be yours alone. Please consult your Scampus guidebook to inform yourself of
the details of these standards, and bring to me or your T.A. any questions or uncertainties
you may have as to what they require. Any academic integrity violation will result in an
“F” for the course, and possibly further sanctions.
No late papers will be accepted, but you may turn in any of your papers prior to the due
date if you wish. There will be no make-up exams, so be sure to mark exam dates on your
calendar. No passing grade will be assigned to any student who has not taken the final
exam.
Any student requesting academic accommodations based on a disability is required to register with Disability Services and
Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP. Please be sure
the letter is delivered to me as early in the semester as possible. DSP is located in STU 301 and is open 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.,
Monday through Friday. The phone number for DSP is (213) 740-0776
TOPICS FOR T.A.-LED DISCUSSION SECTIONS
Week 1 Introductory section meetings, discussion of exercise 1
2 Philosophical method and argument; Utilitarianism
3 Utilitarianism
4 Objection by counterexample and The Handmaid’s Tale
5 Utilitarianism and midterm discussion
6 Rawls
7 Dworkin
8 Kant
9 Kant and moral standing of nonhuman animals
SPRING BREAK
10 Moral standing of artificial intelligences and the environment
11 Plato
12 Aristotle
13 Mill
14 Mill and Just War Theory
15 Moral standing of enemies in war and preparation for Final Exam