Syllabus:
Ethics: Justice and Public Morality
Spring 2010 Instructor: Jason M. Nicholson
Office Periods: 1, 2, 5, 8
Email: jnicholson@wayland.org
Office Phone: 920-885-3373 x290
Course Description
This course will focus upon the major traditions in ethics, including Virtue Theory, Deontology, Utilitarianism, and Natural Law Theory. It will also look at the major traditions of contemporary political philosophy, including Liberalism, Communitarianism, and Critical Theory. The purpose of the course is to guide the student through the major traditions of ethics and political philosophy in order to come to a better understanding of the value, the problems, and the role of ethics in the public square. The course will have three components: first, primary readings from the major philosophical traditions; second, applications of the major philosophical traditions to the current public debate on major moral issues, such as euthanasia, affirmative action, pollution, gay rights, stem-cell research, abortion, presidential lying, animal rights, the moral limits of markets, individual rights and the claims of community, among others; third, a seminar style forum for open dialogue and honest debate.
Class Methodology
The course will be run as a mix of seminar, lecture, and debate. Students, therefore, are expected to be familiar with the readings and to be ready to discuss them at the start of class. Formal lectures will be frequent, but kept to a minimum, and we will focus instead upon digging deeper into critical portions of each text and issue. All along, we will attempt to tie together the various themes that emerge from each reading, and relate them to the motivating questions of the course as a whole. Readings will be assigned on a weekly basis, so that we will typically spend each day of a given week discussing the same readings. The readings associated with each week in the syllabus will be ‘due’ at the beginning of the first class for that week. On Mondays, each student will bring to class a question, comment, or concern about that week’s reading(s), which will be read aloud at the beginning of class and used to generate and direct discussion. Wednesdays will be reserved for a selection of video lectures that we will watch form Harvard professor Michael J. Sandel.
Required Texts
Michael J. Sandel, Justice: A Reader
Course Requirements
Class presentations: 20%
Written Perspective Papers: 50%
Written Exams: 30%
Reading List:
Justice and Public Morality: Reading List 2010
(In tandem with Michael Sandel's Harvard Justice Course)
I. Introduction
Lecture 1: Doing the right thing (Reader, pp. 3-7)
Lecture 2: Matters of life and death (Reader, pp. 9-7)
The Queen v. Dudley and Stephens (1884) (The lifeboat case)
II. Utilitarianism
Lecture 3: The greatest good for the greatest number (Reader, pp. 9-14)
Bentham, Principles of Morals and Legislation, ch. I, IV
Lecture 4: Higher and lower pleasures (Reader, pp. 14-47)
J.S. Mill, Utilitarianism
III. Libertarianism
Lecture 5: Liberty and the minimal state (Reader, pp. 49-73)
Friedman, Free to Choose, ch. 5
Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, excerpts
Lecture 6: Liberty and self-ownership (Reader, pp. 73-82)
Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, ch. 6
IV. Locke: Property Rights
Lecture 7: John Locke: The right to property (Reader, pp. 84-97)
Locke, Second Treatise of Government, ch. 1-5
Lecture 8: John Locke: Government by consent (Reader, pp. 97-126)
Locke, Second Treatise of Government, ch. 7-11, 18-19
V. Markets and Morals:
Lecture 9: Markets and Morals: Military service (Reader, pp. 127-138)
Calabresi and Bobbit, Tragic Choices, pp. 158-65
McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, pp. 600-11
Traub, “All Go Down Together”
Lecture 10: Markets and Morals: Surrogate motherhood (Reader, pp. 138-156)
In the Matter of Baby ‘M’ (1987)
In the Matter of Baby ‘M’ (1988, N.J. Supreme Court)
Anderson, "Is Women’s Labor a Commodity?"
VI. Kant: Freedom as Autonomy
Lecture11: Immanuel Kant: Morality and freedom (Reader, pp. 158-199)
Begin Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
Lecture 12: Immanuel Kant: The supreme principle of morality (same as above)
Finish Kant, Grounding for the Metaphysics of Morals
Lecture 13: Immanuel Kant: Is lying always wrong (Reader, pp.199-201)
Kant, “On the Supposed Right to Lie”
VII. Rawls: Justice as Fairness
Lecture 14: The morality of consent (Reader, pp. 203-221)
Rawls, A Theory of Justice
ch. I (sec. 1-6)
ch. II (sec. 11-14, 17)
ch. III (sec. 20, 24)
ch. IV (sec. 40)
VIII. Distributive Justice: Equality, Entitlement, Merit
Lecture 15: Equality and Inequality (Reader, pp. 223-226)
Rawls, A Theory of Justice
ch. V (sec. 41, 48)
ch. VII (sec. 68)
ch. IX (sec. 79, 84, 87)
Lecture 16: Equality, effort, and merit (Reader, pp. 226-235)
Nozick, Anarchy, State, and Utopia, excerpt
IX. Affirmative Action: Reverse Discrimination?
Lecture 17: Arguing affirmative action (Reader, pp.237-262)
Bernstein, "Racial Discrimination or Righting Past Wrongs?"
Hopwood v. State of Texas (1996)
Grutter v. Bollinger (2003)
Dworkin, "Bakke’s Case: Are Quotas Unfair?"
Morley, "Double Reverse Discrimination"
Brus, "Proxy War: Liberals Denounce Racial Profiling. Conservatives
Denounce Affirmative Action. What’s the Difference?"
X. Aristotle I
Lecture 18:Aristotle: Giving people their due (Reader, pp. 264-299)
Aristotle, The Politics, Bks. I, III (ch. 1-13)
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Bks II (ch. 1-3), X (ch. 1-3)
XI. Ability, Disability, and Discrimination:
Lecture 19: Ability, Disability, and Justice (Reader, pp. 301-313)
Presley, "A Safety Blitz; Texas Cheerleader Loses Status"
Sandel “Honor and Resentment”
Ryan, "Sorry, Free Rides Not Right"
Kite, "Keep the PGA on Foot"
PGA Tour, Inc. v. Martin (2000)
XII. Aristotle II
Lecture 20: Aristotle Politics, Justice and Virtue (Reader, pp. 264-299)
Review: Aristotle, The Politics, Bks. I, III (ch. 1-13)
Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics, Bks II (ch. 1-3), X (ch. 1-3)
XIII. Justice, Community, and Membership
Lecture 21: The claims of community (Reader, pp. 315-334)
MacIntyre, After Virtue, ch. 15
Sandel, Democracy’s Discontent, pp. 7-17
Lecture 22: Is loyalty a virtue? (Reader, pp. 335-342)
Walzer, Spheres of Justice, pp. 6-10, 86-91, 312-314
XIV. Moral Argument and Liberal Toleration:
Lecture 23: Morality and Law: Debating same-sex marriage (Reader, pp. 343-384)
Rawls, Political Liberalism, pp. 3-15, 29-35, 144-58
Sandel, "Political Liberalism"
Goodridge v. Dept. of Public Health (2003)
Lecture 24: Justice, Morality, and Law (Reader, pp. 383-410)
Kinsley, "Abolish Marriage"
Finnis, "Law, Morality, and ‘Sexual Orientation’"
Macedo, "Homosexuality and the Conservative Mind"
West, "Universalism, Liberal Theory, and the Problem of Gay Marriage"
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