Download Ethics through History

Rutgers University
Spring 2014
Prof. Mark Colby
Philosophy 341
Ethics through History
Course Description
This course is an intensive analysis of the three major secular traditions of Western
philosophical inquiry into ethics: Aristotle’s virtue or teleological ethic, Kant’s deontological
or right-based ethic, and Mill’s utilitarian hybrid of both traditions. We will explore issues
about the nature and aims of ethical inquiry; the methods of ethical inquiry; the nature of the
good and the good life; the roles of reason, emotion, custom, and virtue in determining what
the good life is and how to live it; and the relationships between the individual and the moral
community.
Course Prerequisites
Since this course presupposes a basic grasp of the problems, principles, concepts, and
methods of Western philosophical inquiry, one prior course in philosophy is required. An
introductory course in ethics or moral philosophy (e.g., Phil. 107) is strongly recommended.
This course is not open to first-year students.
Course Requirements
The midterm exam on Aristotle is worth 33% of the course grade; the final exam on Kant and
Mill is worth 66% of the course grade, each philosopher counting for half of the final-exam
grade. Students are expected to attend all classes; there will be a sign-in sheet at
every class. If you miss a class, you are required to use the University absence
reporting website at https://sims.rutgers.edu/ssra to indicate the date and
reason for your absence. (An e-mail is sent to me automatically, so you do not need to
notify me.) If you miss more than three classes during the semester without
proper documentation, your course grade will be reduced. Always bring the text to
class. Do not repeatedly come late to class, leave early, or talk to each other during class.
Turn all cell phones and beepers off. No text messaging is allowed. No web surfing is
allowed. No solid food is allowed.
Office Hours
On Tuesdays and Fridays from 8:30-9 a.m. or by appointment on Tuesdays after 1:55 p.m., in
the student center cafeteria on Douglass. You are encouraged to speak with me about this
course in particular or any philosophical matter in general. My e-mail address is mcolby@
rutgers.edu. Jean Urteil is the philosophy department’s undergraduate secretary; her e-mail
address is [email protected] and her phone number is 848-932-6800.
Required Readings
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, trans. by J.A.K. Thomson (Penguin)
Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, revised edition, trans. and ed. by Mary
Gregor and Jens Timmermann (Cambridge University Press)
Mill, Utilitarianism, ed. by Roger Crisp (Oxford University Press)
Ethics through History
Prof. Colby
Page 2
Date, Topic, and Reading Assignment
In addition to these specific reading assignments, you are required to read the editors’
introductions, which provide crucial historical and intellectual background information. I
will post handouts on the Sakai site for this course as a further instructional aide.
1/21
Overview of the course and of moral philosophy
1/24
Aristotle, Ethics, Book I, chs. i-vii
1/28
Ethics, Book I, chs. viii-xiii
1/31
Ethics, Book II
2/4
Ethics, Book III, chs. i-v
2/7
Ethics, Book VI, chs. i-vii
2/11
Ethics, Book VI, chs. viii-xiii
2/14
Ethics, Book X, chs. i-vi
2/18
Ethics, Book X, chs. vii-ix
2/21
Kant, Groundwork, Preface
2/25
Groundwork, Sec. I
2/28
Groundwork, Sec. I, continued
3/4
Groundwork, Sec. I, continued
3/7
Midterm exam on Aristotle
3/11
Groundwork, Sec. II
3/14
Groundwork, Sec. II, continued
3/25
Groundwork, Sec. II, continued
3/28
Groundwork, Sec. II, continued
4/1
Groundwork, Sec. II, continued
4/4
Mill, Utilitarianism, Ch. I
4/8
Utilitarianism, Ch. II
4/11
Utilitarianism, Ch. II, continued
4/15
Utilitarianism, Ch. III
4/18
Utilitarianism, Ch. III, continued
4/22
Utilitarianism, Ch. IV
4/25
Utilitarianism, Ch. IV, continued
4/29
Utilitarianism, Ch. V
5/2
Utilitarianism, Ch. V, continued
5/8
Final exam on Kant and Mill, 12 p.m.-3 p.m.