These lecture handouts were used to supplement class discussion.
| SES # | TOPICS | HANDOUTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Introduction | |
| Part I: Meta-ethics | ||
| Non-naturalism | ||
| 2 | Plato’s dialogue and the “Euthyphro Problem” | (PDF) |
| 3 | Moore on goodness as simple and indefinable | (PDF) |
| Non-cognitivism | ||
| 4 | Ayer on the emotive theory of ethics | (PDF) |
| 5 | Brink on the form and content of moral judgments | (PDF) |
| The epistemic problem for cognitivism | ||
| 6 | Harman on ethics and observation | (PDF) |
| 7 | Sturgeon on moral explanations | (PDF) |
| Moral relativism | ||
| 8 | Harman on moral relativism | (PDF) |
| 9 | Foot on moral relativism | (PDF) |
| 10 | Lyons on ethical relativism and the problem of incoherence | (PDF) |
| Part II: Normative ethics | ||
| Goodness | ||
| 11 | Mill on utilitarianism | (PDF) |
| 12 | Nozick and Parfit on theories of well-being | (PDF) |
| 13 | Norcross on comparing harms | (PDF) |
| Rightness | ||
| 14 | Williams critiquing utilitarianism | (PDF) |
| 15 | Lenman on consequentialism and cluelessness | (PDF) |
| 16 | Singer on act-utilitarianism | (PDF) |
| 17 | Rawls on rules | (PDF) |
| 18 | Nagel on agent-relative reasons | (PDF) |
| Distributive justice | ||
| 19 | Rawls and Nagel on equality | (PDF) |
| 20 | Williams on the idea of equality | (PDF) |
| 21 | Singer on famine, affluence, and morality | (PDF) |
| Part III: Moral character | ||
| Virtue | ||
| 22 | Arpaly on moral worth | (PDF) |
| 23 | Wolf on moral saints | (PDF) |
| Free will and moral responsibility | ||
| 24 | van Inwagen on the incompatibility of free will and determinism | (PDF) |
| 25 | Frankfurt on moral responsibility | (PDF) |
| 26 | Nagel on moral luck | (PDF) |
