Syllabus – Moral Philosophy, PHL 210-04 & 210-05 (MWF),
Fall, 2021, Prof. Michael Kagan, last edited 08/19/2021
Class meetings MWF as
scheduled
Office hours in RH428 or via zoom - M TH F – 1:10-1:55pm, and by appointment.
Tel:315-445-4489 - Campus voice mail - you should receive a reply within a few days.
Email:kagan@lemoyne.edu - You should receive a reply within a day or so (not including weekends).
This course aims at an understanding of the activity of making moral judgments or affirming one value or set of values over another. At issue are, typically, the meaning of the words spoken when people make ethical assertions, the possibility of justifying or proving the truth of such assertions and the implications of discovering situations in which the ethical dimension is problematic. Integral to this course is a study of these questions in the light of the great traditions of ethical thinking as they have come to light in the various wisdom literatures. (Le Moyne College Catalog)
Philosophy department outcomes this course serves:
Students will develop a philosophical understanding of the world through the eyes of others.
Philosophically Significant Issues in the World: Students will evince a mature discernment of the relationship between philosophically significant issues and their own intellectual and moral worlds.
Students will be able to summarize a philosophical argument with appropriate detail.
Core outcomes this course serves:
CLO 1 Disciplinary InquiryPlato - Five Dialogues (Grube translation, with Cooper revisions)
Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics (David Ross’s
translation)
Confucius - Analects (D.C. Lau’s translation)
Lau Tzu - Tao Te Ching (D.C. Lau’s translation)
Martin Buber - The Way of Man
Kathryn J. Norlock - "Feminist Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
In coordination with the Academic
Support Center (ASC) and Disability
Support Services,
reasonable accommodations are provided for qualified students with
disabilities. Please register with the ASC Office for disability
verification and determination of reasonable accommodations. After
receiving your accommodation form from the ASC, you will need to make
an appointment with me to review the form and discuss your needs.
Please make every attempt to meet with me within the first week of
class so your accommodations can be provided in a timely manner. You
can either stop by the ASC, Library, 1st floor, or call (445-4118-voice
or 445-4104-TDD) to make an appointment.
If you miss class for any obligation or religious observance throughout
the semester, please let me know (so it gets recorded as an excused
absence).
Fri., Oct. 15 - 1st take-home quiz given (due Wed., Oct. 27). Wed.,
Nov. 10 - 2nd take home quiz given (due Fri., Nov. 19, the second quiz
is optional for students who passed the first quiz with a grade of 70
or better).
This semester (Fall 2021) the plan is to start meeting synchronously in person. If we end up using Zoom again, please check your email and Canvas for information and the links to the Zoom sessions. I will attempt to record the lectures for student use.
When campus/dorms are closed due to flu or other circumstances, my intent is that the course continue. Assignments continue to be due electronically (if Canvas is down, email to kagan@lemoyne.edu may still work). Presentations will be replaced by papers, virtual presentations, or extended descriptions of presentations. In addition to notes and group work already available there on-line, I will post updates, lecture notes, etc., to Canvas and to my Le Moyne College website at http://web.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/index.html.
As at other times, if your situation results in your needing an extension, please let me know. Also, if internet service is down or there are other infrastructure problems, please complete the assignments and turn them in when services are restored.
Your grade will be based on the average of the following:
(50%) You will have an opportunity to take two take-home quizzes. These will be handed out at least 4 days before they are due. Late quizzes will receive a 15% grading penalty for each day they are late. [If you cannot get a quiz in on time, please let me know you need to take a make-up quiz with a different deadline.] Unless otherwise indicated, please complete the quiz in less than 500 words. All work, except in-class writings, is to be typed double-spaced. Quizzes are to be turned in electronically on the date due through Canvas (if you cannot access Canvas, please email the quiz to me at kagan@lemoyne.edu, and - in addition to the file attachment - please paste the text of your answers into your email message. )
(50%) Other class work, which may include the following: group work/in-class writings/optional quizzes (optional quizzes can be used to replace take-home quizzes and vice-versa).
Grades are based on a 10-point scale as follows:
90-100 - 'A' range (97-100 = A+; 94-96=A; 90-93=A-); 80-89 - 'B' range (87-89 = B+; 84-86=B; 80-83=B-);
70-79 - 'C' range (77-79 = C+; 74-76=C; 70-73=C-); 60-69 - 'D' range (67-69 = D+; 64-66=D; 60-63=D-).
Below 60 - 'F'.
Week #1 (of Aug. 23) Introduce course. Discussion of nomos, phusis, logos, & reading. Brief survey of ethical theories. Start reading Plato’s Euthyphro (the Plato assignments are in the Five Dialogues text). The following reading assignments are intended ideally to be completed by the date indicated. If you need to choose between reading carefully and completing the entire reading, I recommend reading carefully.
