PHIL 1500 P
CONTEMPORARY MORAL, SOCIAL, AND RELIGIOUS ISSUES
CARLETON UNIVERSITY
2006-07
TERM:
Fall/Winter
LECTURES:
Thursdays 11.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m.
TUTORIALS:
Thursdays 1.30 to 2.30 or 2.30 to 3.30
INSTRUCTOR:
Jay Drydyk
OFFICE:
Paterson 3A55
OFFICE HOURS:
Thursdays 1.30 to 3.30, or by appointment
PHONE:
520-2600 x1783
EMAIL:
Class email on WebCT. I check messages Sunday p.m. and at office hours
WEBCT SITE:
http//webct.carleton.ca/
Unless we isolate ourselves from public life, we are bombarded with others’ attempts to
convince us to join their point of view on important questions of ethics and public policy. To
navigate this, we need to recognize which attempts to convince are weaker, and which are
stronger. We also need to discover which values and principles we can rely upon, and what
their limitations are.
The world in which we live has also been shaped profoundly by its colonial history. The good
news is that we enjoy rich cultural diversity; the bad news is that we face enormous social
inequalities. The issues in this course focus on this theme: benefits of diversity, costs of
inequality. We approach these issues from an ethical and philosophical point of view.
The course does not favour any particular answers to the issues which are studied. Yet it
demands that students avoid mistakes and defend themselves plausibly in working out their
views. It does turn out that some views are just more difficult to defend than others – for
instance pro-slavery views – but it remains important to understand why they are indefensible.
REQUIRED TEXTS
1. Readings for PHIL 1500, ed. Jay Drydyk (course pack)
2. Moral Issues in Global Perspective (second edition), Volume I: Moral and Political Theory, ed.
Christine Koggel
3. The Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking, Richard L. Epstein and Carolyn Kernberger
2
ASSIGNMENTS
When
What
Worth
Right away
Register on WebCT
Each week, all year
Tutorial participation
September 28
Assignment 1
5
October 26
Assignment 2
5
December exam period
December exam
20
February 15
Essay 1
25
March 29
Essay 2
25
April
Optional take-home exam (replacing Essay 1 or Essay 2
25
priceless
20
ONLY IF both have been submitted.)
NOTE: There is no scheduled final exam in this course.
COURSE CALENDAR & READING LIST
FALL TERM – All readings are from the course pack unless noted.
PREP
September 7 – WHY THERE ARE ETHICAL QUESTIONS, EVEN ABOUT STARVATION
WEEK Readings:


Thomas Mappes & Jane Zembaty, Introduction to “World Hunger”
Critical Thinking 1.1, 3.3
F1 September 14 – PREVENTING BAD OUTCOMES
Readings:


Peter Singer, “Famine, Affluence, and Morality”
Critical Thinking 2.1
F2 September 21 – EVALUATING SINGER’S ARGUMENT
Readings:

Critical Thinking 2.2, 2.6
Begin Assignment 1:

Re-state Singer’s argument in one sentence. How would you attempt to refute
this argument? Why is this attempted refutation likely or unlikely to succeed?
Maximum 200 words.
3
F3 September 28 – DOES FOOD AID MAKE THINGS WORSE?
Readings:



Garrett Hardin, “Living on a Lifeboat”
William Murdoch & Allan Oaten, “Population and Food: Metaphors and Reality”
Critical Thinking 4.1, 4.4
Submit Assignment 1 on WebCT by midnight tonight.
F4 October 5 – KANTIAN ETHICS
Readings:

Robert van Wyk, “Perspectives on World Hunger and the Extent of our Positive
Duties”

Immanuel Kant, excerpt from Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (Koggel)
F5 October 12 – CONFUCIUS AND MENCIUS
Readings:

Excerpt from Fung Y-Lan, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy
F6 October 19 – INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY
Readings:



John Hospers, “What Libertarianism Is”
V.F. Cordova, “Ethics: The We and the I” (Koggel)
Critical Thinking 2.4
Begin Assignment 2:

Re-state one of the main arguments we have studied, and assess whether it can
be repaired. Maximum 200 words.
F7 October 26 – AFRICAN PERSPECTIVES
Readings:

Egbeke Aja, “Changing Moral Values in Africa: An Essay in Ethical Relativism”
(Koggel)

Kwasi Wiredu, “The Moral Foundations of an African Culture”
Submit Assignment 2 on WebCT by midnight tonight.
F8 November 2 – WELL-BEING AND FREEDOM
Readings:


