Course Schedule (subject to, and most definitely will, change):
Week 1: Introduction of the course; What is Ethics?; Plato's “Allegory of the Cave”
Week 2: Moral Arguments; Fallacies
Week 3: Egoism; Ayn Rand's Fountainhead; Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan
Week 4: Relativism; Sociological Relativism; Cultural Relativism; Social Darwinism
Week 5: Emotions and Reason; Hume's Treatise on Human Nature; Kant's “Categorical Imperative”
Week 6: The Utilitarians; Jeremy Bentham; John Stuart Mill
Week 7: Test #1
Week 8: Social Contracts; Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Émile; Hobbes' Leviathan; John Rawls' “Original
Position” and the “Veil of Ignorance”
Week 9: Aristotle's Nicomachian Ethics; Care Ethics; Feminist Ethics; Carol Gilligan; Annette Baier
Week 10: Ethical Non-objectivism; A.J. Ayer's “Emotivism”
Week 11: Free Will and Determinism; Existentialist Ethics (Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir)
Week 12: Test #2
Week 13: Sophocles' Antigone
Week 14: Antigone, cont.; Albert Camus' The Stranger
Week 15: The Stranger;
Week 16: Test #3
Ethical Dilemmas – PHIL 105
Spring 2014
Instructor: David Howe
email: dhowe@smccme.edu
Course Description: This course will examine the roots of the cultural values in American life and
how these values affect decision-making on public and personal moral issues. The course will survey
the major philosophical thought of Western civilization, focusing on moral philosophy and how it is
derived from metaphysical as well as social and political philosophy. Students will be assigned
readings that deal with both ethical theory and ethics in practice. Two works of literature, one ancient
and one modern, will also be assigned and analyzed in terms of the ethical issues they raise.
Required Texts:
Considering Ethics: Theory, Readings, and Contemporary Issues, 3rd edition - Bruce N. Waller
The Burial at Thebes - Seamus Heaney (Sophocles' Antigone)
The Stranger - Albert Camus
Recommended Reading:
Sophocles' Theban Plays (King Oedipus, Oedipus of Colonus, Antigone)
Ronald Aronson - Camus and Sartre
Simone de Beauvoir's Ethics of Ambiguity
Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism
Alain Badiou's Ethics, An Essay in Understanding the Nature of Evil and Plato's Republic
Jacques Derrida's On Hospitality and On Forgiveness
John Rawls' A Theory of Justice
Plato's Republic
Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon Writings
Rosalind Hursthouse's Virtue Ethics
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels' The Communist Manifesto
Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Émile and The Social Contract
Ayn Rand's Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged (both available on DVD/online)
Simon Critchley's Infinitely Demanding: Ethics of Commitment, Politics of Resistance
Course Objectives:
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gain historical knowledge of Western civilization’s (and some Eastern) moral traditions
exercise moral reasoning in specific situations
better comprehend the multi-cultural diversity of our society
understand the concept of inter-disciplinary studies.
Evaluation and Grading
Attendance and Participation: 20%
Homework: 50%
Test One: 10%
Test Two: 10%
Test Three: 10%
Submission of Work
A hard copy is required. I do not accept email attachments which I am expected to print out. You must
print out your own copy, bring it to class on time, making sure your name appears on every page, and
no, I don’t have a stapler. To receive full credit, all work must be handed in on time. Late work will only
be accepted one class period following the due date. The highest grade for late work will be a C. All work
must be typed, double spaced, in no larger than size 12 font, with standard 1” margins.
Attendance: Students must be present and on time. Absences are absences regardless of reason, and more
than 5 absences will result in the failure of the course. Turn your phone off. Texting in class will be noted as an
absence. Repeated absences or tardiness will be reflected in the final grade.
Four absences eliminate a student from the course.
Tardiness: Be on time. Lateness is a cultural pandemic. Repeated tardiness can have a negative
impact upon your grade.
Contacting the Instructor:
Use (only) the email address provided above. If you have questions about class discussions or the readings,
feel free to email your queries. If you have a draft of an assignment and are unsure if you’re doing it right,
send me the draft as a Word attachment or copied and pasted in the body of the email, and I will get back to
you very soon with a response. I don’t pre-grade papers, but I do let people know whether or not they are
on the right track.
Plagiarism: Plagiarism is a waste of my time and yours. Any incident of plagiarism will result in severe
penalties. Plagiarized assignments will receive failing grades and could result in an F in the course.
Seriously.
Southern Maine Community College is an equal opportunity/affirmative action institution and employer. For
more information, please call 207-741-5798. If you have a disabling condition and wish to request
accommodations in order to have reasonable access to the programs and services offered by SMCC, you must
register with the Disability Services Coordinator, Sandra Lynham, who can be reached at 741-5923. Further
information about services for students with disabilities and the accommodation process is available upon
request at this number. Course policies about online testing are modified to suit each individual's
accommodations.