Syllabus

Dr. Ronald J. Schindler

DrRonSchindler@gmail.com

website : http://www.RSchindler.com

Resume

Syllabus for Introduction to Philosophy

Syllabus for Occupational Ethics

Syllabus for Twentieth Century Philosophy and the Moral Question of Evil

Syllabus for Contemporary Moral Problems

Introduction to Philosophy Questions

Syllabus for Introduction to Philosophy

COURSE DESCRIPTION

We will explore philosophical problems, such as truth, justice, mind and person, surveying the discipline and identifying such particular philosophical specialties within as logic, ethics, epistemology, and metaphysics. Too, I will emphasize that there is a practical aspect to philosophy from changing our individual lives to our collective identities. So, philosophy also encompasses contemporary issues of class, gender, and race in a world that has no stable moral focal point.

Further, you will be given a historical model of the major events that mark the transition between the thinkers studied. I will unmask your prejudices and biases. The intent is to instruct you in critical thinking, reading, rhetoric, and writing. I intend to arm you with a critical theory to be engaged as functional and ethical “citizens of the world.” Critical thought is always a preparation for affirmative action in demonstrating social responsibility to your fellow humans in a quid pro quo for your ‘inalienable’ rights founded in nature. I will compel the student to think about the public good and the current issues of world culture in moving beyond a position of mere egotistical self-interest to one of rich diversity. The study of classic works provides us with the groundwork on which to build a reasonable criticism of the forces of multiculturalism and modernism that have been a boon for our material lives but have impoverished the spirit in our age of World Alienation where the post-modern ideologies have deconstructed the given truths of the Judeo-Christian ethos and problematic Enlightenment ideals. Too, there are issues of equity versus efficiency in the distribution of the earth’s limited bounty.

Caveat emptor: I often will be playing Devil’s Advocate to generate debate. Hence, I will push positions I do not necessarily abide by to its limits. Be forewarned, if you are “politically correct” or weak of intellect.

TEXTS

Baird, Forrest . Philosophic Classics: FROM PLATO TO DERRIDA (the class text, whose assignments I will mark by an asterisk, that is the sign *)

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species (and Handout)

Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures to Psychoanalysis

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and its Discontents (and Handout)

Locke, John. The Second Treatise of Government (and Handout)

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince (and Handout)

Pirsig, Robert. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE: AN INQUIRY INTO VALUES (and Handout)

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract

GRADES

Tests as needed. There will be exit interviews given during the finals period. I will review each student’s work and together we will determine the earned grade for the semester.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

The first week of class will be a general introduction. Dates that follow are approximations.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AND CLASS EXERCISE (film presentation of Sophie’s Choice)

I. Ancient Greek Philosophy

Pirsig, Robert (Phaedrus the Sophist), Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Schindler’s Handout

II. Hellenistic Philosophy

Plato, Republic, Book VII

Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics

Epicurus, Principal Doctrines

III. Christianity and Medieval Philosophy

Augustine, City of God

IV. Modern Philosophy

Hobbes Thomas. Leviathan.

Kant, Immanuel. Schindler’s Handout

Locke, John. The Second Treatise of Government

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince

Montesquieu, Charles. Schindler’s Handout

Newton, Sir Isaac. Schindler’s Handout

Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. The Social Contract

Smith, Adam. The Wealth of Nations, to be compared to Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom, Schindler’s lecture with no readings and handouts on

Smith and Friedman.

V. Nineteenth Century Philosophy

Darwin, Charles. The Origin of Species, excerpts

Hegel Georg Wolfgang Friedrich. Phenomenology of Spirit

Marx, Karl. Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts; The Communist Manifesto; and A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy; and Grundrisse

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Twilight of the Idols

Thomas Malthus, On Population; Schindler’s lecture on Malthus with no readings

VI. Twentieth Century Philosophy

Arendt, Hannah. The Human Condition

DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folks. Excerpts in handout.

Einstein, Alfred. The General Theory of Relativity (handout to be discussed in conjunction with Sir Isaac Newton)

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents

Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures to Psychoanalysis. Schindler’s lectures with no readings

Handouts and excerpted readings for Arendt, DuBois, Newton, Einstein, Freud, Habermas, Husserl, Heidegger, Marx, Sartre, and Rawls.

Hegel and Heidegger Schindler’s lecture with no readings.

Heidegger, Martin. An Introduction to Metaphysics, Chapter I, in conjunction with Hegel Sartre, Jean-Paul. Existential Psychoanalysis in conjunction with Hegel and Heidegger Schindler’s lecture with no readings.

Husserl, Edmund. Phenomenology (to be read in conjunction with Hegel)

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice, his model to be discussed through the term with respect to social contract theory. Handouts.