John Stuart Mill, “Utilitarianism” (Koggel)
Amartya Sen, “The Perspective of Freedom”
4
F9 November 9 – ARISTOTLE ON SLAVERY
Readings:


Excerpt from The Politics of Aristotle
Critical Thinking 3.1
F10 November 16 – AN ETHICAL RESPONSE TO THE SPANISH CONQUEST
Readings:
 Excerpt from Bartholome de las Casas, In Defense of the Indians
 Critical Thinking 3.2
F11 November 23 – REVIEW: LOGIC
F12 November 30 – REVIEW: MAIN ARGUMENTS, OBJECTIONS, AND YOUR QUESTIONS
No tutorials will be held today.
WINTER TERM – All readings are from Koggel unless noted.
W1 January 4 – JOHN LOCKE AND HIS FOLLOWERS
Readings:



John Locke, excerpts from Second Treatise on Government (course pack)
Thomas Paine, “African Slavery in America” (course pack)
James Forten Jr., “An Address Delivered before the Ladies’ Anti-Slavery Society of
Philadelphia, 1836 (course pack)
W2 January 11 – POST-COLON IAL JUSTICE
Readings:


Kok-Chor Tan, “Reparations and Justice: The Case of Colonialism”
Jennifer Llewellyn, “Justice for South Africa: Restorative Justice and the South
African Truth and Reconciliation Commission”
W3 January 18 – HUMAN RIGHTS AND UNIVERSALISM
Readings:

Adamantia Pollis and Peter Schwab, “Human Rights: A Western Construct with
Limited Applicability”

A.T. Nuyen, “Confucianism, Globalization, and the Idea of Universalism”
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W4 January 25 – JUSTICE I
Readings:


John Rawls, “A Theory of Justice”
Richard Garner, “Libertarianism, Insurance Arguments, and General State Welfare”
Begin Essay 1:

State a criterion for social justice that is based on one of the readings in this
course.


Use this criterion to argue that some particular global inequalities are unjust.
Defend your argument (and the criterion on which it rests) against objections.
You may use your own original objections as well as relevant arguments that we
have studied in this course. Library research is discouraged.
W5 February 1 – JUSTICE II
Readings:


Virginia Held, “Care and Justice in the Global Context”
Nira Yuval-Davis, “Women, Citizenship and Difference”
W6 February 8 – FOUNDATIONS FOR DEMOCRACY
Readings:


Amy Gutmann, “Democracy, Philosophy, and Justification”
Amartya Sen, “Democracy and its Global Roots: Why Democratization is not the
same as Westernization”
W7 February 15 – LIBERAL DEMOCRACY
Readings:


John Locke, excerpt from Second Treatise on Government
John Stuart Mill, Excerpt from Considerations on Representative Government
(course pack)
Submit Essay 1 in person at your tutorial or in the Philosophy Essay Box by 4 p.m.
--- February 22 – No class – Winter Break
W8 March 1 – CONFUCIAN VALUES AND DEMOCRACY
Readings:


Chenyang Li, “Confucian Value and Democratic Value”
Xiarong Li, “ ‘Asian Values’ and the Universality of Human Rights,” download
from http://www.puaf.umd.edu/IPPP/li.htm
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W9 March 8 – ISLAMIC VALUES AND DEMOCRACY
Readings:



Nadirsiyah Hosen, “In Search of Islamic Constitutionalism”
Nader A. Hashemi, “Change from Within” (course pack)
M.A. Muqtedar Khan, “The Primacy of Political Philosophy” (course pack)
Begin Essay 2:


Is democracy a merely Western construct with limited applicability elsewhere?
Argue thoroughly for your view. You may use your own original arguments as
well as relevant arguments that we have studied in this course. Library research
is discouraged.

