Great Ethical Traditions: The Good Life
PHIL 264-01 | ID 21308 | TR 2:00-3:50 | Room: Craig-Lee 231 | Spring 2011
Course Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Aaron Smuts | asmuts@ric.edu | office hours: 219 Alger Hall, 12:00-1:50 T
Description
This class will focus on one of the most fundamental questions in moral philosophy: What makes a life good for the one who lives it? To answer this question is to provide a theory of well-being. We will study four different types of answers: Hedonism (pleasure), Preferentism (desire-satisfaction), Perfectionism (perfecting human nature), and Objective List theories.
The readings will come from a mix of classical and contemporary sources. In addition to philosophy, we will read some work from psychology and economics. We'll be thinking about experience machines, deceived business men, porky pig, sadistic killers of children, ascetic hermits, evil universes, grass counters, strangers on trains, drug addicts, and the life of James Dean.
Along the way we explore several related issues. Is there anything common to the experiences that we call "pleasures"? Is death bad for the one who dies? Can you can be harmed after your death? Can one have a good but meaningless life? What is the meaning of life? Is it better to die in the prime of life than after a period of moderate decline?
Texts
There are three required texts for this course:
E. D. Klemke (Editor), Steven M. Cahn (Editor). The Meaning of Life: A Reader. Oxford UP, 2007. ISBN 0195327306. [ML]
Steven M. Cahn (Editor), Christine Vitrano (Editor). Happiness: Classic and Contemporary Readings in Philosophy. Oxford UP, 2007. ISBN 0195321405. [HCC]
Fred Feldman. Pleasure and the Good Life: Concerning the Nature, Varieties, and Plausibility of Hedonism. Oxford UP, 2006. ISBN 0199297606. [PGL]
There is one optional book:
Andrew Lawrence Roberts. The Thinking Student's Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. University Of Chicago Press, 2010. ISBN-10: 0226721159.
I will post numerous additional readings on Blackboard. [BB]
Coursework
There will be two different forms of coursework: (best 20 out of 26) daily quizzes and three take-home examinations. I will give a short quiz at the beginning of each class that will require one or two sentence answers. The quizzes are closed-book, but open-note. The bulk of your grade comes from the take-home exams. All assignments must be completed to pass the course.
Quizzes (10%) + first exam (25%) + late-term exam (30%) + final exam (35%).
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 dramatically effect 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
(There will be a quiz every class on the required reading for that day.)
Topic I: The Concept of Well-being
Week 1
C1 (T: 1/25) Introduction
Epictetus, "The Handbook" [BB]
Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil #200 [BB]
CX (R: 1/27) SNOW DAY #1
Week 2
CX (T: 2/1) SNOW DAY #2
C2 (R: 2/3) The Good Life
Feldman, "The Quest for the Good Life" [PGL, ch. 1, pp. 1-21]
Diener, Wirtz, and Oishi, "The James Dean Effect" [BB]
{Optional: Sumner, "The Concept of Welfare" (WHE ch. 1, pp. 1-26) [BB]}
{Optional: Haybron, "What Do We Want from a Theory of Happiness?" [BB]}
Topic II: Hedonism
Week 3
C3 (T: 2/8) Default Hedonism
Feldman, "Hedonism: A Preliminary Formulation" [PGL, ch. 2, pp. 21-38]
C4 (R: 2/10) Qualitative Hedonism
Mill, "What Utilitarianism Is" [HCC, pp. 121-133]
Homer, "Circe's Pigs" (from bk. 10 of the Odyssey) [BB]
Week 4
C5 (T: 2/15) The Experience Machine and Other Objections
Nozick, "Happiness" [BB]
{Optional: Feldman, "Classic Objections to Hedonism" [PGL, ch. 3, pp. 38-52]}
C6 (R: 2/17) Attitudinal Hedonism
Feldman, "Attitudinal Hedonism" [PGL, ch. 4, pp. 55-79]
Week 5
C7 (T: 2/22) Replies
Feldman, "Replies to Some Objections" [PGL, ch. 5, pp. 108-123]
{Optional: Sumner, "Hedonism" (WHE ch. 4, pp.81-113) [BB]}
C8 (R: 2/24) Implications for Death
Epicurus, "Letter to Menoeceus" [BB]
Feldman, "Epicurus and the Evil of Death" [BB]
Week 6
C9 (T: 3/1) Practical Advice
Kupperman, "Myth One" (Six Myths, pp. 1-22) [BB]
{Optional: Haybron, "Why Hedonism is False" [HCC, pp. 173-179]}
{Optional: Kahneman, "Objective Happiness" [BB]}
Topic III: Preferentism
C10 (R: 3/3) The Desire Theory
Sumner, "The Desire Theory" (WHE, ch. 5, pp. 113-138) [BB]
{Optional: Carson, "The Desire/Preference-Satisfaction Theory of Value" [BB]}
Week 7
C11 (T: 3/8) Two Theories or One
Heathwood, "Desire Satisfaction and Hedonism" [BB]
{Optional: Heathwood, "The Reduction of Sensory Pleasure to Desire" [BB]}
{Optional: Smuts, "The Feels Good Theory of Pleasure" [BB]}
C12 (R: 3/10) Implications for Death
Luper, “Posthumous Harm” [BB]
{Optional: Pitcher, “The Misfortunes of the Dead” [BB]}
Week 8 SPRING BREAK (3/14-3/18)
Topic IV: Life Satisfaction Theories
Week 9
C13 (T: 3/22) Life Satisfaction Theories
Sumner, "Welfare and Happiness" (BB, WHE, ch. 6, pp. 138-184) [BB]
C14 (R: 3/24) Objections
Feldman, "Whole Life Satisfaction Concepts of Happiness" [BB]
Week 10
C15 (T: 3/9) Practical Implications
Kupperman, "Myth Two" (Six Myths, pp. 22-45) [BB]
Topic V: Objective List Theories
C16 (R: 3/31) Objective List Theories
Parfit, "What Makes Someone's Life Go Best" [BB]
Brave New World (excerpt) [BB]
Week 11
C17 (T: 4/5) Perfectionism
Aristotle, The Nicomachaen Ethics [HCC, pp. 19-34]
{Optional: Sumner, "Objective Theories" (WHE, ch. 3, pp. 45-81) [BB]}
CXX (R: 4/7) NO CLASS
Week 12
C18 (T: 4/12) Eudaimonia
Kraut, "Two Conceptions of Happiness" [HCC, pp. 201-222]
Topic VI: Well-being and the Meaning of Life
C19 (R: 4/14) The Limits of Well-being
Kagan, "Me and My Life" [BB]
{Optional: Kagan, "The Limits of Well-being" [BB]}
Week 13
C20 (T: 4/19) Subjective Meaning
Taylor, "The Meaning of Life" [Klemke and Cahn, pp. 134-143]
C21 (R: 4/21) Hybrid Theories
Wolf, "Happiness and Meaning: Two Aspects of the Good Life" [BB]
{Optional: Cahn, "Meaningless Lives" [ML, pp. 236-238]}
Week 14
C22 (T: 4/26) Meaning and God
Wielenberg, "God and the Meaning of Life" [BB]
C23 (R: 4/28) The Absurd
Nagel, "The Absurd" [ML, pp. 143-153]
Week 15
C24 (T: 5/3) Meaning and Suffering
Frankl, "Logotherapy in a Nutshell" (Man's Search for Meaning) [BB]
C25 (R: 5/5) Meaning and Death
Kaufman, "Death" [BB]
{Optional: Kaufman, "Death Without Dread" [BB]}