VII. Twenty-First Century

Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth (film)

Habermas, Juergen. Handout.

Applied Philosophy

We will discuss issues of contemporary concern on class, gender, race, religion and multiculturalism with the intent of focusing on what is the mission of the modern university. Too, are there Great Books (The Western Canon) or simply periodic texts of concern only for a moment in the process of the history of philosophy? Student participation will be considered critical for the final grade evaluation. Students will demonstrate a cumulative and critical assimilation of readings over the course of the semester.

ATTENDANCE MANDATORY

As I am narrating a moral story about our civilization, absences from class will mean that you will not be able to follow the thread of my arguments since each unit is part of the emergent whole. Even one absence will put you out of the flow of the course. I have built the course upon the foundations of principles that I develop from session to session. Remove one session and the whole narrative collapses.

VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS WILL HAVE THE FORCE OF A CHANGE IN THE SYLLABUS!

All Students Must Maintain an Updated Portfolio of Papers and Tests.

Syllabus for Occupational Ethics

TEXTS

Hoffman, Michael, Robert Frederick and Mark S. Schwartz. BUSINESS ETHICS: Readings and Cases in Corporate Morality.

Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto.

Friedman, Milton. Capitalism and Freedom.

Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth.

Pirsig, Robert M. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYLCLE MAINTENANCE. Recommended Reading

Terkel, Studs. Working. Recommended Reading

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

We will examine key theories of classical political economy to recognize what are the key ethical issues in the corporate business world of capitalist America. Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, and Karl Marx are key figures in defining current day economic doctrines of laissez-faire philosophy by Milton Friedman, and as practiced by Ben Bernanke in the Federal Reserve Bank. The Invisible Hand, Social Darwinism, and historical materialism will be critical concepts we will examine, considering present-day issues of public policy and concern for the equitable distribution of ideologically depicted “scarce” resources. Your input will be critical as we will do role playing from an “original position” in which we will collectively draw up a social contract for the just society in the classroom as the democratic polity writ small.

My first lecture will be theoretical and general. We will read the Marx treatise and Milton Friedman’s classic response by the second session. The second and third sessions will canvass the topic of the relevance of Marxist categories of historical materialism to address issues of fairness in evaluating the consequences of the inordinate concentration of wealth in this capitalist business civilization in the hands of the privileged few. Is democracy workable in a society where there is not an equitable distribution of what, in fact, are bountiful resources? The student will be able to share her work experiences with the class.

You will be given a historical paradigm of the major premises and values of the Enlightenment.

They are the moral bases of what can be called modernism and the American business civilization within the context of the Atlantic democratic republics. Do these foundations of our republic support the multinational global village that has emerged with the industrial and information revolutions? My intent is to instruct you in critical thinking, reading, rhetoric, and writing. I will unmask your biases and prejudices. The intent is to prepare you to be functional and ethical “citizens of the world.” Critical thought is always a preparation for affirmative action in demonstrating social responsibility to your fellow humans in exchange for your “inalienable” rights given by nature. You will be compelled to think about the public good and the issues of world culture in moving beyond a position of mere egotistical self-interest.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, WITH SHOWING OF THE FILM: AL GORE’S AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

I. A General Theory of Occupational Ethics; Rules stating the nature of the game will be reviewed

Hoffman, Introduction to Business Ethics (the text). Rawls, John. “Justice as Fairness” (In Readings, Part I, 1)

The Communist Manifesto and the Grundrisse

Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom

The course, then, will follow the text.

II. Ethics and Business Decision Making

Is there any justification for greed as a moral value if it results in a profitable corporation where all benefit economically? When does a business enterprise engage in racketeering? RICO statute will be

reviewed. Handouts.

Gore, Al. An Inconvenient Truth.

Josephson, Michael. “Teaching Ethical Decision Making and Principled Reasoning."

III. Agency, Legitimacy, and Responsibility

We will discuss individual conscience and social responsibility.

Friedman, Milton. “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase Its Profits."

IV. Governance and Self-Regulation

We will discuss issues of power and public accountability.

Nader, Ralph, Mark Green and Joel Seligman. “Who Rules the Corporation?”

V. Employee Rights and Duties

What are the human rights of a worker?

Duska, Ronald. “Employee Rights."

VI. The Modern Workplace: Transition to Equality and Diversity

Issues of affirmative action and reverse discrimination will be studied in class.

Hettinger, Edwin C. “What is Wrong with Reverse Discrimination?”

Pojman, Louis P. “The Moral Status of Affirmative Action."

VII. The Consumer

Does the Western ideology of consumerism conflict with the leading of the good life?

