PHIL 440A: READING ASSIGNMENTS
1.
Texts. The following texts
are available for purchase at the University Book Store: Christine M. Korsgaard, The Sources of Normativity (SN), and Darwall, Gibbard, and Railton,
Moral Discourse & Practice (MDP).
2.
Electronic Reserve. There
are two readings on Electronic Reserve (E-Reserve). There is a link to the E-Reserve Web site on
the PHIL 440 Web site.
WEEK #1 (Mar. 31 – April 4):
The Normative Question Formulated
2. Thomas Nagel,
Chapter VIII, Value, from The View from
Nowhere (E-RESERVE).
3. Korsgaard,
Prologue and begin Lecture 1 (SN 1-27).
WEEK #2 (Apr. 7-11): Some Prelimary
Answers to the Question
WEEK #3 (Apr. 14-18): Korsgaard's
Neo-Kantian Answer
WEEK #4 (Apr. 21-25): Private
Reasons and Public Reasons with Special Attention to Pain
CHRISTINE KORSGAARD WILL JOIN
US IN CLASS ON FRIDAY, APRIL 25. SHE
WILL ALSO BE LEADING A COLLOQUIUM AT 3:30 PM ON THAT DAY.
2. Korsgaard, Lecture 4 (SN 131-166).
WEEK #5 (Apr. 28 – May 2): Objections and Replies
BY MIDNIGHT ON MONDAY, APR. 28: Draft of part (a) of Paper #1 should be uploaded
to the PHIL 440 Peer Review site as Paper #1.
For more information, see the Web posting for Paper #1.
BY MIDNIGHT ON WEDNESDAY, APR. 30: Comment on two drafts in Peer Review. For more information, see the Web posting for
Paper #1.
2. Geuss, Lecture 6 (SN 189-199).
3. Nagel, Lecture 7 (SN 200-209).
4. Korsgaard's replies (SN 219-258). Note that we do not read Williams's criticism
(Lecture 8), so you may ignore Korsgaard's replies to Williams.
WEEK #6 (May 5-9): Naturalism
and Non-Naturalism
BY MIDNIGHT ON MONDAY, MAY 5: Final version of Paper #1 submitted to PHIL
440 Electronic Dropbox.
2. Richard Boyd, "How to Be a Moral Realist",
Section 4 (MDP 119-134).
WEEK #7 (May 12-16):
Naturalism and Anti-Realism
2. John McDowell,
"Projection and Truth in Ethics" (MDP 215-225).
3. Gilbert Harman,
"Ethics and Observation" (MDP 83-88).
WEEK #8 (May 18-22): Internal
and External Reasons
1. Bernard Williams, "Internal and External
Reasons" (MDP 363-371).
2. Christine Korsgaard, "Skepticism About
Practical Reason" (MDP 373-388).
3. Peter Railton, "Moral Realism" (MDP
137-163).
WEEK #9 (May 28-30): Contractualism
NO
CLASS ON MONDAY, MAY 26.
FINAL EXAM REVIEW QUESTIONS
DISTRIBUTED IN CLASS ON FRIDAY, MAY 30.
2. T.M. Scanlon, "Contractualism
and Utilitarianism" (MDP 267-286).
WEEK #10 (June 2-6): Discourse
Ethics and Conclusion
COURSE EVALUATION AND FINAL
EXAM REVIEW ON FRIDAY, JUNE 6.