1
Philosophy 5100: Ethics
MW 1: 30-2: 45
Spring 2006
HLMS 177
Syllabus
Professor
Chris Heathwood
Office: Hellems 192
Office Phone: (303-73) 5-0450
Office Hours: Wed. , 2: 45-4: 00, and by appt.
Em ail: heathwood@colorado. edu
Course Description
This course is a survey of ethical theory. Our main focus will be on the normative ethics
of behavior, where we will study some of the following approaches: relativism, egoism,
natural law theory, consequentialism, Kantianism, deontological systems,
contractarianism, and virtue ethics. We will also study some theories in axiology, such
as hedonism, preferentism, perfectionism, and pluralism. We will finish with
metaethics, where we will examine some of the following views: naturalism, non-
naturalism, non-cognitivism, subjectivism, and nihilism.
Books and Readings
One book is required:
00Louis Pojman (ed. ) , Ethical Theory: Classical and Contemporary Readings , 4th
Edition (Wadsworth, 2001) . ISBN: 053457033X. (Note: not the 5
th
edition. )
It is available at the CU Bookstore. If they are out of used copies, you might find a used
copy online. A copy is also available on reserve at the library for photocopying.
Parts of the following book will also be used:
00Michael Huemer, Ethical Intuitionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) .
ISBN: 1403989680.
But you don't need to buy the whole book if you don't want to. I will make the relevant
chapters available to you in some way or other.
There may be other readings as well. If so, they will also be made available.
If you have very little experience with moral philosophy, the following two introductory
textbooks make great resources:
00Fred Feldman, Introductory Ethics (Prentice-Hall, 1978) . ISBN: 0135017831.
00Mark Tim mons, Moral Theory: An Introduction (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002) .
ISBN: 084769769X.
I believe the CU Bookstore ordered a few copies of each of these. You might also find
them used online.
2
Course Requirements
Class Presentation . Each student is required to do one class presentation, about 10-20
minutes or so in length (if there is a lot of discussion, your presentation will naturally
last longer) . For your presentation, pick some small topic from one of the week's
readings. Then, as we say, "present on it": give the relevant background (if needed) ,
motivate the relevant puzzle or puzzles (if any) , present the author's thesis on the topic
(if any) or an argument by the author on the topic (if any) , raise an objection to
something the author says on the topic (if you can) . I recommend making a handout for
your presentation.
Short Papers : You are required to write three short (2-4 page) papers. You will receive a
list of narrow topics from which to choose (or you can choose your own topic - but have
it approved before proceeding) .
Longer Paper : A 10-15 page paper is due at the end of the semester, on some topic of
your choosing relevant to the course.
A Possible Course Schedule That Is Certain Not to Be Ours Along with a
Possible Set of Readings That Is Certain Not to Be Ours
Week 1: First Day of Class BS, A Map of Moral Philosophy
Week 2: Relativism (Herodotus, Benedict, Pojman, Harman)
Week 3: Egoism (Hobbes, Feinberg, Medlin, Kalin)
Week 4: Consequentialism I (Mill, Smart, Nielsen, Williams)
Week 5: Consequentialism II (Hospers, Nozick, Foot, Scheffler, Fumerton and Jeske)
Week 6: Axiology (Bentham, Mill, Nozick, Parfit, Ross*, Feldman*)
Week 7: Kantianism (Kant, O'Neill, Parfit*)
Week 8: Social Contract Theory (Hobbes*, Murphy*, Rawls*, Nozick*) ,
Week 9: Deontology, Rossianism (Foot, Quinn, Ross, Audi)
Week 10: Virtue Ethics (Aristotle, Mayo, Frankena, Schaller, MacIntyre, Wolf, Pojman)
SPRING BREAK
Week 11: Intro to Metaethics, The Open Question Argument (Spencer*, Moore, Ayer)
Week 12: Non-Cognitivism (Huemer, Hare, Gibbard*)
Week 13: Subjectivism (Huemer, Lewis*)
Week 14: Naturalism/Reductionism (Huemer, Harman, Sturgeon)
Week 15: Non-Naturalism (Huemer, Shafer-Landau*)
'*' means this reading is not in either the Pojman or the Huemer.
Short papers will probably be due around weeks 6, 10, and 14, give or take.
The longer paper will probably be due Monday, May 8 (the Monday of "Week 16") .
search