Galbraith, Kenneth John. “The Dependence Effect."

VIII. The Environment

Do future generations have rights against the depredations of nature by current corporate practices to maximize profits whatever the costs and deficits imposed on our global habitat?

Hoffman, Michael W. “Business and Environmental Ethics."

IX. Racketeering

What constitutes a continuous, criminal enterprise? The case of Microsoft. Handouts.

X. International Business

Do multinational corporations change the nature of the discussion of moral paradigms based on the nation-state?

De George, Robert T. “Ethical Dilemmas for Multinational Enterprise: A Philosophical Overview."

Velasquez, Manuel. “International Business, Morality, and the Common Good."

XI. Emerging Ethical Issues

How has the information revolution changed the nature of discourse on the democratic character of our post-industrial society?

De George, Richard T. “Business Ethics and the Information Age."

XII. The Moral Corporation: Reflections and Challenges

What will be the role of multinational corporations in shaping our political ethics and world view?

Liedtka, Jeanne M. “Feminist Morality and Competitive Reality: A Role for an Ethic of Care?”

XIII. Zen and the Protestant Work Ethic

Robert M. ZEN AND THE ART OF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE

PEDAGOGY AND PROTOCOL

I lecture on the background of each text to put it into historical context. You are to keep a portfolio of all your papers and quizzes.

ATTENDANCE MANDATORY!

GRADES

There will be four quizzes (five percent each) and four tests (ten percent each). Final (forty percent). Extra credit exercises throughout the semester. Teacher very student sympathetic.

VERBAL INSTRUCTIONS HAVE THE FORCE OF A CHANGE IN THE SYLLABUS.

ADDENDUM

absence will put you out of the flow of the course. I have built the course upon the foundations of principles that I develop from session to session. Remove one session and the whole narrative collapses.

Play the game by the rules and the course will be a blend of high rewards with cumulative learning over the term in a context of reciprocity. Learning should be pleasurable.

NOTA BENE: You are to keep a portfolio of all papers and quizzes. Oral instructions will often amend assignments, concerning the papers and lecture topics. As I lecture in narrative form, lectures do not devoutly follow due dates of readings. You must follow the story I am relating that integrates many themes; hence, what you will be given cannot be correlated one to one with a due date for a reading. You will have to discipline yourself to listen carefully and then the narrative will form a whole, emerging from the parts. If there is a change in date, I will give you notice either orally or in written form, or both.

THEORIES OF ECONOMICS

1. Benevolence (David Hume and social sensibility)

2. Natural Law Theory: Laissez faire economics (Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand and Immanuel Kant’s Deontological Categorical Imperative)

3. Historical Materialism: Socialism (Karl Marx and class analysis)

4. Social Darwinism (Thomas Malthus and Malthusian economics)

5. Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham and the liberal state; majority rule and the greatest good to the greatest number)

6. Keynesian economics (John Maynard Keynes and the welfare state)

7. The Chicago School or Monetarism (Milton Friedman and the free marketplace equated with democracy as coterminous concepts)

8. Communitarianism (John Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance)

9. Alienation (Studs Terkel and the American Work Ethic)

10. Consequentialism (Elizabeth Anscombe)

11. Environmentalism (Al Gore)

TEXTS

1. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (Hume, 1748)

2. The Wealth of Nations (Adams, 1776)

3. The Communist Manifesto (Marx, 1848) and The Paris Manuscripts (Marx, 1844)

4. On Population (Malthus, 1799)

5. Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (Bentham, 1789)

6. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (Keynes, 1935)

7. Capitalism and Democracy (Friedman, 1962)

8. A Theory of Justice (Rawls, 1971)

9. Working (Terkel, 1974)

10. An Inconvenient Truth (Gore, 2007)

UNITS OF ANALYSIS

1. Individual versus society (the public good)

2. Levels of analysis in business and ethics

a. Individualism versus social responsibility; the gene, the individual, and the species

b. Collectivism (totalitarian societies of the likes of the Soviet Union and the Third Reich)

c. Communitarianism of Rawls (utopia--an ideal state)

METHODOLOGIES

1. Memetics: economic ideas evolve historically as a process with no end, but with the production of greater efficiencies in species’ adaptation to the world environment by being more inclusive of formerly marginalized groups).

2. Eugenics: sociobiology and evolutionary psychology versus behaviorism (learned behaviors). Culture and ethics coevolve progressively.

2. Class Analysis: mode of production. Species emancipation and the End of World Alienation

3. Felicific Calculus: happiness metrically evaluated (utilitarianism).

4. Social Contract Theory: natural rights written into nature: negotiate them--or revolution (reason or common sense--an Enlightenment ideal).

