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Moral Philosophy, PHL
210-04, 210-04 (MWF) and PHL 210-06 (MW)Fall, 2020 |
Tel:315-445-4489 (campus voice mail) |
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Office hours through
zoom |
Email:kagan@lemoyne.edu |
|
Prof. Michael Kagan |
Le Moyne College
website: http://web.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/index.html |
This course aims
at an understanding of the activity of making moral judgments or affirming one
value or set of values over another. At issue are, typically, the meaning of
the words spoken when people make ethical assertions, the possibility of
justifying or proving the truth of such assertions and the implications of
discovering situations in which the ethical dimension is problematic. Integral
to this course is a study of these questions in the light of the great
traditions of ethical thinking as they have come to light in the various wisdom
literatures. (Le Moyne College Catalog)
Philosophy
department outcomes this course serves:
Students
will be able to articulate a philosophical understanding of the world through
the eyes of others.
Students
will be able to articulate philosophically significant issues in their own
life-experiences.
Students
will be able to summarize a philosophical argument with appropriate detail.
Plato - Five
Dialogues (Grube translation, with Cooper revisions)
Aristotle - Nicomachean
Ethics (David Ross’s translation)
Confucius -
Analects (D.C. Lau’s translation)
Lau Tzu - Tao Te Ching (D.C. Lau’s translation)
Martin Buber - The
Way of Man
Kathryn J. Norlock - “Feminist Ethics” (SEP), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/
In
coordination with the Academic
Support Center (ASC) and Disability
Support Services, reasonable
accommodations are provided for qualified students with disabilities. Please
register with the ASC Office for disability verification and determination of
reasonable accommodations. After receiving your accommodation form from the
ASC, you will need to make an appointment with me to review the form and
discuss your needs. Please make every attempt to meet with me within the first
week of class so your accommodations can be provided in a timely manner. You
can either stop by the ASC, Library, 1st floor, or call (445-4118-voice or
445-4104-TDD) to make an appointment.
If you miss class for Mass of the Holy Spirit
2020 on Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 10:45am
(or for any religious observance
throughout the semester), please let me know (so it gets recorded as an excused
absence).
No classes or office hours on Monday, September 28, Yom Kippur.
November 25 - 27: Thanksgiving Break. Thanksgiving Day is 11/26.
First take-home quiz given Mon., Oct. 19 - due Wed., October 28.
Second take-home quiz
given Mon., Nov 9 - due Wed., Nov.18.
LAST DAY OF CLASSES – Tuesday, November 24.
Your grade will be
based on the average of the following:
1. (50%) You
will have an opportunity to take two take-home quizzes. These will be handed
out at least 4 days before they are due. Late quizzes will receive a 15%
grading penalty for each day they are late. [If you cannot get a quiz in
on time, please let me know you need to take a make-up quiz with a different
deadline.] Unless otherwise indicated, please complete the quiz in less than
500 words. All work, except in-class writings, is to be typed.
Quizzes are to be turned in electronically on the date due through Canvas
(if you cannot access Canvas,
please email the quiz to me at kagan@lemoyne.edu, and - in addition to the
file attachment - please paste the text of your answers into your email
message. )
2. (50%) Other class work, which may include the following: group
work/in-class writings/optional quizzes (optional quizzes can be used to
replace take-home quizzes and vice-versa).
Grades are based
on a 10-point scale as follows:
90-100 - 'A' range
(97-100 = A+; 94-96=A; 90-93=A-); 80-89 - 'B' range (87-89 = B+; 84-86=B;
80-83=B-);
70-79 - 'C'
range (77-79 = C+; 74-76=C; 70-73=C-); 60-69 - 'D' range (67-69 = D+;
64-66=D; 60-63=D-).
Below 60 - 'F'.
Week #1 (of Aug.
31) Introduce course. Discussion of nomos, phusis,
logos, & reading. Brief survey of ethical theories. Start
reading Plato’s Euthyphro (the Plato assignments are in the Five
Dialogues text).
Week
#2 (Sep.7) Plato’s Euthyphro.
Week #3 (Sep. 14)
Plato’s Apology.
Week #4 (Mon, Sep. 21) Plato’s Crito.
Week #5 No
classes or office hours on Monday, September 28, Yom Kippur.
(Wed.,
Sep. 30) Plato’s Meno.
Week #6
(Mon., Oct. 5) Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, Book 1.
Week #7 (Mon.,
Oct. 12) Nicomachean Ethics, Books 2-7. Kathryn J. Norlock’s
“Feminist Ethics” http:/plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/
Week
#8 (Mon., Oct. 19) Nicomachean Ethics, Books 8-9. First take-home quiz
given Mon., Oct. 19 - due Wed., October 28.
Week #9
(Mon., Oct. 26) Confucius’ Analects,
Books I-X. First
take-home quiz due Wed., October 28.
Week #10 (Mon. Nov. 2) Analects, Books X-XX.
Week #11 (Mon.
Nov. 9) Lau Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Book One.
2nd
take-home quiz given Mon., Nov 9 - due Wed., Nov.18.
Week #12 (Mon.
Nov. 16) Lau Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Book
Two.
Week #13 (Mon.,
Nov. 23) Martin Buber’s Way of Man. (Final evaluations last day of
class, if they have not taken place, and depending on the implementation of the
new evaluation system.)
November 25 - 27:
Thanksgiving Break. Thanksgiving Day is 11/26.
Week #14 (Mon., Nov. 30
- December 4: Final exams (delivered remotely). [Note: There is no
final exam in this class.]
Philosophy 210
syllabus, Moral Philosophy, Fall, 2020, http://web.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/ ethics-Fall2020MWandMWF.html
Materials
for Ethics http:/web.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/ethicsindex.html
Norlock, Kathryn,
"Feminist Ethics", The
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2019 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.),
URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-ethics/>
Back to Kagan's
homepage - http:/web.lemoyne.edu/~kagan/index.html