Meta-ethics (Fall 2011) - Syllabus
Meta-ethics
PHIL 306-01 | ID 11222 | MW 9:30-10:50 | Room: Alger 106 | Fall 2011
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Aaron Smuts | asmuts@ric.edu | office hours: 219 Alger Hall, 12:00-1:0 TR
Description
This course is an introduction to the major positions in the area of theoretical ethics known as meta-ethics.
We will not look at any applied ethical issues, such as the morality of abortion or capital punishment. Nor will we examine any theories about what makes an action wrong or right. Instead, we will explore questions such as: Do ethical claims have cognitive content, that is, do they state facts or is our moral discourse the mere expression of approval or disapproval? If statements such as “torturing the weak for sport is wrong” make factually evaluable claims, are any of these claims true, or are we in nearly constant error? Must moral judgments come with motivation to “do the right thing”?
The goal of the course is to introduce students to the major positions in one of the most active areas of contemporary philosophy.
Texts
There are two required texts for this course:
Russ Shafer-Landau and Terence Cuneo (eds.). Foundations of Ethics (Blackwell, 2007). ISBN-10: 9781405129527. [FE]
Michael Huemer. Ethical Intuitionism (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008). ISBN-10: 0230573746. [EI]
I will post numerous additional readings on Blackboard. [BB]
Coursework
There will be ten 1 pagers, some simple quizzes, two take-home exams, and a term paper. The 1 pagers will typically be due at the start of class on Monday. These merely ask you to present an argument in no more than a page. You should define the key terms and formalize the important arguments in the reading. I don't need paragraphs. Do not evaluate the arguments here. The take-home exams ask you to explain arguments and objections. An explanation provides background details that a mere presentation does not. The exams will help you develop fundamental skills of exposition and competency with the subject. The term paper is your chance to go deeper into a problem. If should defend a clear thesis. It must take a stand on an issue. You should be working on your paper from the beginning of the semester. Start thinking about a topic now. You must turn in an abstract and an outline one month before the paper is due.
20% = First Take-home Exam
25% = Second Take-home Exam
10% = 10 (out of 13 possible) 1 Page Formalizations (for readings marked "à 1 Pager")
5% = 10 (out of 13 possible) Wednesday quizzes
5% = Term Paper abstract and outline (due one month before the paper)
35% = Term Paper (13-15 pages; 4,000-4500 words)
Attendance Policy
If you miss 6 or more classes, you will receive a 0 for your quiz grade. If you miss 12 or more classes, you will receive an F for the course. (There are no excused or unexcused absences. But please talk to me if something major comes up that will dramatically affect your attendance.)
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism—claiming someone else’s ideas or written work as your own—will not be tolerated. The tests are not collaborative. All sources must be cited. Outside research is not forbidden, but none of the assignments ask for sources outside the assigned readings. Anyone caught cheating will be given a failing grade in the course. I will also request that you be expelled from the college.
Class Schedule
Topic I: Overview
Week 1
XX (M: 8/29) NO CLASS – Hurricane Irene
Background reading: Shafer-Landau, Fundamentals of Ethics, chs. 19-21 [BB]
{Optional: Darwall, Gibbard, and Railton, "Toward a fin de siecle Ethics" [BB]}
C1 (W: 8/31) An Alternate Taxonomy and Overview
Huemer, Introduction [EI, ch.1]