5. The Free Marketplace: Greed is good.

6. Discursive Will Formation: universal consensus through discourse.

7. Pure Reason: The Categorical Imperative (Internal Dialogue: Conscience and the Structure of the Mind).

8. Dialectics: The history of civilization progresses by its own inner logic progressively.

9. Interviewing

10. Legal Realism

11. Environmental Activism and Personal Responsibility

12. Game Theory

THEMES

1. Capitalism is the “best” of all possible “bad” systems.

2. Social Democracy is the “worst” of all possible “good” systems.

3. Thesis (Capitalism), Antithesis (Socialism), Synthesis (Participatory Democracy).

KEY IDEAS OF THE UNITS OF ANALYSIS

1. David Hume (benevolence)

2. Adam Smith (The Invisible Hand and sympathy)

3. Immanuel Kant (The Golden Rule)

3. Thomas Malthus (“the fittest”)

4. Jeremy Bentham (the majority and hedonism)

5. Karl Marx (class analysis and historical materialism)

6. John Maynard Keynes (the welfare state)

7. Milton Friedman (ethical egoism)

8. John Rawls (the public good of the least advantaged citizen)

9. Studs Terkel (alienation as an attitude toward work in America with its consequences)

10. Juergen Habermas (discursive will formation)

11. Kenneth Arrow (Prisoner’s Dilemma)

SYLLABUS: TWENTIETH CENTURY PHILOSOPHY and the MORAL QUESTION OF EVIL

READINGS: Text and Books

I. Text:

Baird, Forrest E and Walter Kaufmann. TWENTIETH-CENTURY PHILOSOPHY

II. Books:

Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk

Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis

Freud, Sigmund. Civilization and Its Discontents

Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower

Arendt, Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil

Neiman, Susan. EVIL IN MODERN THOUGHT

THEMES OF THE COURSE

The twentieth century has been the most violent in man’s history. There are certain recurrent ideas, often pernicious, that are dominant. There is the issue of radical evil in man. Too, the word totalitarianism brings to mind nationalism, racism, and imperialism to sum up the virulence of ideologies in conflict. Most of our thinkers are radically skeptical about man’s possibilities about the inevitability of progress and concomitantly democracy for the coming generations. The most pessimistic thinker is Du Bois, who believed that the twentieth century was an age of racism in which people of color suffered oppression because of the capitalist political economy.

The class will be discussing the social philosophy of rich and poor, issues of fairness in the distribution of the bounty of capitalism, and what are the entitlements of human beings not only to claim political rights, but to demand jobs worthy of their talents and the attendant quality of life. Hence, we must delve into the human mind to see what are its innate capabilities in tandem with how improvements in the environment can make optimum the good life for all.

The course will be rich in theory with practical applications. Evil will be explored in its metaphysical, natural, and moral dimensions. Especial attention will be given to a study of Auschwitz.

TESTS AND QUIZZES

There will be eight quizzes, given randomly, over the course of the semester. All quizzes are open book. There will be no final.

Attendance is mandatory.

ASSIGNMENTS

In the first week, I will show the movie Sophie’s Choice by the third class session.

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice, and Husserl, Edmund. The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology (textbook),

DuBois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk (in toto),

Heidegger, Martin. An Introduction to Metaphysics and Building Dwelling Thinking (textbook),

Gadamer, Hans-Georg. Truth and Method (textbook),

Sartre, Jean Paul. Existentialism is a Humanism (textbook),

De Beavoir. Simone. The Second Sex (textbook),

Foucault, Michel. Truth and Power (textbook)

Habermas, Juergen. The Philosophical Discourse of Modernity (textbook),

Freud, Sigmund. Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (excerpts),

________. Civilization and Its Discontents (in toto),

Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower (in toto),

Arendt. Hannah. Eichmann in Jerusalem (in toto)

Neiman, Susan. EVIL IN MODERN THOUGHT,

Nota bene: All dates are good faith approximations.

FINAL GRADE

I will determine the final grade by a blend of quizzes, meaningful classroom participation, and obviously mandatory attendance.

Syllabus : Contemporary Moral Problems

TEXTS

Arthur, John. Morality and Moral Controversies: Readings in Moral, Social, and Political Philosophy.

Goldhagen, Daniel. A Moral Reckoning.

King, Martin Luther. “Letter from Birmingham Jail”.

Marx, Karl. Communist Manifesto.

Wiesenthal, Simon. The Sunflower: On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness.

COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES

I. This course will examine the nature of moral reasoning concerning the relevance of applying consistent, rigorous and rational ethical standards to present-day personal and social decisions. The first lecture will be introductory to set up guidelines for the course. The next three lectures will discuss in depth Simon Wiesenthal’s The Sunflower. The theme is forgiveness of others who have profoundly wronged and shamed us to injure our self-validation and personal sense of integrity.

