Critical Reading and Writings in Ethics
**please note 11/6 revisions to syllabus below**
Dr. Peter Gratton, Dept. of Philosophy
T/Th: 9:00-10:15, A-3020
Winter 2016
Office Hours: T/Th, 10:15-11:00 and by appointment, AA3102
Course web site: grattoncourses.wordpress.com
Syllabus
(The most up-to-date schedule of readings will always be online below. Check back often to make sure you are keeping up with the relevant assignments.)
Required Texts:
- Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Terence Irwin (Indianapolis / Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999).
- Nietzsche, Genealogy of Morals, ISBN: 0679724621 (Vintage)
- Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, ISBN: 087220166X (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing
- Mill, John Stuart, Utilitarianism (Indianapolis / Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company, 1995).
- Foucault, Michel, Discipline and Punish (New York: Vintage, 1979), ISBN: 0679752552.
- Strunk, William, and E.B. White, The Elements of Style (New York: Longman, 2000).
- Additional materials provided below via internet link to downloadable audi
Schedule of Readings:
Thursday, Sept. 8 | 1. Introduction to Ethics.
2. Overview of normative versus ontological claims. |
Tuesday,
Sept. 13 |
1. Read: Arendt’s “What is Authority” (available at course website), pp. 91-120.
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Thursday, Sept. 15 | 1. Read: Arendt’s “What is Authority?” (available at course website), pp. 120-end.
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Tuesday, Sept. 20 | 1. Read: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book I
2. Begin informal fallacies (subchapter for all discussions of fallacies here from Patrick Hurley’s A Concise Introduction to Logic, 11th edition)
Resources for Aristotle: 1. BBC In Our Time: Virtue (podcast) 2. Nigel Warburton, Philosophy Classics, Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (podcast) 3. Table of Virtues (MS Word File) 4. Aristotle Prof’s opening lecture and overview. |
Thursday, Sept. 22 | 1. Read: Aristotle, Ethics, Book II.
2. Continue informal fallacies (subchapter for all discussions of fallacies here from Patrick Hurley’s A Concise Introduction to Logic, 11th edition)
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Now Tues Oct. 4 |
1. Read: Aristotle, Ethics, Book III
2. Continue informal fallacies (subchapter for all discussions of fallacies here from Patrick Hurley’s A Concise Introduction to Logic, 11th edition)
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Now
Thurs. October 6 |
1. Reading: Aristotle, Ethics, Book VI, chapters I-X
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Now Thursday
October 13 |
1. Read: Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. 7-15.
2. Continue informal fallacies (subchapter for all discussions of fallacies here from Patrick Hurley’s A Concise Introduction to Logic, 11th edition)
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Now Tuesday Oct. 18 |
1. Read: Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. 16-30.
Resources for Kant:
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Thursday, Oct. 20 |
1. Read: Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals, pp. 31-49.
2. Discussion of plagiarism. Read MUN University Calendar Sections 5.11.5.2 and 5.11.5.4. and the MUN Writing Center’s Guide to Avoiding Plagiarism. |
Tuesday, Oct. 25 |
1. Read: Mill, Utilitarianism (sections 1-2)
2. Read: Harvard’s Brief Guide to Writing a Philosophy Paper Resources for John Stuart Mill:
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Thursday, Oct. 27 | 1. Read Mill, Utilitarianism (sections 3-5) |
Tuesday, Nov. 1 |
1. Read: Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish, pp. 3-32
Resources for Foucault:
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Thursday, Nov. 3 | class canceled
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Tuesday, Nov. 8 | 1. Read Foucault, Discipline, pp. 32-72.
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Thursday, Nov. 10 | 1. Foucault, Discipline, pp. 73-103.
Third Writing Assignment (4 pages): In this paper, you will show how Mill would have critiqued Aristotle had he made more than a passing mention of him in Utilitarianism. What would his critique be? Why do you think this? Make sure to provide textual evidence for your claims, both from Aristotle and from Mill. (15pts.) |
Tuesday, Nov. 15 |
1. Foucault, Discipline, pp. 195-230. |
Thursday, Nov. 17 | 1. Foucault, Discipline, pp. 293-end.
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Tuesday, Nov. 22 | 1. Arendt, “Personal Responsibility under Dictatorship”
2. Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, “The Accused” Resources on Arendt’s Eichmann in Jerusalem
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Thursday, Nov. 24 |
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Tuesday, Nov. 29 | 1. Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem, ‘Epilogue‘ |
Thursday, Dec. 1 | Final Class. |
T/B/A |
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