Ethics

Main Course Links

• Ethics Core Course Proposal
• Basic Course Information
• Major Ethics Course Questions
• Reading Schedule
• In-Class Notes
• Study Questions
• Ethics Course Bibliography
• Suggested Projects and Topics
• Philosophical Methods
• The Short Short Guide to Wiki Edits
• Student Practice Page for Wiki - post your introductions here and show me you can add content to the wiki!
• Peer Review Advice from Peerceptiv!
• Assignment Rubric

Final Exam Essay Prompts

Choose two of the following three essay topics and write a 400 word essay about each one. Save your two essays to a word document and upload it to the final exam dropbox by Thursday midnight.

1. In light of your study of ethics this term, how see our ethical nature as relatively tied to our natural history (evolution) as opposed to being free from that history?

2. Explicate and evaluate Haidt thesis that morality "binds and blinds".

3. Briefly identify and critically evaluate how libertarians, rawlasians, and utilitarians might view the alleged right to withold business services from LGBT couples marrying.

Google Forms and Class Audio

• Backevaluation Form for Rating peer reviewer Consult the spreadsheet sent by email to identify the saint for each review.

• Peer Review Form for Paper 1

• Report your topic

• Short Objective Quiz

• Small Group Discussion Report

• Tell Me - A general form for telling me anything anonymously or not.

• Anonymous Preference Voting

• Roster Information

• Audio From Class: To access audio from class, fill in the weblink following this example: alfino.org/audiofromclass/301JAN12.m4a

First Round Topics

• A Good Death
• Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Basic Income Guarantee (B.I.G.) / Living Wage

Second Round Topics

Paper due dates:

• April 21 - Rough Draft
• April 21-26 - Peer Review
• May 2 - Final Draft due

Peer review form: [1]

• Religious Liberty and Freedom of Conscience
• Sustainability and Food Production
• Aid to the Absolutely Poor
• US Income and Wealth Inequality

Other Resources

• Louis CK on emotional regulation [2]
• NYRB article reviewing a range of books in psychology, Tamsin Shaw, "The Psychologists Take Power" [3]
• NYRB reply to Tamsin Shaw from Jonathan Haidt and Steven Pinker [4]
• NYRB review of recent work on sociology of technology: [5]
• Mercier and Sperber article mentioned in Haidt, Chapter 4: [6]
• First Short Answer Question: JAN282016ShortAnswer1
• Genetically engineered morality? [[7]]
• The Trolley Problem. Variations on the Trolley Problem: [[8]]
• Self-driving cars with Trolley problems: [9]
• Sparknotes key dates / summaries on Enlightenment. [10]
• Review of a recent book by biologist David Sloan Wilson on group selection and altruism. [11]
• False Belief Test: [12]
• The Cold Logic of Drunk People [13]
• Visit the site Your Morals. org and take one or two of the surveys. Write a journal entry about it.
• Prompt for Eco essay, "When the Other Appears on the Scene" -- "The following letter is Eco’s reply to a question the cardinal had asked him: “What is the basis of the certainty and necessity for moral action of those who, in order to establish the absolute nature of an ethic, do not intend to appeal to metaphysical principles or transcendental values, or even to universally valid categorical imperatives?”"
• New Yorker article on "Biology of Violence," [14] suggesting that criminal subcultures are following "legitimate" evolutionary strategies.
• The Ethics Movie List

Previously posted Course Resources

• Spring 2016 Ethics Reading Schedule
• Spring 2016 Ethics Course Lecture Notes
• Spring 2016 Ethics Course Study Questions