is designed to help you cultivate your thoughts on the ethical dilemmas of
contemporary life by focusing on depictions of ethical issues as illustrated in
these ...
Phil 110: Contemporary Moral Issues T/Th 3:00-4:20 Instructor: Young Email:
[email protected] [email protected]
Phone: 856.225.6136 (Dept Secretary) Office Hours: 2:30-3:00 T/H 464 ATG (or by appointment)
Description: To what do we commit ourselves when we make claims about right and wrong? What kind of people do we become by acting on those views? Answering these questions requires the ability to relate theory to practice, to identify connections between cases, and to recognize inconsistent ideas and actions. As part of developing these abilities, we will study the theories of historical figures who have tried to deal with ethics comprehensively. At the same time, we will discuss novels, films, and television as paradigms according to which popular culture understands itself. So this course is designed to help you cultivate your thoughts on the ethical dilemmas of contemporary life by focusing on depictions of ethical issues as illustrated in these media. Teaching Philosophy My goal is not to convince you that any of the views expressed in our text are 100% right. It is to help you understand the ideas, so that critical reflection on them can play a meaningful role in forming your own. Purpose: By the end of this course, you should 1) Have a working knowledge of ethical traditions in the western heritage, 2) Be able to determine what various thinkers from those traditions would consider to be right or wrong in indefinitely many situations, and 3) Clarify and refine your own thoughts on ethics, possibly discovering weaknesses in ideas you had taken for granted and strong points in views you had not considered before. Course Requirements: Your course requirements will include a quiz on this syllabus package and a practice quiz on chapters 1 & 2, and then review sheets and quizzes on each chapter of the text discussed in class. Essays may substitute for quizzes, and will be the makeup assignment for any missed quizzes. Attendance will be taken on a random basis. The final will be optional. Details on all these requirements may be found in the “policies” section of this handout package. Required text: The Moral of the Story, Nina Rosenstand (sixth edition).
Syllabus Jan
18 General introduction, Syllabus Quiz. 20 Chapter 1 & 2 Review sheets, Chapter 1 & 2 quiz. 25-27 Chapter 3: Ethical Relativism.
Feb
1 Chapter 3, continued. 3-10 Chapter 4: Myself or Others? 15-24 Chapter 5: Utilitarianism.
March 1-10 Chapter 6: Kant. 13-19 Term Break 22-31 Chapter 8: Socrates and Plato. April 5-14 Chapter 9: Aristotle. 19-28 Chapter 10: Contemporary Perspectives. May
10
Final Exam 2-5 pm.
Notes: 1)
All chapters indicated are from Rosenstand’s “The Moral of the Story,” the required text for this course.
2)
This syllabus is only provisional. Adjustments, based on my assessment of class discussion and understanding, will be announced in class.
Policies & Requirements Since I am giving you these policies in writing, I will presume you understand them unless you tell me otherwise, and ignorance will under no circumstances be accepted as an excuse. I: Academic Dishonesty If I find you have cheated in this class, you will be failed for the course and reported to the Dean. II: Attendance I will take attendance randomly. Your attendance grade will be the percentage of times I take attendance when you are present. Documented absences will be excused. If you are late for class, it is your responsibility to check with me afterward on receiving half credit. Attendance will count the same as one quiz in your final overall average score. III: Review Sheets Each review sheet is due before we begin discussing the chapter on which it is based. Half credit will be given if they are late, no credit will be given if they are turned after we finish
discussing the chapter. The completion percentage of these review sheets will be the score for this portion of your grade. This score will count the same as a quiz in your overall average score. IV: Syllabus Quiz and Practice Quiz There will be a quiz based on the contents of this syllabus package on our first day, and a practice quiz on chapters 1 & 2 on the second class day. Passing scores on these quizzes will count as your attendance for these days. V: Other Chapter Quizzes There will be a quiz on each chapter of the text we discuss in class. Essays may be substituted for quizzes, and will be the makeup assignment for any missed quiz. (I strongly recommend discussing the essay’s topic with me in advance, so that I can help be sure you are pointed in the right direction.) In the absence of any documentation of the reason for missing the test, the substituting essay will be considered late. VI: Essays You may write an essay instead of taking any given quiz. Details on the nature of this assignment are to be found at the end of this syllabus package. Essays are due on the day of the quiz, or not greater than one week after any missed quiz. VII: Optional Final The final exam will be divided into several sections, one corresponding to the subject matter of each quiz (from chapter 3 on) during the term. You may take any or no sections of the final exam, as you wish, with the score on that section replacing the score you got on the corresponding quiz. I strongly advise against trying to take more than two, given the amount of time you will have to write your answers. The final will be in blue book/essay format. VIII: Course Completion Incomplete grades will be only be assigned to students who arrange for them with me in advance. Otherwise, course requirements remaining unfulfilled at the scheduled finish time for the final exam will be assigned scores of zero. Be aware that incomplete grades automatically convert to failing grades a certain period of time after the semester ends. IX: Final Grade Computation The quantified aspect of your final grade will be the mathematical mean of all course requirements. These factors will be weighted equally. The grading scale is as follows: 90+ 88+
A B+
80+ 78+
B C+
70+ 68+
C D+
60+
D
I reserve the right to depart from mathematical averages in assigning a final grade, based on my judgments regarding intangibles. I may revise upwards based on the amount of effort I see dedicated to writing, commitment to class discussion, interest in the subject, or other similar factors. Conversely, I may revise grades downwards based on the lack (or opposites) of such indicators.