Further, you will be given a historical model of the major events of the Enlightenment. I will unmask your prejudices and biases. The intent is to instruct you in critical thinking, reading, rhetoric, and writing. I intend to arm you with a critical theory to be engaged as functional and ethical “citizens of the world.” Critical thought is always a preparation for affirmative action in demonstrating social responsibility to your fellow humans in a quid pro quo for your “inalienable’ rights founded in nature. You will be compelled to think about the public good and the current issues of world culture in moving beyond a position of mere egotistical self-interest. The study of classic works provides us with the groundwork on which to build a reasonable criticism of the forces of multiculturalism and modernism that have been a boon for our material lives but have impoverished the spirit in our age of alienation where the post-modern ideologies have deconstructed the given truths of the Judeo-Christian ethos and Enlightenment ideals.

II. There will be a two to four page paper (1) and a quiz (1) due on the twenty-eighth of January.

You will address the question of forgiving by putting yourself in Simon Wiesenthal’s shoes. You will then give a personal example of how you dealt with shaming and forgiving in a past episode in your life by an Other. Together, we will try to develop general moral principles of right conduct in a variety of scenarios.

III. Classical Theories of Morality

The next topic, during the week of the twenty-eighth of January, will be the relevance of Marxist categories of historical materialism to address issues of fairness, the theme of this unit, in evaluating the consequences of the inordinate concentration of wealth in this capitalist society. Is democracy workable in a society where there is not an equitable distribution of bountiful resources (economic equity)? The Communist Manifesto will be read by the twenty-eighth of January. A quiz (2) and a two to four page position paper (2) will be due on the sixth of February. You will evaluate the validity of Marx’s analysis.

We will, then, use the text as a guideline for lectures.

Selected Readings

Hobbes, Thomas. Leviathan

IV. Contemporary Perspectives

In this lecture series, I will discuss the historically problematic relationship between Catholics and Jews. Goldhagen, in his A Moral Reckoning, charges that the Church and its doctrines qua institution bear a direct burden of guilt for religious anti-Semitism and the Holocaust over its institutional history and needs to atone and reconcile with the aggrieved party. The nature of restitution, if any, demanded will be discussed. The themes of religious toleration, pluralism, a democratic society, and free speech will be raised in this context.

Goldhagen, Daniel. A Moral Reckoning.

O’Neill, Onara. “Kant and Utilitarianism Contrasted”.

V. The Sources and Grounds of Morality

Can moral arguments be grounded on discursive will formation to form a democratic consensus of the will of all in a political state? That is the basis of the Enlightenment that reason has an inherent telos to effect a universal humanitarianism. Write a position paper (3) on that proposition. There will be a quiz (3), too, that Tuesday.

N.B. Quizzes made into a term paper worth forty percent of the total grade, that is the equivalent of two quizzes and two papers.

Hume, David. “Morality Is Based on Sentiment”.

VI. Capital Punishment

Is human life sacrosanct so that even the most heinous crimes against humanity can be forgiven? How about the sociopathic “loser” who simply commits a crime against society? What is its status in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania?

Gregg V. Georgia. “The Death Penalty”.

VII. Abortion

We will be discussing the landmark Supreme Course Case of Roe v. Wade.

When is life, life? Issues of the conflict of religion and science as institutions will come to the fore.

Roe v. Wade. “The Constitutional Right to Abortion”.

VIII. Justice and Economic Distribution

Does concentrated wealth deny the sovereignty of the people and preclude the practice of democracy in the American Republic? Write a position paper (4) on your evaluation of that apparent contradiction. A quiz (4) will be given. Both events will transpire on Thursday.

Hume, David. “Of Justice.”

Locke, John. The Second Treatise of Government. Excerpt.

Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The Communist Manifesto (excerpts).

Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice.

IX. Free SpeechIs the First Amendment the most important of the Bill of Rights?

Dershowitz, Alan M. “Political Correctness, Speech Codes, and Diversity”.

Mill, John Stuart. “Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion”.

Sekulow, Jay A. and Jerry Berman. “Internet Censorship: A Debate”.

X. Affirmative Action and Reparations

Is affirmative action compatible with fairness if it signifies reverse discrimination? What do you think of the idea of collective guilt? Write a position paper (5) based on personal experience.

Arthur, John. “Racism and Reparations”.

Rachels, James. “Reverse Discrimination”.

XI. Equality and Difference

Have women arrived at their just status in American society?

Wright, Robert. “Feminists, Meet Mr. Darwin”.