In-class writing assignment – Please answer at least one of the following and submit your answer on Canvas. What do you like to study? Is there anything you want me to know about you or your interests that could help you learn more in this course.
Week #2 (Mon., Aug. 30) Continue brief survey of ethical theories. Group work on ethical theories. Read Plato’s Euthyphro.
Group work on Ethical theories – List the ethical theories that were reviewed in class, and briefly indicate one criticism of each. Which of these theories are challenged directly or indirectly by the dialogue Euthyphro? How so?
Wed., Sep. 1, Mass of the Holy Spirit at 10:45 am (Panasci Family Chapel). 9:30-10:45am and 10:00-10:50am classes will dismiss at 10:30. Classes scheduled for 11:00am, 12:00pm will not be held. Classes will resume at 1:00pm.
Sep. 6, Mon., Labor Day - (No classes or office hours); Sep. 7, Tues., Rosh Hashana (No classes or office hours)
Week #3 (Wed., Sep. 8) Read Plato’s Apology.
Group work
questions - Is Socrates’ willing to disobey the court’s legal
authority? If so, why? If not, why not? What authority is Socrates
willing to obey?
Week #4 (Mon, Sep. 13) Read Plato’s Crito.
- Group work - Is Socrates’ willing to disobey the court’s legal
authority? If so, why? If not, why not? What authority is Socrates
willing to obey?
Sep. 16, Thurs., Yom Kippur (No classes or office hours)
Week #5 (Mon., Sep. 20) Plato’s Meno.
Group work question - According to Socrates in this dialogue, why
should we seek the truth even if we are not persuaded by the idea of
knowledge from recollection?
Week #6 (Mon., Sep. 27) Read Plato’s Phaedo. Group work -
What is misology? Why is Socrates opposed to it?
Week #7 (Mon., Oct. 4) Read Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics,
Book 1. Group work questions – Who does Aristotle claim is the
appropriate student for ethics? What does this have to do with the lack
of precision in ethics?
Oct. 11-12, Mon-Tues - Fall break
Week #8 (Wed., Oct. 13) Read Nicomachean Ethics, Books 2-7. Read Kathryn J. Norlock’s “Feminist Ethics.“ Group work questions - Describe two virtues in terms of the principle of the mean. Critically evaluate Aristotle’s presentation of at least one of these using ideas found in the Norlock reading.
Fri., Oct. 15 - 1st take-home quiz given (due Wed., Oct. 27).
Week #9 (Mon., Oct. 18) Read Nicomachean Ethics,
Books 8-9. Group work – Does Aristotle’s account of friendship explain
the friendships you are familiar with? If so, how? Please give an
example. If not, describe a friendship the theory does not explain, and
explain why it fails to explain that friendship.
Week #10 (Mon. Oct. 25) Read Confucius’ Analects,
Books I-X. Group work - Choose an analect that you like or find
interesting. Explain why you like it or what you find interesting about
it. Explain how it fits in with or contradicts other analects you have
read.
First take-home quiz due Wed., Oct. 27.
Week #11 (Mon. Nov. 1) Group work – Read Analects, Books X-XX. Answer at least one of the following.
Having read the Analects, I-XX, what that you could apply to your own life did you find surprising. How could you apply it?
The Analects indicate a variety of responses to living in a corrupt society. Name two. What is an advantage of each? What is a disadvantage of each?
Week #12 (Mon. Nov. 8) Read Lau Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Book
One.
Wed., Nov. 10 - 2nd take home quiz given (due Fri., Nov. 19,
the second quiz is optional for students who passed the first quiz
with a grade of 70 or better).
Group work – What is one short passage from this section of the Tao Te Ching that you found interesting, puzzling or confusing? Specify it by source, chapter number, and title (for example, "Book 1, 13" or Book One, XIII"). Explain what is interesting, puzzling or confusing about this passage.
Week #13 (Mon., Nov. 15) Read Lau Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Book Two.
Group work – What is one short passage from this section of the Tao Te Ching that you found interesting, puzzling or confusing? Specify it by source, chapter number, and title. Explain what is interesting, puzzling or confusing about this passage.
2nd take-home quiz due Fri., Nov. 19.
Weeks #14-15. (Mon., Nov. 22, and Mon. Nov. 29) Read Martin Buber’s Way of Man. Group work – Of the stories told here, summarize one that your group found interesting. What teaching does it offer about how to live a better life? What is the source of this teaching? If any members of your group are familiar with another place where this teaching can be found, please have them say where they have found it.
Nov. 24-28 Wed. - Sun. - Thanksgiving Break
Week #16 (Mon. Dec. 6) Last day of class. TBA/Final evaluations, and depending on the implementation of the new evaluation system.)
Note: There is no final exam in this class.
Philosophy 210 Syllabus,
Moral Philosophy, Fall, 2021
Materials for Ethics
Norlock, Kathryn, "Feminist
Ethics", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer
2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.).
Kagan's homepage
Fall
2021
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