Schroeder, "The Problems of Metaethics" [BB]
Shafer-Landau and Cuneo, "General Introduction" [FE, pp. 1-5]
Topic II: Expressivism
Week 2
XX (M: 9/5) NO CLASS – Labor Day
Schroeder, "The Noncognitivist Turn" [BB]
C2 (W: 9/7) Emotivism
Ayer, "Critique of Ethics and Theology" [FE, ch.3] à 1 Pager
{Optional: Stevenson, "The Emotive Meaning of Ethical Terms" [BB]}
Week 3
C3 (M: 9/12) Contemporary Expressivism
Blackburn, "How to be an Ethical Anti-Realist" [FE, ch.4] à 1 Pager
Schroeder, "Expressivism" [BB]
{Optional: Schroeder, "The Frege-Geach Problem (1939-70)" [BB]}
{Optional: Gibbard, "The Reasons of Living Being" [FE, ch.6]}
C4 (W: 9/14) Another Expressivism
Horgan and Timmons, "Nondescriptivist Cognitivism" [FE, ch.5]
Week 4
C5 (M: 9/19) Recap
Huemer, Non-Cognitivism [EI, ch.2] à 1 Pager (on sec. 2.3)
Topic III: Error Theory
C6 (W: 9/21) The Classic Statement
Mackie, "The Subjectivity of Values" [FE, ch.1]
Shafer-Landau and Cuneo, "Introduction" [FE, pp.9-11]
Week 5
C7 (M: 9/26) Recent Error Theory
Joyce, "The Myth of Morality" [FE, ch.2] à 1 Pager
Shafer-Landau, "Moral Nihilism" [BB, first part of the chapter]
Topic IV: Subjectivism and Constructivism
C8 (W: 9/28) Relativism
Harman, "Moral Relativism Defended" [FE, ch.7]
Shafer-Landau and Cuneo, "Introduction" [FE, pp.79-83]
Shafer-Landau, "Ethical Relativism" [BB]
Week 6
C9 (M: 10/3) Divine Command Theory
Wielenberg, Command Failure Argument [BB] à 1 Pager
C10 (W: 10/5) Kantian Constructivism
Korsgaard, "The Authority of Reason" [FE, ch.8]
{Optional: FitzPatrick, "The Practical Turn" [BB, pp.662-8,677-81]}
Week 7
C11 (T: 10/11* Columbus Day swap) Recap
Humer, Subjectivism [EI, ch.3] à 1 Pager
Topic V: Moral Naturalism and Reductionism
C12 (W: 10/12) Analytic Reductionism
Moore, "The Subject Matter of Ethics" [FE, ch.35]
Huemer, Reductionism [EI, ch.4, secs.4.1-4.3, pp.66-83]
Week 8
C13 (M: 10/17) Naturalistic Moral Realism
Boyd, "How to Be a Moral Realist" [FE, ch.12] à 1 Pager
C14 (W: 10/19) Reductive Naturalism
Railton, "Moral Realism" [FE, ch.13]
{Optional: Lenman, "Moral Naturalism" [SEP]}
Week 9
C15 (M: 10/24) Synthetic Reductionism
Huemer, Reductionism [EI, ch.4, secs.4.4-4.6, pp.83-98] à 1 Pager
Topic VI: Moral Knowledge and Non-Naturalism
C16 (10/26) Ethical Intuitionism
Huemer, Moral Knowledge [EI, ch.5]
Bambrough, "Proof" [BB]
Week 10
C17 (M: 10/31) Intuitionism
Audi, "Intuitionism, Pluralism, and the Foundations of Ethics" [FE, ch.31] à 1 Pager
{Optional: Shafer-Landau, "Ethical Pluralism" [BB]}
Topic VII: Moral Disagreement
C18 (W: 11/2) The Argument from Disagreement
Stevenson, "The Nature of Ethical Disagreement" [FE, ch.28]
Brink, "Moral Disagreement" [FE, ch.29]
Week 11
C19 (M: 11/7) Accounting for Disagreement
Huemer, Disagreement and Error [EI, ch,6] à 1 Pager
{Optional: Haidt, "The Emotional Dog and its Rational Tale"}
(W: 11/9) - Columbus Day: No Class
Topic VIII: Moral Motivation and Practical Reason
Week 12
C20 (M: 11/14) Motivational Judgment Internalism
Smith, "The Externalist Challenge" [FE. ch.17] à 1 Pager
Smith, "What is the Moral Problem?" [BB]
C21 (W: 11/16) Reasons Internalism
Williams, "Internal and External Reasons" [FE, ch,22]
Week 13
C22 (M: 11/21) Reasons Internalism
Korsgaard, "Skepticism about Practical Reason" [FE, ch.23]
(W: 11/23) - Thanksgiving Break: No Class
Week 14
C23 (M: 11/28) Moral Rationalism
Shafer-Landau, "Moral Reasons" [FE, ch.24] à 1 Pager
C24 (W: 11/30) Anti-Rationalism
Foot, "Morality as a System of Hypothetical Imperatives" [FE, Ch.21]
Week 15
C25 (M: 12/5) Anti-Humeanism
Huemer, Practical Reasons [EI, ch.7] à 1 Pager
Topic IX: Objections to Non-Naturalism
C26 (W: 12/7) Weirdness and Spookiness
Huemer, Further Objections [EI, ch.8]
Huemer, Conclusion [EI, ch.9]