to Introduction Ethics Philosophy 120W 007805 Tuesday Armstrong 223B 6 pm 8:45 pm Instructor: Peter Shea, Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Minnesota. Email: [e-mail]. Home phone: [phone]. Mail should be sent to me at home: 1401 Washburn Avenue North, Minneapolis 55411. I will be available for consultation and meetings a half hour before and after class and at other times on Tuesdays by appointment. Phone conferences are also possible. Course Goals: 1. To understand the questions that can be asked about human actions, practices, ideals, and ways of life, especially those concerning obligations and values. 2. To understand some central arguments in moral philosophy as those arguments develop and change. 3. To gain access to ideas in the philosophic tradition (and allied traditions) as resources for thinking about your own life. 4. To improve your ability to think about what you are doing. Note: The best reason to study ethics is to become better. All of the course goals contribute to that project. Texts: Protagoras and The Republic by Plato; Walden and Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau; The Consolations of Philosophy by Alain DeBotton; and Changing the Bully Who Rules the World, edited by Carol Bly. Work: Most of the material that would in an earlier era have been the substance of lecture -- preliminary reading notes and reflections on the issues raised by the readings will be posted at: http://blog.lib.umn.edu/shea0017/philosophy/. Find this address, bookmark it, and consult it from time to time, and always after 5 pm on Friday. You are responsible for any material posted on this site after August 29, 2006. There will be quizzes and exercises in class to test your basic familiarity with the readings and with the material posted on the website. The work during the class period will be active, participatory, and various, giving respect to the strengths and resources that each of you brings to this class and making personal connections between your lives and the ideas and questions in the reading.
The primary written work in the course will be a series of short papers. There will also be some small, informal exercises, including in-class writing. The final exam is offered as an option for those who wish to improve their grades; it is not in any way a course requirement. You should expect to devote a minimum of 10 hours per week to the work for this course, on a regular schedule. Work on writing and revisions as close to the time of assignment/revision as you can. Do reading within a couple of days of the upcoming class, if possible. Please note however: you will go dry on writing sometimes, and you will tire of reading (and stop comprehending) after a fairly short period. You cannot succeed at this kind of work by doing it all at once. You have to write for a bit, and then put your writing away and revisit it later. You have to read and make notes for a awhile, and then stop, think about what you have read, and come back to it later. Evaluation 70% on short papers (500-800 words) assigned approximately every two weeks, 15% on informal writing and quizzes, 15% on participation, including attendance, comments on other students work, and participation in discussion. There will be an optional take-home final. If the grade on this exam is higher than the grades on two short papers, it will replace those grades. The lowest grade from short papers will, in any case, be dropped in the process of averaging grades. Attendance Attendance will be taken at each class. If you miss more than two classes, your participation grade will suffer. Also, the process of writing papers for this class has stages that take place during class sessions, so missing class will make it harder to complete course papers successfully. If you have a run of bad luck that forces you to be absent more than two sessions, please let me know right away. In extreme cases, we may be able to work out supplementary exercises to partly compensate for the absences. Writing As a writing intensive course, Ethics120W must assign between 20 and 30 pages of writing over the course of the semester. Most of this writing will be revised at least once before it is evaluated. The pattern in general will be this: a writing assignment will be given out in class, usually with some time allotted for preliminary notes (and questions) during the class period. At the next class, you will bring a draft of the paper to show to one or more other students during the class period. They will comment and, on the basis of those comments, you will revise the paper and email it to me. These drafts are due on the Friday following the class meeting in which students commented on the paper. I will comment on the draft, and you will prepare a final version, which you will send to me for grading. (See the schedule, below, for details.) These are short papers, with word limits between 500 and 800 words. Drafts may be somewhat shorter than final versions. Please observe the word count carefully
in writing, coming reasonably close to the word limit within words. 30 (The Word Count option on the Word tools bar makes counting painless.) All papers should be submitted in 14 point Arial type. Late papers will not be accepted, nor will final papers for which drafts have not been submitted. The lowest paper grade will be dropped, so you have the option of skipping one paper. Schedule of the Writing and Reading in this course. Tuesday 1 Paper A assigned, preliminary writing. Friday after Tuesday 1 Check website for additional notes on course readings. Tuesday 2 First draft of paper A shared with one or more students. (Bring two copies to class.) Friday after Tuesday 2 Draft of paper A due to me by email. Check website for additional notes on course readings. Tuesday 3 Comments on paper A returned to you by email. New paper (paper B) assigned. Friday after Tuesday 3 Final draft of paper A due, by email. Check website for additional notes on course readings. Tuesday 4 First draft of paper B shared with one or more students. Bring 2 copies to class. Plagiarism Plagiarism is the use of someones words or ideas without giving that person credit. One can plagiarize from other students, from web pages, or from printed sources. Plagiarism violates the rules of the university. Any work found to be plagiarized will receive a failing grade, and repeated plagiarism will be grounds for failing the course and for disciplinary action at the University level. Use some accepted manual of style easily available on the web to determine format for footnoting sources in a clear way. Special Needs If you have a certified learning disability or other special circumstances that require accommodations to help you learn in this course, please let me know right away so that I can make appropriate arrangements to meet your needs. Course Calendar The schedule of work in this course is subject to ongoing revision. This calendar gives you a rough idea of the time devoted to each of the course texts.
Aug 29 Introduction to the course, to reading and writing in philosophy, to the Greek context, and to Protagoras. Sept 5 Protagoras -- The question that begins the exploration in Republic. Personal statement due. Sept 12 Republic. Sept 19 Republic. Paper 1 due Friday, September 22. Sept 26 Republic. Oct 3 Walden. Paper 2 due Friday, October 6. Oct 10 Walden. Oct 17 Consolations: Epicurus. Paper 3 due Friday, October 20. Oct 24 Consolations: Seneca Oct 31 Consolations: Montaigne. Paper 4 due Friday, November 3. Nov 7 Consolations: Schopenhauer/Nietzsche Nov 14 Changing the Bully: leaders and followers. Paper 5 due Friday, November 17. Nov 21 -- Changing the Bully: predation and bullying. Nov 28 -- Changing the Bully: strategies for opposing the abuse of power. Paper 6 due Friday, December 1. Dec 4 -- Changing the Bully: the grounds for hope. Dec 11 Final reflections. Paper 7 due Friday, December 18. Dec 13 Final exam scheduled. Optional take-home exam due.
First assignment, for Tuesday, September 5 Read, in this order, the following: 1. Consolations, chapter 1 on Socrates; 2. Pr...