Winter 2006/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 PhD and ThM 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.

Nietzsche, Friedrich. Beyond Good and Evil. Vintage, 1989

Rawls, John. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Belknap, 2001

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 a two-page paper on each reading assignment (eight in all) 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 ThM and PhD level, may be counted as either a philosophy or an ethics seminar.

FINAL EXAMINATION: None.