PHIL 106: Moral Controversies

Professor Mary I. Bockover
BSS 558
Office Hours: T and TR 11:00-12:30
Phone: 707-826-5752

PHIL 106: MORAL CONTROVERSIES

SYLLABUS

This lower division GE course will introduce you to some basic moral controversies confronted globally, and from a comparative perspective. It will not be a survey of diverse opinions from a variety of different traditions. The methodology for this course is critical analysis, so students are to exercise their reason and not just state their point of view. In the “East” or “West” ethics must appeal to principle in order to offer a justifiable view, so the main goal of this course is to introduce students to some ethical problems or “moral controversies” that can be reasonably supported and critiqued from different standpoints. However, a moral view ultimately rests on a “self-evident” or “self-justifying” first principle that supplies the basis for further consideration. A moral controversy arises because a variety of these principles conflict. We will see this by comparing ethical views from fundamentally different cultural and historical roots. A further goal is to understand how any view – even one’s own – can be supported and critiqued. Ethics is a branch of philosophy, and any intelligent discussion about a moral controversy first must clearly define relevant principles and distinctions and then one can make arguments about their relevancy – or lack thereof.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

2 Graded Philosophy Essays: the first on ABORTION, and the second on articles on SUICIDE AND EUTHANASIA. Each paper is to be approximately 4 pages in length, double-spaced, and typed, each worth 1/3 of your written grade. Revise each at least 3 times!
Final Examination: on Ethical Principles, Family Morality, and Environmental Ethics (worth 1/3 of your written grade).
Attendance, participation, and you must do the relevant reading prior to class. Quizzes may be given at any time.
Practical Learning Requirement (PLR): [See PLR Link] from the following options:

The HSU Ethics Forum: 3 hours (in 2 meetings), plus 5 hours of outside research.
The Media Option of at least 5 hours of contact with outside media sources, e.g., movies, videos, CD ROMs, Internet sites, newspaper or magazine articles, etc, on some moral controversy that you find of interest.
Community Service/Involvement Option of participating in at least 5 hours of activities in the community.

Note: All the options above will require an essay discussing the moral relevancy of the topic you have chosen. This PLR “portfolio” to be approximately 4 pages in length, double-spaced and typed (not including pictures). See me for further guidance, if need be. Graded credit / no-credit.

HSU Area C Objectives

1. To understand human experience through the development of the ability to recognize and test relationships between particular instances and facts, and general principles and concepts.
2. To develop and/or increase one’s subjective responses to humanistic and/or artistic works, including analysis of disciplinary standards of judgment (contemporary and/or historically) in humanistic and artistic areas.
3. To highlight varied factors in the personal nature of human beings’ production and response to artistic and humanistic works including (but not limited to) gender, culture or ethnicity.
4. To provide an understanding of the nature and scope of perspectives and scholarship within the arts/humanities and to appreciate the importance of these perspectives and scholarship toward understanding of human experience.

FALL 2009

WEEK 1	T: Introduction
	TR: Why Abortion is Immoral by Don Marquis
WEEK 2	T: Quiz 1 and Discussion of Christian Natural Law Ethics
	TR: A Defense of Abortion by J. J. Thomson
WEEK 3	T: Quiz 2 and Discussion of the Ethics of Duty
	TR: Can Late Abortion be Ethically Justified? by Qiu, Wang, and Gu
WEEK 4	T: Discussion of Utilitarianism
	TR: Buddhist Approaches to Abortion by R. E. Florida
WEEK 5	T: Discussion of Buddhist Ethics
	Th: 1ST PAPER DUE: SEPTEMBER 24 Introduction to Suicide, Euthanasia, and Medical Ethics
WEEK 6	T: Is There a Duty to Die? by John Hardwig
	Th: Discussion of Confucian Ethics
WEEK 7	T: The Morality and Rationality of Suicide by Richard Brandt
	Th: Discussion of Buddhist Ethics, cont.
WEEK 8	T: Buddhist Views of Suicide and Euthanasia by Carl B. Becker
	Th: Overview of Suicide & Euthanasia
WEEK 9	T: 2ND PAPER DUE: OCTOBER 20 Introduction to Family Ethics (Morality within the Family)
	Th: What Do Grown Children Owe Their Parents? by Jane English
WEEK 10	T: Grown Children's Filial Obligation: A Confucian View by Chenyang Li
	Th: Filial Morality by Christina Hoff Sommers
WEEK 11	NO CLASSES: FURLOUGH & CHINA CONFERENCE
WEEK 12	NO CLASSES: FURLOUGH & CHINA CONFERENCE
WEEK 13	T: Overview of Morality in the Family
	Th: Discussion of Taoist Ethics and Cosmology
WEEK 14	THANKSGIVING BREAK
WEEK 15	T: The Ethics of Respect for Nature by Paul W. Taylor
	Th: A “Good” Environment: Just One of the Set of Human Objectives by William Baxter
WEEK 16	T: The Buddhist Attitude Toward Nature by Lily de Silva
	Th: Ecological Themes in Taoism and Confucianism by Mary Evelyn Tucker
WEEK 17	FINAL EXAM: Thursday, December 17, 5 – 6:50pm PLR Portfolio due anytime during finals week