Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "PH/RL 224"
COURSE NAME: "Living the Good Life: Religious and Philosophical Ethics (Visiting students: during registration this course is listed as RL/PH 224)"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring Semester 2012

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Provvidera Tiziana
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: MW 19:00-20:15
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS: By appointment

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The purpose of this course is to examine the historical, literary and philosophical background of some of the most relevant moral topics of Western Civilization. The course illustrates the relevance of philosophical queries on moral concepts in order to understand the importance of a historical account of ethics.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Ethical questions and moral theories will be analysed and discussed such as the concepts of fate, fortune, providence, human freedom, relationship to the environments, biotechnologies, issues in genetics. These concepts constitute one of the fundamental philosophical problems about human destiny in general and about human actions in particular, involving both social and political as well as theological issues.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Through a careful reading of the primary texts that defined the moral thought from antiquity to the contemporary age, students will discover and explore what might be considered the foundations of our ‘social living’, and therefore of ourselves, towards a more rational understanding of the meaning and position of man in this world.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

Book Title	Author	Publisher	ISBN number	Library Call Number
Eight Theories of Ethics	G. Graham	Routledge	0415315883	BJ1025 .G675
A Short History of Ethics	A. McIntyre	Routledge	aaaaaaaa	BJ71.M3
Christian Ethics: A Historical Introduction	J.P. Wogaman	John Knox Press	0664251633	BJ1201 .W64
A Companion to Ethics	P. Singer	Blackwell	0631187855	BJ1012 .C62
A companion to bioethics	Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer	Blackwell	0631197370	R724.C616
Western Philosophy. An Anthology	J. Cottingham	Blackwell	9781405124782	BD21 .W43
Ethics: The Fundamentals	Julia Driver	Blackwell	1405111542

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
2 written papers	ca. 1500 word essays	10% each paper
oral presentation and class attendance	Class time	15%

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:

Assessment Guidelines for assigning main letter grades: A, B, C,D, and F.

A: Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensiveknowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.

B: This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.

There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.

C: This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.

D: This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.

Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.

F: This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance is mandatory.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Session	Session Focus	Reading Assignment
16 January	What is Ethics? A definition of Ethics and Moral Sciences. Is ethics compatible with faith? Greek Ethics. Pre-Socratic (550-430 BC)	Extracts from Pre-Socratic philosophers
18 January	Greek Ethics. The virtues at Athens; Socrates (470/69-399 BC): The nature of the virtues; Socrates and the State; Socrates and Athenian Democracy: his trial and death. What is justice? What is pious?	Plato, Apology, Crito, Euthyphro
23 January	Greek Ethics. The Sophists (431-421 BC). Being good and being wise: can virtue be taught? Relativism and subjectivism. The standard as the self (egoism); Socrates versus the Sophists	Plato, Gorgias; Protagoras; Theaetetus
25 January	The Socratic Schools: Cynics and Cyrenaics (4 BC). Nature versus pleasure.
30 January	Greek Ethics. Plato (428/7-348 BC): Justice as a virtue; being good and being pious; being good and being happy, Plato’s theory of forms, the allegory of the cave	Plato, Republic and VII letter
3 February (make up)	Greek Ethics. Aristotle on pleasure (Hedonism) and virtue	Aristotle, The Nicomachean Ethics
6 April	Hellenistic and Roman Ethics: Stoicism, Epicureism, Skepticism (IV-I BC) and the crisis of Greek civilization.	Epicurus, Letter to Menoeceus; Seneca, Moral Letters
8 February	Christian Ethics. Pre-Scholastic period to 1100 AC: Augustine (354-430) and the problem of human freedom. Scholasticism: Thomas Aquinas (1221-1274) on What is the meaning of life?	Augustine, The City of God; Aquinas, Summa Theologica
13 February	Class-presentation: Greek-Roman and Christian system of values: a comparison
15 February	Renaissance. Being good and being successful: Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)	Machiavelli, The Prince; The Discourses
20 February	The Reformation. The question of man’s free will: Desiderius Erasmus (1466/69-1536) versus Martin Luther (1483-1546)	Erasmus, On the free will; Luther, On the enslaved will
22 February	Modern moral thought. Is humanity naturally good? Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679	T. Hobbes, Leviathan
27 February	Modern moral thought. Is humanity naturally good? Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)	J.-J. Rousseau, The Social Contract
29 February	Review
5 March	MIDTERM EXAM
7 March	Human feeling as the source of ethics: David Hume (1711-1776)	Hume, Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals
9 March (make up)	Immanuel Kant’s ethical doctrines (I)	I. Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moral
12 March	Immanuel Kant’s ethical doctrines (II)	I. Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Moral
14 March	Utilitarianism: Jeremy Bentham (1748-1842) and J.S. Mill (1806-1873)	J. Bentham, Principles of morals and legislation; J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism
26 March	Class-presentation: Why Liberals Should Care about Equality?
28 March	Against conventional morality: Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) and the death of God.	Nietzsche, Will to power; Beyond the Good and the Devil
2 April	Existentialism: Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855) and Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980).	S. Kierkegaard, Concluding unscientific postscript; J.-P. Sartre, Being and Nothingness
4 April	What is bioethics? A historical introduction. Ethical theory and bioethics.
11 April	Our relationship to the Environment	A. Leopold, The Land Ethic
16 April	Cloning, sexual reproduction and genetic engineering	L.R. Kass, The Wisdom of Repugnance
18 April	Class-presentation: Could ethics be objective? The clash between ethics and religion
23 April	Class review
	FINAL EXAMINATION