Essay Writing Guidelines The content requirement for this paper is that it must deal with at least two sources, which are of two different kinds. The first kind includes ethical theories discussed in our text. The essay must deal with at least two of them, with at least one of those being from the chapter on which the quiz (which this paper substitutes for) is based. Please note that for purposes of these papers, “ethical theory” means an explanation of the distinction between right and wrong as such, not just an argument about a particular topic or a term definition. The second kind includes sources which provide the subject matter to which the ethical theory will be applied. The paper must include at least one of these. It may be a film or narrative of some kind which illustrates the issue you discuss, or it may be a factual or argumentative piece found in your own extra-curricular research. For a stronger paper, both of these latter types of sources may be brought to bear in detailing your subject matter. The rest of the guidelines offered here are for the purpose of making your paper a clear and persuasive argumentative essay. If you have a lot of essay-writing experience, you might not need these guidelines. There is more than one way to write a good argumentative essay. But if you are not an experienced essay writer (few students who enroll in this class are), or if you feel at all unsure of what to do, these guidelines are for you. What follows is an explanation of a paragraph-by-paragraph structure (almost a template, really) which will help you see what argumentative essay writing is all about. If you follow these guidelines, it will be almost impossible to go wrong. Below, I will explain for you how what may appear to be a very large and intimidating job (the paper) is in fact just a series of small jobs (the paragraphs). Keep in mind that some of these paragraphs may be a bit shorter (46 sentences) and some may be a bit longer (8-10 sentences), but in general one or possibly two paragraphs will be enough to fulfill each of these tasks. (Please note: the underlined titles are for instructional purposes only. Your paper should not include such labeled subdivisions) First Job: Introduction Think of this as a promissory note or road map for what will come in the rest of the paper. Now is not the time to explain, argue, or justify. Just introduce the subject in a way that entices the reader’s attention, specify your thesis statement, and outline how you will support that subject, so your reader knows what to expect. Absent any one of these factors, your paper is likely to lack continuity and/or focus, or worse, it may fail to interest the reader enough to continue past the first paragraph. Second Job: Subject Matter If the problem you are addressing is to be brought out in a narrative or by presenting factual information, a case study, or something else of that nature (and this is an excellent role for your outside source to fulfill in this paper), it is almost always a good idea to put that before reader right away. This gives the paper a subject and parameters, and makes your discussion "grounded," which will help your reader feel like they have a sense of the “turf” about which arguments will shortly be presented. So after the introduction, it is a good idea to take a
paragraph or two to get your reader acquainted with your subject matter. Hint: if you are using both a narrative and a statistical or other factual source, place the former first to capture the readers’ imagination, and the latter second to ground the argument in reality. After this, there are many possible ways of organizing your material to construct a good paper. In what follows, I am suggesting a sequence which will work well for most combinations materials. But your paper may involve factors which make it worthwhile to do things a but differently. If you think that is the case, it would be a good idea to discuss it with me. Third Job: Theory, Part I Before you can show how a philosopher’s views relate to the issue you are discussing, you must first explain that philosopher’s theory. Remember that only what you write in the paper can be a factor in my judgment of how well you have understood these ideas. If you do not explain very much, I cannot assume you know very much, and that will have a negative impact on your grade. Yet there will probably also be aspects which are irrelevant to your focus and should be omitted. If you are concerned about what to include/exclude, talk to me. Keep in mind that it is almost never a good idea to give the opposition the last word, and bouncing between authors with whom you agree and disagree is likely to disrupt the flow/focus of your paper. So if you plan to discuss two theories, and disagree with one, it is generally better to discuss that one. Also remember here that it is very important to be fair, even if your paper eventually opposes this view. For if you misrepresent their view, then what you disagree with is not what they have actually said, and you have missed the point. Next: Theory, Part II: Having explained the general view, the next thing to do is to show (note: show, not just say) the thinker would support what you believe they would support, or that this view has certain social consequences, etc., depending on the nature of your paper. For example, if the philosopher you just explained was Kant, presumably you would have discussed the categorical imperative. So at this point, you would show that would require in the situation you are discussing. Part I & II indicated here should be repeated for each theory discussed. The Penultimate Job: The Home Stretch Some students have arguments of their own which are not quite the same as anything our authors or philosophers have to say. Others have had experiences which they believe provide an important perspective on the matter they are discussing. This material often adds a lot to a paper, making it a more personal work and giving a stronger sense of the importance of the problem. If you have such a contribution to include, this is the place for it. Don't worry about cramming it into a single paragraph. Just make it good. And Finally: The Conclusion It is difficult for me to be very specific about this last paragraph of your paper, because so much depends on the specifics of your paper. But here are some pointers:
1) It is a good idea to wrap up any loose ends here, but... 2) ...Do not summarize your paper or recapitulate your argument. I don’t care what your high school English teacher told you. Your paper is not long enough, nor are you writing for a readership feeble enough, for your argument to have been forgotten already. Repetition just makes it seem as though you ran out of ideas and are trying to fill up space. 3) One way to culminate your paper is to give indications that your major point has an impact in areas beyond the scope of the subject you have just discussed. However... 4) ...Confine yourself to gesturing in the direction of any broader conclusion rather than going into arguments for it or introducing new information. New material will make your paper seem to be changing direction rather than concluding. If you still feel you need help, talk to me. Who better to give advice on your work than the person who will grade it?
