Teaching

Spring 2027 Graduate Seminar

Title: Ethics Beyond Action
Meetings: Tuesdays 12:30 - 3:15 PM
Description: Contemporary moral theorizing has often presupposed that we can appropriately assess something as right or wrong only if we have voluntary control over it. As a result, moral theorizing has tended to focus on voluntary actions. In this course, we’ll consider whether this has been a mistake and whether morality extends beyond action. We’ll ask, first, whether such things as racist beliefs, sadistic desires, and malicious intentions can be morally wrong even though we lack voluntary control over them. We’ll also consider whether what we owe others can include a nonvoluntary component. For instance, we may owe someone a sincere apology. But to offer a sincere apology, we must not only voluntarily say “I’m sorry” but also nonvoluntarily feel contrition. What, then, should we say about moral requirements that seem to govern attitudes or feelings beyond our voluntary control? Third, we’ll consider whether morality must extend beyond action in order to address the collective harm problem. As Christopher Kutz observes, “the most important and far-reaching harms…of contemporary life [such as those stemming from climate change] are the products of collective actions, …and individual agents rarely make a difference to [either the severity of these harms or the likelihood of] their occurrence” (2000, 113). Sometimes this is because these harms are overdetermined, so no individual’s action makes any difference to whether, or to what extent, these harms occur. In response, other philosophers argue that morality must not be exclusively act-oriented. Even if an individual’s act is not itself wrong because it makes no difference to the outcome, the individual may nevertheless violate a moral requirement governing something beyond action—for instance, a conditional intention concerning how they would act were they able to make a difference. Finally, the course will culminate in a conference that students will be asked to participate in: https://ethics.nd.edu/news-and-events/conferences/ends/. Nonetheless, participation will, ironically, be voluntary.
Syllabus: TBA

Recent Syllabi

PHI 300: Philosophical Exposition and Argument

Handbooks, Handouts, Advice, and Quizzes

PHI 101: Introduction to Philosophy

Some Other Sample Assignments

Some Sample PowerPoint Presentations

Student Evaluations of My Teaching

- Statistical Summaries of My Official Student Evaluations of My Teaching

Google Sites

Report abuse