XII. Violence, Terrorism and War

Do the ends justify the means? We will contrast Machiavelli and Martin Luther King.

Frey, R.G. and Christopher W. Morris. “Terrorism”.

Machiavelli, Niccolo. The Prince. (Schindler’s exposition of its contemporary meaning.)

XIII. Civil Disobedience and the Rule of Law

When must authority be opposed by peaceful means? by any means necessary?

King, Martin Luther. “Letter From Birmingham Jail”. (research article on web site)

Rawls, John. “Civil Disobedience and the Social Contract”.

PEDAGOGY

I lecture on the background of each text to put it into historical context. Your job is then to explicate the key passages of each work. In the quizzes, quotations are the focus. Too, your papers must have at least four quotations to indicate the seriousness of intent on your part in critically reading the assigned materials.

GRADES

N.B. Grades will follow format of school’s norms as described in catalogue. There will be five papers and five quizzes for a total of ten units. Each unit is equal.

ALL PAPERS WILL ONLY BE FROM PRIMARY READINGS. YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO USE SECONDARY SOURCES (UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED), RESEARCH PAPERS FROM THE INTERNET, AND/OR CLIFFS NOTES. AN F FOR THE COURSE AND DISCIPLINARY HEARINGS COULD BE THE CONSEQUENCES.

ATTENDANCE IS MANDATORY!

ADDENDUM

NOTA BENE: You are to keep a portfolio of all papers and quizzes. Oral instructions will often amend assignments, concerning the papers and lectures.

SUMMARY REMARK

THEORIES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

1. Natural Law Theory: Laissez faire economics (Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand)

2. Historical Materialism: Socialism (Karl Marx and class analysis)

3. Social Darwinism (Thomas Malthus and Malthusian economics)

4. Utilitarianism (Jeremy Bentham and the liberal state; majority rule and the greatest good to the greatest number).

5. Keynesian economics (John Maynard Keynes and the welfare state)

6. The Chicago School or Monetarism (Milton Friedman and the free marketplace equated with democracy as coterminous concepts).

7. Communitarianism (John Rawls and the Veil of Ignorance)

8. The Golden Rule (Immanuel Kant)

TEXTS

1. The Wealth of Nations (1776)

2. The Communist Manifesto (1848) and The Paris Manuscripts (1844)

3. On Population (1799)

4. Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789)

5. The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money (1935)

6. Capitalism and Democracy (1962)

7. A Theory of Justice (1971)

8. The Metaphysics of Morals (1797)

UNITS OF ANALYSIS

1. Individual versus society (the public good)

2. Levels of analysis in business and ethics

a. Individualism versus social responsibility

b. Collectivism (totalitarian societies of the likes of the Soviet Union and the Third Reich)

c. Communitarianism of Rawls (utopia--an ideal state)

METHODOLOGIES

1. Memetics: economic and moral ideas coevolve historically as a process with no end, but with the production of greater efficiencies in species’ adaptation to the world environment by being more inclusive of formerly marginalized groups).

2. Eugenics: sociobiology and evolutionary psychology (inherited behaviors) versus behaviorism (learned behaviors). Culture and ethics coevolve progressively.

2. Class Analysis: mode of production

3. Felicific Calculus: happiness metrically evaluated.

4. Social Contract Theory: natural rights written into nature: negotiate them--or revolution (reason or comm sense--an Enlightenment ideal)

5. The Free Marketplace: greed is good.

6. Discursive Will Formation: universal consensus on norms of right conduct through discursive will formation.

7. Utilitarianism

THEMES

1. Capitalism is the “best” of all possible “bad” systems.

2. Social Democracy is the “worst” of all possible “good” systems.

3. Thesis (Capitalism), Antithesis (Socialism), Synthesis (Participatory Democracy).

KEY IDEAS OF THE UNITS OF ANALYSIS

1. Immanuel Kant (the Kingdom of Ends)

2. Adam Smith (The Invisible Hand)

3. David Hume (benevolence)

4. Thomas Malthus (“the fittest”)

5. Karl Marx (class analysis and historical materialism)

6. John Maynard Keynes (the welfare state)

7. Milton Friedman (ethical egoism)

8. John Rawls (the public good of the least advantaged citizen)

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT

The Prisoner’s Dilemma. You and your cohort have robbed a bank. The police apprehend you. You are put into separate rooms to compel a confession. You, as an individual, have to make a rational decision. If you both do not rat each other out, you both go free. If you both confess, you get seven years each. If you keep silent, but your partner fingers you, you get ten years and he gets three. What do you do?

Apply to a business decision in which you and a competitor both have invented a unique product that would put your company at a much lower rate of profits if you both develop it for the marketplace. If you both withhold the development, you both remain unprofitable. If you withhold and he develops that product, you go broke and he becomes rich, and vice versa. What do you, if you work independently of each other?

