Winter 2004/Pasadena
PH860/560
Murphy
PH860/560: PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS. Nancey Murphy.
DESCRIPTION:
- This is a doctoral level seminar, open at the 500 level to a
limited number of advanced master's students. It consists of close reading and
discussion of some of the most important philosophical ethicists of the past
generation: Bernard Williams, John Rawls, Charles Taylor, Iris Murdoch, Jeffrey
Stout, and Alasdair MacIntyre.
OBJECTIVES FOR MINISTRY:
- Knowledge: familiarity with some of the best thinking in ethics
found in the secular academy. Skills: enhanced ability in moral reasoning and
debate. Attitudes: increased appreciation of the role of religious belief in
moral reasoning.
COURSE FORMAT:
- This is a bi-level course for advanced master's students and for
Ph.D. and Th.M. students. The class will meet weekly for a three-hour session.
Most of class time will be devoted to discussion of the readings.
REQUIRED READING:
- MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue. 2nd ed. University of
Notre Dame Press, 1984.
- __________. Dependent Rational Animals. Open Court, 1999.
- Murdoch, Iris. Metaphysics as a Guide to Morals. Penguin, 1992.
- Rawls, John. A Theory of Justice. Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 1971.
- Stout, Jeffrey. Ethics after Babel. Beacon, 1988.
- Taylor, Charles. Sources of the Self. Harvard University Press,
1989.
- Williams, Bernard. Morality. Cambridge University Press,
1993.
ASSIGNMENTS:
- Careful reading of texts; regular attendance; class participation.
Each student will be assigned to lead one class discussion. Master's-level
students have the choice of writing three eight-page papers or one 20-page
paper. Graduate students: one 20-30 page paper.
PREREQUISITES:
- Master's students: previous coursework in philosophy or ethics;
G.P.A. of 3.5 and permission of instructor.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM:
- Elective at master's level. At Th.M. and Ph.D. level, may be
counted as either a philosophy or an ethics seminar.
FINAL EXAMINATION:
- None.