Ethics

Readings

There are no required texts for this course. Many of the readings may be found in the anthology:

[Sher] = Sher, George. Moral Philosophy: Selected Readings. 2nd ed. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt-Brace, 1995. ISBN: 9780155017559.

SES #	TOPICS	READINGS
1	Introduction
Part I: Meta-ethics
2-3	Non-naturalism What are ethical judgments claims about?	Ses #2 [Sher] Plato. “Euthyphro.” Chapter 14, pp. 166-179. Ses #3 [Sher] Moore, G. E. “Goodness as Simple and Indefinable.” Chapter 9, pp. 111-119.
4-5	Non-cognitivism Perhaps ethical claims aren’t even the kinds of statements that can be true or false …	Ses #4 [Sher] Ayer, Alfred Jules. “The Emotive Theory of Ethics.” Chapter 10, pp. 120-128. Ses #5 [Sher] Brink, David. “The Form and Content of Moral Judgments.” Chapter 13, pp. 160-165.
6-7	The epistemic problem for cognitivism If ethical claims can be true or false, how could we know which they are?	Ses #6 [Sher] Harman, Gilbert. “Ethics and Observation.” Chapter 17, pp. 205-211. Ses #7 [Sher] Sturgeon, Nicholas. “Moral Explanations.” Chapter 18, pp. 212-232.
8-10	Moral relativism In what sense, if any is morality objective?	Ses #8 Harman, Gilbert. “What is Moral Relativism?” In Values and Morals: Essays in Honor of William Frankena, Charles Stevenson and Richard Brandt. Edited by Alvin I. Goldman, and Jaegwon Kim. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: D. Reidel Publishing Company, 1978, pp. 143-161. ISBN: 9789027709141. Ses #9 Foot, Philippa. “Moral Relativism.” Chapter 13 in Moral Relativism: A Reader. Edited by Paul K. Moser, and Thomas L. Carson. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 185-198. ISBN: 9780195131307. Ses #10 Lyons, David. “Ethical Relativism and the Problem of Incoherence.” Chapter 10 in Moral Relativism: A Reader. Edited by Paul K. Moser, and Thomas L. Carson. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000, pp. 127-141. ISBN: 9780195131307.
Part II: Normative ethics
11-13	Goodness What makes outcomes good?	Ses #11 [Sher] Mill, John Stuart. “Utilitarianism (selections).” Chapter 23, pp. 298-312. Ses #12 [Sher] Nozick, Robert. “The Experience Machine.” Chapter 44, pp. 612-614. [Sher] Parfit, Derek. “What Makes Someone’s Life Go Best?” Chapter 49, pp. 665-674. Ses #13 Norcross, Alastair. “Comparing Harms: Headaches and Human Lives.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 26, no. 2 (Spring 1997): 136-167.
14-18	Rightness Is the right act always the one that would produce the best outcome?	Ses #14 [Sher] Williams, Bernard. “A Critique of Utilitarianism.” Chapter 27, pp. 353-363. Ses #15 Lenman, James. “Consequentialism and Cluelessness.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 29, no. 4 (Autumn 2000): 342-370. Ses #16 Singer, Peter. “Is Act-Utilitarianism Self-Defeating?” Philosophical Review 81, no. 1 (January 1972): 94-104. Ses #17 Rawls, John. “Two Concepts of Rules.” Philosophical Review 64, no. 1 (January 1955): 3-32. Ses #18 Nagel, Thomas. “Ethics.” Chapter IX in The View from Nowhere. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 1989, pp. 164-188. ISBN: 9780195056440.
19-21	Distributive justice What does it take to treat people equally? And does it matter how we distribute the good?	Ses #19 [Sher] Rawls, John. “Classical Utilitarianism.” Chapter 26, pp. 348-352. Nagel, Thomas. “Equality.” Chapter 8 in Mortal Questions. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1979. Reprint, Canto ed. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 106-127. ISBN: 9780521406765. Ses #20 Williams, Bernard. “The Idea of Equality.” Chapter 14 in Problems of the Self. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1976, pp. 230-249. ISBN: 9780521290609. Ses #21 [Sher] Singer, Peter. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Chapter 51, pp. 694-704.
Part III: Moral character
22-23	Virtue What makes us virtuous? And how important is it to be virtuous?	Ses #22 Arpaly, Nomy. “Moral Worth.” Journal of Philosophy 99, no. 5 (May 2002): 223-245. Ses #23 [Sher] Wolf, Susan. “Moral Saints.” Chapter 40, pp. 563-580.
24-26	Free will and moral responsibility Can we be held responsible for what we do?	Ses #24 van Inwagen, Peter. “The Incompatibility of Free Will and Determinism.” Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition 27, no. 3 (March 1975): 185-199. Ses #25 Frankfurt, Harry G. “Possibilities and Moral Responsibility.” Journal of Philosophy 66, no. 23 (December 4, 1969): 829-839. Ses #26 [Sher] Nagel, Thomas. “Moral Luck.” Chapter 33, pp. 441-452.