A Moral Reckoning?

Goldhagen raises several hypotheses, questions, and indictments of Europe in general and the

Roman Church in particular. The reckoning he has in mind concerns the obligation of the Church to apologize to the Jews for the Holocaust and do restitution and make reparations for the harm caused by that institution over two millennia, climaxing with its complicity in the Holocaust. He makes a case that we will examine. Many Catholic members of the clergy in England and the United States have made a similar argument from within the Church. However, Goldhagen, the son of Holocaust survivors, offends many, including Jews, who find him bold and intrusive in demanding such a comprehensive moral reckoning. His credentials are that of a Harvard University scholar and political scientist, not a theologian, in which field he has no training.

Visit his site at www.goldhagen.com

We must start with certain working concepts. Goldhagen charges the following:

1. The roots of antisemitism lie in the charge of the collective guilt of the Jews in having killed God (Deicide). The Jews in Israel considered Jesus, a Jew himself, a radical rabbi, who indeed wanted to chase the money changers from the temples. He threatened the legitimacy of the Roman empire’s occupation because he said the allegiance of the people was owed to God and not Rome. Pontius Pilate ordered his execution by crucifixion which was the standard mode of exercising capital punishment. There are no reliable written recorded first-hand accounts of the actual historic deed. Oral tradition arose by the end of the first century to render an unverifiable account of his death. Indeed, he was a martyr, even by Jewish accounts, but not accepted as the messiah.

2. There has been central to Church doctrine the charge of a collective blood guilt imposed on the Jews for the murder of God. Vatican II dismissed this charge, yet Church officials continue to slander Jews during Easter with that accusation. It is written into the very liturgy of the Church that has not yet been expunged. Why not?

3. The Gospels are devastatingly antisemitic, particularly Paul, John, and Matthew. They are based on false and falsified historical accounts that have been proven not possible to have happened.

4. Why did not the Roman Catholic Church help their Jewish brethren? It professes love; yet they watched or even directly participated in the murders. They could have used the weapon of excommunication to moderate the killings. They excommunicated carte blanche all communists during Pope Pius XII’s reign, although most communists, despite their nominal atheism, posed no direct threat to the Church’s scope of operation or practice of religious tenets, except for Poland where the Church challenged Caesar’s power. To further attack the Jews as agents of Bolshevism is false. Stalin purged the Jews during the thirties from the highest positions of power. He himself was as antisemitic as Hitler, but with the mind that the Jews had proven talented, useful and productive citizens in his regime. Hence, he believed, out of cold calculation, that the Jews should at least be allowed the dignities of citizenship and the practice of a profession.

5. The Jews have been portrayed as enemies of the Church. They are responsible for everything from materialism to Judeo-Bolshevism. Too, the false libeling of the Jewish people as having committed child ritual murders for their religious practices is ludicrous and pernicious. By demonizing the Jews over two millennia, they have desensitized Christian attitudes toward Jews by making them less than human. The racist ideology of Hitler became easier to implement with racial cleansing of the German blood. There is a parallel in the Society of Jesus, who until recently, would not accept converted Jews into their society. They had to be free from the taint of descent from the Devil himself, that is, racially pure.

6. Supersessionism. The New Testament transcends the Old. Old means flawed and outmoded. Why have not the Jews accepted Jesus as their savior and messiah? Why are they so stubborn and rigid in their inflexible adherence to their Bible?

7. Papal infallibility. The Church is a hierarchical organization that has been unwilling to accept change in its structure. It is an absolute monarchy with its head infallible in his statements. How can Jews dialogue as equals when your partner in dialogue does not recognize your position as valid to a comparable degree?

8. Pope Pius XII has been proven to be an anitsemite by his statements and attitude since 1919. The Vatican, because of the Concordat, immediately recognized Hitler and gave his regime a legitimacy that otherwise it might not have enjoyed in the comity of nations. This recognition consolidated Hitler’s power.

9. Using Roman Catholic sources, Goldhagen documents the complicity and participation of the Roman Catholic Church in the killing or eliminationist operations in the field. It has never come to a self-understanding that the structure of the Church and part of the Church’s doctrines promote a deep prejudice of Jews.

10. Goldhagen demands an apology, reparations, and the structural reform of the Church itself so that pluralism can prevail with religious tolerance and free speech as the predominant values in the scheme of a new world order. The Church has not full come to grips with modernism, the ideals of the Enlightenment that all people have moral standing, materialism, science and technology, and democracy because these forces threaten its political position as the last absolute monarchy in the Atlantic world of free republics. Why does it support some of the most backward, oppressive regimes in the third world?

