Seminar Schedule
Philosophy 430--Ethical Theories

Michael Taber
St. Mary’s College of Maryland, USA
Spring 2018


(revised 21 March 2018)

Introduction                                                                                   

Jan. 16

Come to seminar having read Sandel’s What Money Can’t Buy: introduction and ch. 1 [39 pp.]

 

 

from Ethical Theory: An Anthology

from The Fundamentals of Ethics

Utilitarianism

Jan. 18

#29 Mill [6 pp.] & #48 Mill [6 pp.] (These are the only two excerpts from Mill in the book.)

Jan. 23

#52 Hare [8 pp.], #53 Singer [7 pp.], Bentham excerpt [handout], & Bentham R.I.P.

 

Jan. 25

#30 Nozick [2 pp.], #34 Parfit [4 pp.], & #35 Ross [4 pp.]

 

Jan. 30

Chs. 9 & 10 [37 pp.]

 

 

 

Deontology

 

 

Feb. 1

#55 Kant [13 pp.]

 

Feb. 6

Chs. 11 & 12 [32 pp.]

Feb. 8

#57 O’Neill [10 pp.] & #58 Nozick [3 pp.]

 

 

 

 

Feb. 13

Sandel, chs. 2 & 3 [88 pp.] 

Feb. 15

Papers due at noon. No seminar as tutorials will be scheduled.

 

Virtue Ethics

Feb 20

#66 Aristotle [15 pp.]

Feb. 22

#67 Nussbaum [14 pp.] & four-page excerpt from MacIntyre’s After Virtue [handout]

Feb. 27

#68 Hursthouse [8 pp.] & #71 Annas [10 pp.]
Benedict’s “A Defense of Ethical Relativism” & Midgley’s “Trying Out One’s New Sword” [handouts]

 

Feminist Ethics

Mar. 1

#72 Gilligan [7 pp.] & #73 Noddings [13 pp.]

Mar. 6

#74 Calhoun [8 pp.] & #75 Baier [8 pp.]

Mar. 8

 

Chs. 17 [18 pp.] & 18 [15 pp.]

 

Spring recess     

Mar. 20

Read remainder of Sandel = chs. 4 & 5 [72 pp.]

Mar. 22

Option A papers due at noon. #19 Feinberg [10 pp.]

 

Egoism

Mar. 27

No classes due to all-day advising

 

Mar. 29

#20 Hunt [15 pp.]

Ch. 7 [15 pp.]

Apr. 3

#21 Rachels [7 pp.]

Ch. 8 [13 pp.]

 

Grann’s “A Murder Foretold” [handout]



Student 30-minute Presentations

 

Apr. 5

3 presentations: Noelle on #9 “Realism”; Al on #2 “Proof”; Ben on #15 “Plato’s Ring of Gyges” and/or #23 “Plato’s Euthyphro”

Apr. 10

Option B papers due at noon.

3 presentations: David on #18 “Moral Rationalism”; Al on #22 “Moral Saints”; Elizabeth #37 “The Impossibility of Moral Responsibility”

Apr. 12

3 presentations: Esteban on #24 “A New Divine Command Theory”; Ennis on #39 “Moral Luck”; Cameron on #40 “Sanity and the Metaphysics of Responsibility”

Apr. 17

2-page prospectus for final paper due in class
3 presentations: Chris on #43 “All Animals Are Equal”; Elizabeth on #42 “Kant on Animals” and #44 “The Rights of Animals and Unborn Generations”; Noelle on #45 “On Being Morally Considerable”

Apr. 19

3 presentations: Alex on “The Virtue of Pride”; Esteban on #47 “An Argument That Abortion Is Wrong”; Cameron on #54 “The Survival Lottery”

Apr. 24

2 presentations: Luke on #60 “The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of the Double Effect”; Ennis on #61 “Killing, Letting Die, and the Trolley Problem”

Apr. 26

3 presentations:; David on #78 “What Makes Right Acts Right”; Luke on #79 “An Unconnected Heap of Duties?”; Alex on #82 “Unprincipled Ethics”

May 3

final meeting Thursday, 2:00-4:15 p.m., with remaining student presentations. Final papers due e-mailed to me at start of class. Ben on #62 “Hobbes’ Leviathan”; Chris on #77 “Feminist Skepticism, Authority, and Transparency”

Send me mail:  mstaber at smcm dot edu

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