PHIL 240A: READING
ASSIGNMENTS
The course text is Tom L. Beauchamp, Philosophical
Ethics, 3rd ed., (New York: McGraw-Hill; 2001), which is available for
purchase at the University Book Store.
Readings should be done before the class meeting on the first day they
are assigned.
Mon.,
June 23: Introduction to the Course.
Tues.
June 24: Terminology: The Search for a Purely Descriptive Sufficient Condition for
Moral Wrongness.
Readings are on handouts.
Wed.,
June 25: The Divine Command Theory and the Euthyphro
Question
Readings are on handouts.
EMAIL
ASSIGNMENT DUE BEFORE CLASS AND HOMEWORK #1 DUE IN CLASS ON WED., JUNE 25.
Thurs.,
June 26: Egoism.
Reading: Text, from Chapter 2 ("Egoism") pp. 42-54. [Note that we skip Chapter 1, except for a
short section that we read in Week 4.
Also, today we skip over the first part of Chapter 2, and return to it
tomorrow.]
Fri.-Mon,
June 27-30: Moral Disagreement and Moral Relativism
Reading: Text, Chapter 2, pp. 21-41.
[This is the part of Chapter 2 that we skipped over yesterday.]
EXAM #1 REVIEW QUESTIONS TO BE
DISTRIBUTED IN CLASS ON FRIDAY, JUNE 27.
HOMEWORK #2 DUE IN CLASS ON MONDAY,
JUNE 30.
Tues.-Mon.
July 1-7: Mill and Utilitarianism. [NO CLASS ON
FRIDAY, JULY 4.]
Reading: Text, part of Chapter 1, "Approaches to the Study of
Morality", pp. 16-19; also Chapter 4, pp. 101-137. [Note that we skip Chapter 3, and then
return to it at the end of the course.]
EXAM
#1 WILL BE GIVEN IN CLASS ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 2.
HOMEWORK
#3 DUE IN CLASS ON MONDAY, JULY 7.
Tues.-Thurs.,
July 8-10: Kant and Deontological Theories
Reading: Chapter 5, pp. 140-175.
HOMEWORK
#4 DUE IN CLASS ON FRIDAY, JULY 11.
EXAM
#2 REVIEW QUESTIONS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED IN CLASS ON WED., JULY 9.
Fri.-Wed.,July
11-16: Hume and Noncognitivist Theories
Reading: Text, Chapter 7, pp. 220-258
[We skip over Chapter 6 and return to it next.]
EXAM
#2 WILL BE GIVEN IN CLASS ON MONDAY, JULY 14.
HOMEWORK
#5 DUE IN CLASS ON WED., JULY 16.
Thurs.-Fri.,
July 17-18: Aristotle and Virtue Ethics
Reading:
Text, Chapter 6, pp. 180-216.
FINAL
EXAM REVIEW QUESTIONS WILL BE DISTRIBUTED IN CLASS ON FRIDAY, JULY 18.
Mon.,
July 21: Justification, Meaning, and Truth in Ethics.
Reading: Text, Chapter 3, pp. 57-95.
Tues.,
July 22: Conclusion/Course Evaluation.
No Reading Assignment.
COURSE
EVALUATION IN CLASS.
HOMEWORK
#6 DUE IN CLASS ON TUESDAY, JULY 22.
Wed.,
July 23: Final Exam
THE
FINAL EXAM WILL BE GIVEN IN CLASS.