Note: This is an old syllabus

PHI 3601 Ethics Spring 2018 Dr. Kenneth Henley. Office: DM 344B Phone: 348-3346 Office Hours: Tuesday & Thursday 8:15-9:15 and 11:00-12:15.

Website: http://faculty.fiu.edu/~henleyk

Text: Ethics: History, Theory, and Contemporary Issues, ed. Steven M. Cahn and Peter Markie, Sixth Edition. New York: Oxford University Press, 2016. ISBN 978-0-19-020980-3

Course Objectives: 1. To stimulate reflection upon several fundamental questions in ethics. 2. To provide an account of the views and arguments of some important ethical theorists. 3. To improve skills of reasoning and argument: searching for consistency and coherence, clarifying questions, ferreting out presuppositions, weighing reasoning and evidence, and exploring alternative accounts of disputed concepts.

Requirements: THIS COURSE IS NOT DELIVERED BY E-MAIL. DISCUSSION IS NOT CONDUCTED BY E-MAIL. EXCEPT IN EMERGENCIES, PAPERS ARE NOT HANDED IN BY E-MAIL. Class attendance is required. Students must read the assignment before coming to class. Class attendance, participation and discussion are important, and may make a difference in the course grade if the student's final average is on the borderline between two grades.

Two approximately 6-page papers are required. Dates, topics and guidelines for the papers will be given in class and posted on my website. While the most important dimension is the quality of the reasoning and philosophical understanding, grades on papers also reflect all elements of writing: grammar, punctuation, sentence and paragraph structure, clarity of expression, and essay structure. There will be a comprehensive final examination. Each paper and the final examination will count as 1/3 of the final average for the course. Note that a student cannot pass without completing all work.

Dates and Assigned Readings

Jan. 9 Introduction

Jan. 11 Plato, Euthyphro pp. 5-16

Jan. 16, 18 Plato, Republic, pp. 65-72 (Book II 357-367) and pp. 90-96 (Book IV 438-445)

Jan. 23, 25 Aristotle pp. 124-151 (up to beginning of Bk. VI)

Jan. 30, Feb. 1 Aristotle pp. 151-178; Annas 703-13

Feb. 6, 8 St. Thomas Aquinas--Selections on my website, NOT those in the text.

Feb. 13, 15 Hobbes pp. 237-48; Gauthier pp. 593-603

Feb. 20, 22 Butler pp. 248-76; Hume Treatise pp. 277-88

Feb. 27, Mar. 1 Hume Enquiry pp. 289-313.

Mar. 6, 8 Kant pp. 314-42 (Groundwork, Preface & Sections I & II)

Spring Break Mar. 12-17

Mar. 20, 22 Foot pp. 647-53; Kant pp. 342-53 (Section III), Nagel pp. 668-76

Mar. 27, 29 Bentham pp. 354-62; Mill pp. 363-97

Apr. 3, 5 continue Mill; Williams pp. 544-60

Apr. 10, 12 Smart 536-43; Rawls 571-93

Apr. 17 continue Rawls

Apr. 19 Review

April 24 Comprehensive Final Examination at the officially scheduled time, which will probably be Tuesday, Apr. 24, 9:45-11:45. Students must provide their own blue-books (examination books).