11. The crux of the Roman Catholic Church’s crisis in dealing with a multicultural world is that it is a political state and at the same time a religious institution that advocates loving thy neighbors as you would love yourself. Political dicta often contradict that posture.

12. Americanism. The Roman Catholic establishment conducted itself nobly and ethically during the second world war. They constantly urged Roosevelt and Pope Pius XII to take action. It is a lie to say that no one knew about the genocide during the war. By 1942, through diplomatic channels, every head of state, including the Vatican’s, had documentary evidence of the daily slaughter. In general, there was indifference. That included American Jews, to a degree, who did not become aroused until 1944. By then, the game was up. I attribute this indifference to institutional inertia and “passing the buck” syndrome.

These issues will be “worked through” over many generations by people acting in good faith through discursive will formation in which the unforced force of the best argument will prevail. Not all parties to the discussion will be fully happy with the reconciliation, which is, ultimately, a process of healing and compromise, interminably.

Introduction to Philosophy Questions

Caveat: I have designed this test so that it would be almost inconceivable a student could achieve a perfect score. I am interested in how many answers you achieve correctly vis a vis your other classmates. Hence, a score of eight out of ten could be an A, if you identified both the author and the text. You will be graded according to your position along a relative continuum of points from 0 to 20. If not sure, guess.

1.“In order therefore that the social pact should not be an empty formula, it contains an implicit obligation which alone can give force to the others, that if anyone refuse to obey the general will he will be compelled to do so by the whole body, which mean nothing else than that he will be forced to be free;...”

2.“Those who hide their complete freedom from themselves out of a spirit of seriousness or by means of deterministic excuses, I shall call cowards; those who try to show that their existence was necessary, whey it is the very contingency of man’s appearance on earth, I shall call stinkers.”

3.“And now it is to be expected that the other of the two ‘Heavenly Powers’, eternal Eros, will make an effort to assert himself in the struggle with his equally immortal adversary. But who can foresee with what success and with what result?”

4.“But the annual revenue of every society is always precisely equal to the exchangeable value of the whole annual produce of the industry, or rather is precisely the same thing as the exchangeable value. As every individual, therefore, endeavors as much as he can to employ his capital in the support of domestic industry, and to direct that industry this its produce may be of the greatest value, every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of the society as great as he can. He generally, indeed, rather neither intends to promote the public interest, nor know how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of the domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this led by an invisible hand.”

Italics are that of the professor’s.

5. I read the following quote in class. Identify the author and the text.

“Everything which the political economist takes from you in life and in humanity, he replaces for you in money and in wealth; and all the things which you cannot do, your money can do. ...All passions and all activity must therefore be submerged in greed.”

6.“Finally, in times when the class struggle nears the decisive hour, the process of dissolution going on within the ruling class...a small section of the ruling class cuts itself adrift and joins the revolutionary class, the class that holds the future in its hands. Just as...at an earlier period, a section of the nobility went over to the bourgeoisie, so now a portion of the bourgeoisie goes over to the proletariat, and in particular, a portion of the bourgeois ideologists, who have raised themselves to the level of comprehending theoretically the historical movement as a whole.”

7.“This baboon thereby implies that the increase of humanity is a purely natural process, which requires external restraints, checks, to prevent it from proceeding in geometrical progression. This geometrical reproduction is the natural reproduction of mankind. He would find in history that population proceeds in very different relations, and that the overpopulation is likewise a historically determined relation, in no way determined by abstract numbers or the absolute limit of the productivity of the necessaries of life, but by limits posited rather by specific conditions of production...Ricardo immediately and correctly confronted him with the fact that the quantity of grain available is completely irrelevant to the worker if he has no employment;...”

Italics are that of the author’s.

8.“In some few cases there has been what we must call retrogression of organisation. but the main cause lies in the fact that under very simple conditions of life a high organization would be of no service--possibly would be of actual disservice, as being of a more delicate nature, and more liable to be put out of order and injured.”

9.“In the early Middle Ages, when the church was indeed, above all, a menagerie, the most beautiful specimens of the “blond beast” were hunted down everywhere; and the noble Teutons, for example, were ‘improved.’...He had become a ‘sinner,’ he was stuck in a cage, imprisoned among all sorts of terrible concepts...full of hatred against the springs of life, full of suspicion against all that was still strong and happy. In short, a ‘Christian’.”

Professor slightly modified grammar.

10.“A nature reserve preserves its original state which everywhere else has to our regret been sacrificed to necessity. Everything, including what is useless and even what is noxious, can grow and proliferate there as it pleases. The mental realm of phantasy is just such a reservation withdrawn from the reality principle.”