Defend your view thoroughly against objections.
W10 March 15 – GLOBAL DEMOCRACY
Readings:

Thomas Pogge, “The Influence of the Global Order on the Prospects for Genuine
Democracy in the Developing Countries”

David Held, “The Changing Contours of Political Community; Rethinking
Democracy in the Context of Globalization” (course pack)
W11 March 22 – TERRORISM I
Readings:

Michael Walzer, “The Triumph of Just War Theory (and the Dangers of
Success”


Neta C. Crawford, “The Slippery Slope to Preventative War”
Asma Barlas, “A Requiem for Voicelessness: Pakistanis and Muslims in the US”
W12 March 29 – TERRORISM II
Readings:


Frank Cunningham, “Counter-Oppressive Terrorism”
Antonio Tujan, Audrey Gaughran, and Howard Mollett, “Development and the
‘Global War on Terror’”
Submit Essay 2 in person at your tutorial or in the Philosophy Essay Box by 4 p.m.
The optional take-home exam will be posted today on WebCT. Those who wish to earn
credit for this exam must submit their written answers via the Philosophy Essay Box no
later than 4 p.m. of the last day of the April examination period.
7
THE FINE PRINT – POLICIES AND RULES
1. WebCT mandatory. Each student must have a “connect” student computing account, in
order to use WebCT. Two assignments are submitted on WebCT.
2. Written work. No handwritten essays will be accepted; they must be typed or wordprocessed. Use a title page and identify yourself by student number only. Use any
reference style, but use it consistently. Writing in the first person (e.g., “I will argue that …,”
“I find this difficult to believe because…”) is permitted.
3. Extensions. Deadlines will be extended only in case of documentable medical or personal
emergencies. Excuses like “I had to work on my History essay” will not be accepted.
4. Penalties. Essays are due by 4:00 p.m. on due dates. Essays received late will be penalized
by one mark per day. (For instance, an essay marked 20/25 on its merits will be reduced to
19/25 on the first day it is late and to 15/25 on the fifth day. University regulations forbid
the instructor to accept term work for this course after April 5.
5. No fax. It is Department policy that work transmitted by fax will not be accepted.
6. Keep a copy. It is Department policy that it is every student’s responsibility to keep a copy
of each essay submitted to a Philosophy course.
7. Submitting essays. Essays can be submitted in tutorials or in the locked essay deposit box
just inside the glass door to the Philosophy Department offices (Paterson 3A – look for the
Philosophy Department sign). Essays must be submitted on paper. No binders: essays
should not be enclosed in plastic or other binders except at the specific request of the
instructor. If you are submitting an essay via the Philosophy essay box, it must be
deposited there by 4:00 p.m. in order to be stamped as received on that day. Essays
deposited after 4:00 p.m. will be stamped as received on the following business day.
Binders may not be put in the essay box at any time. University regulations forbid the
instructor to accept term work for this course after April 5.
8. Deferrals for term work. Before the end of term, you can apply to Registrar to defer the
final deadline for term work.
9. REQUESTS FOR ACADEMIC ACCOMMODATIONS (UNDERGRADUATE CALENDAR, ACADEMIC REGULATIONS 2.9,
2.10)
For Students with Disabilities:
Students with disabilities needing academic accommodations are required to contact a coordinator at the Paul Menton Centre to complete the necessary letters of accommodation.
The student must then make an appointment to discuss their needs with the instructor at
least two weeks prior to the first class or ITV test. This is to ensure sufficient time is
available to make the necessary accommodation arrangements. Please note the following
deadlines for submitting completed forms to the PMC for formally scheduled exam
accommodations: November 6, 2006 for fall and fall/winter term courses, and March 9,
2007 for winter term courses
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For Religious Observance:
Students requesting academic accommodation on the basis of religious observance should
make a formal, written request to their instructors for alternate dates and/or means of
satisfying academic requirements. Such requests should be made during the first two weeks
of class, or as soon as possible after the need for accommodation is known to exist, but no
later than two weeks before the compulsory academic event.
Accommodation is to be
worked out directly and on an individual basis between the student and the instructor(s)
involved.
Instructors will make accommodations in a way that avoids academic
disadvantage to the student.
Students or instructors who have questions or want to confirm accommodation eligibility of
a religious event or practice may refer to the Equity Services website for a list of holy days
and Carleton’s Academic Accommodation policies, or may contact an Equity Services
Advisor in the Equity Services Department for assistance.
For Pregnancy:
Pregnant students requiring academic accommodations are encouraged to contact an Equity
Advisor in Equity Services to complete a letter of accommodation. The student must then
make an appointment to discuss her needs with the instructor at least two weeks prior to
the first academic event in which it is anticipated the accommodation will be required.
10. Plagiarism. It is the responsibility of each student to understand the meaning of 'plagiarism'
as defined in the Undergraduate or Graduate Calendars, and to avoid both committing
plagiarism and aiding/abetting plagiarism by other students.