Winter 2013/Pasadena
PH860/560
Murphy
PH860/560: PHILOSOPHICAL ETHICS. Nancey Murphy.
DESCRIPTION: This is a 6-unit seminar for doctoral students, also offered at the 500-level as a 4-unit course open to a limited number of master’s level students. After surveying the history of philosophical ethics, we turn to a close reading and discussion of some of the most important philosophical ethicists of the past generation: John Rawls, Alasdair MacIntyre, Jeffrey Stout, and Owen Flanagan. The question that the course is designed to consider is whether it is possible to do ethics without a concept of ultimate reality.
SIGNIFICANCE FOR LIFE AND MINISTRY: Ethical deliberation is an essential part of life and of ministry of all sorts. Knowledge of both historical and recent trends in philosophical ethics will provide insight into current ethical debates.
LEARNING OUTCOMES: Knowledge: familiarity with some of the best thinking in ethics found in the secular academy. Skills: enhanced ability in moral reasoning, writing, 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 ten weeks for a three-hour session each week. Most of class time will be devoted to discussion of the readings, but there will also be short lectures to introduce readings for the following week.
REQUIRED READING:
Flanagan, Owen. The Really Hard Problem: Meaning in a Material World. MIT Press, 2007 (ISBN: 978-0-262-51248-0; 264 pgs; $29.95)
MacIntyre, Alasdair. After Virtue. 3rd ed. University of Notre Dame Press, 2007 (ISBN: 978-0268035044; 286 pgs; $26.00). [Second edition is also acceptable.]
__________. Dependent Rational Animals. Open Court, 1999 (ISBN: 978-0812693973; 172 pgs; $24.95).
__________. A Short History of Ethics. 2nd ed. University of Notre Dame Press, 1998 (ISBN: 978-0268017590; 269 pgs; $25.00)
Rawls, John. Justice as Fairness: A Restatement. Belknap, 2001 (ISBN: 978-0674005112; 214 pgs; $25.50).
Stout, Jeffrey. Democracy and Tradition. Princeton, 2004 (ISBN: 978-0691102931; 348 pgs; $28.95).
ASSIGNMENTS AND ASSESSMENT:
Careful reading of texts; regular attendance; class participation.
Three four-page papers throughout the term (3-page summary of reading; 1-page essay designed to stimulate discussion), each worth 10% of grade.
CATS students, one 20-page paper due at the end of the term; Master’s-level students. one 10-page paper, worth 70% of grade.
PREREQUISITES: Master’s students: previous coursework in philosophy or ethics, G.P.A. of 3.5, and signature of your advisor.
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.